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Oedipus The King Sparknotes

509 Words3 Pages

Alexandrea Keebler
Mr. Broussard
English Composition 2
26 Oct 2014
Oedipus the King The play, Oedipus the King opens up with the people of Thebes coming up to the palace. They surround the steps and must speak to the king for a terrible curse has befallen their city. Oedipus appears before them and tells them he knows about the curse and has sent his brother-in-law, Creon to seek advice from Apollo. Creon returns from his journey with news that the curse will only be lifted if the murderer of Laius, who was murdered many years ago, is found and prosecuted. Oedipus announces that he will discover and prosecute the one that murdered Laius. He begins his questioning and calls on the blind prophet, Teiresias. Teiresias then tells Oedipus that it was Oedipus himself that killed Laius. This bothers Oedipus, but his …show more content…

She goes on to tell him about how she and King Laius had a son who was prophesied to kill Laius and sleep with her. She says she had the child killed so that the prophecy would not come true. This does little to comfort Oedipus, for as a child he was told he was adopted and that he would eventually kill his father and sleep with his mother. Oedipus recalls that he once killed a man in the same way that sounds like how Laius died. Jocasta urges Oedipus to forget about the past, but he ignores her. He goes on to question a messenger and a shepherd that have information about him as a child. He is told he was abandoned as an infant and adopted by a new family. Listening to this, Jocasta realizes that she is Oedipus’s mother and that Laius was his father. Horrified at what has happened, she goes and hangs herself. Soon after, Oedipus comes to terms with the fact that he is that one who killed Laius and this whole time he has been married to

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