Oedipus
As is the case in most climactic drama, much of what constitutes the myth of Oedipus takes place before the opening scene of the play. In his youth, Laius was a guest of King Pelops of Elis, and became the tutor of Chrysippus, youngest of the king's sons, in chariot racing. He then violated the sacred laws of hospitality by abducting and raping Chrysippus, who according to some versions killed himself in shame. This cast a doom over him and his descendants.
The protagonist of the tragedy is the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. After Laius learns from an oracle that "he is doomed/To perish by the hand of his own son", he tightly binds the feet of the infant Oedipus together ...
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the biological son of Polybus and his wife Merope. When Oedipus questions the King and Queen, they deny it, but, still suspicious, he asks the Delphic Oracle who his parents really are. The Oracle seems to ignore this question, telling him instead that he is destined to "Mate with [his] own mother, and shed/With [his] own hands the blood of [his] own sire". Desperate to avoid his foretold fate, Oedipus leaves Corinth in the belief that Polybus and Merope are indeed his true parents and that, once away from them, he will never harm them.
On the road to Thebes, he meets Laius, his true father. Unaware of each other's identities, they quarrel over whose chariot has right-of-way. King Laius moves to strike the insolent youth with his sceptre, but Oedipus throws him down from the chariot and kills him, thus fulfilling part of the oracle's prophecy. He kills all but one of the other men. Shortly after, he solves the riddle of the Sphinx, which has baffled many a diviner: "What is the ...
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Oedipus. (2011, July 3). Retrieved March 29, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Oedipus/99803
"Oedipus." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 3 Jul. 2011. Web. 29 Mar. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Oedipus/99803>
"Oedipus." Essayworld.com. July 3, 2011. Accessed March 29, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Oedipus/99803.
"Oedipus." Essayworld.com. July 3, 2011. Accessed March 29, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Oedipus/99803.
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