[Music] let's summarize the plot of Oedipus Rex in the introduction to the play it's explained that Oedipus king of Thebes arrived years before in the city he now rules as a stranger after the death of King Laius he was given the crown because he saved the city from the Sphinx during the rising action Oedipus sends Creon his brother-in-law to consult Apollo about how to stop the plague Creon reports that Oedipus must find Laius killer and avenge his death in order to save his people from this pestilence the chorus suggests to Oedipus that he consult the old blind prophet Tiresias who ultimately declares Oedipus as the cause of the plague Oedipus accuses tiresias of plotting with Creon to seize his throne before leaving Tiresias tells Oedipus that the killer is in Thebes and will become blind and will turn out to be both the son and husband of his mother Oedipus accuses Creon of plotting against him and the men argue until Jocasta Oedipus's wife intercedes Oedipus sends Creon out of the palace without punishing him Jocasta then tells Oedipus of a prophecy that a son of hers with Laius would kill his father she and Leia's pinned the child's ankles together and had a shepherd put him in the wilderness to avoid the prophecy Laius was killed at a place where three roads meet presumably by robbers but Oedipus recognizes this place and these circumstances and asks Jocasta to send for the remaining witness of Laius as death a slave he also tells Jocasta about his parents in Corinth but he's been told they're not his real parents years ago he received the same prophecy that he would marry his mother have children with her and kill his father Oedipus ran away from Corinth to escape the prophecy but on the way he met with travelers at a crossroads one of whom hit him Oedipus ended up killing them all Jocasta sends for the slave who witnessed it the chorus sings that if the prophecy is not actually true their religious faith is in danger of dying a messenger arrives and says Oedipus is indeed not the real son of the people he thought were his parents Oedipus was a gift from a shepherd who found him with his ankle found and that the shepherd who gave the child to the messenger to give to the couple who raised him was the very slave they have called to share what he witnessed when Laius was killed Jocasta realizes the truth and frantically leaves during the climax of Oedipus Rex the Shepherd is called in and under duress confirms the prophecy is true Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus uses the broaches from her clothes to put out his eyes so he will no longer see the horror that is his life during the falling action Creon takes pity on Oedipus and wants to keep him at the palace but Oedipus insists on banishment leaving his children behind for he now has no power over them in the brief resolution the chorus sings bitterly of the unhappy tale how a powerful man has fallen and how death is the only thing that will bring happiness to mortals [Music] let's review the characters in Oedipus Rex starting with the main character Oedipus earlier in his life Oedipus left his home city of Corinth believing he would escape a Pollard's prophecy that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother but while on the road he killed a traveler and most of the travelers servants when Oedipus arrived in Thebes he became king of the city after saving it from the Sphinx he married Jocasta King Laius widow and had four children with her now the city is suffering from a plague and Oedipus discovers that it is his actions that brought the wrath of the gods and therefore the punishment in the form of pestilence upon it when he realizes the horrible prophecy he originally tried to escape has come true he blinds himself unable to bear the sight of what his life has become Jocasta is another important character Jocasta is queen of Thebes the wife of Oedipus and as it turns out Oedipus's mother she had tried to help Oedipus avoid the prophecy that her son will sleep with her and kill his father and to ensure that the prophecy wouldn't come true she ordered a shepherd to leave her baby boy bound at the ankles on a rock and then to kill the baby before abandoning him the Shepherd couldn't do it and gave the baby away to be raised by the couple presumed to be Oedipus as parents Jocasta tries to keep Oedipus from acting in anger she's calming to him assuring him that Oracle's are silly and not to be believed but she prays to the gods that their altars anyway her public beliefs do not match her private ones and when she discovers what she is done by marrying Oedipus and having children with him she hangs herself taking her own life to escape the horror Creon Jocasta's brother and Oedipus his brother-in-law is another key character Creon is sent to the Oracle when Oedipus cannot figure out what to do about the plague when Oedipus accuses him of wanting the throne and plotting with Tiresias Creon explains that he does not want to rule Thebes and is loyal to Oedipus Creon is a good kind man and when the terrible prophecy about Jocasta and Oedipus comes true Creon wants to keep Oedipus at the palace regardless of the horrible things he has done Creon ends up taking the throne and the responsibility for the children only because oedipus can no longer rule Creon is essentially the most morally centered character of the play finally there's the Oracle Tiresias according to the chorus Tiresias is on the level of the god Apollo when it comes to seeing the truth Tiresias does not want to tell Oedipus what he knows because he immediately sees that it is the fulfillment of the prophecy that has caused the pestilence in Thebes however when pressed aggressively by the king he tells him what he knows and is sent away by an angry Oedipus who denies its plausibility and refuses to accept the truth let's review the symbols in Oedipus Rex the first of which is the crossroads which is the place where the three roads meet where Laius was killed when people are said to be at a crossroads they're about to make decisions that will influence the rest of their lives in major ways which way will they choose at this crossroads hot-headed Oedipus killed his father without realizing it it was a choice he made in the heat of the moment but also in doing so he has fulfilled part of his fate the crossroads a symbol of a life-altering decision keeps the audience steps ahead before Oedipus himself realizes what he has done another major symbol is swollen feet Oedipus's name means swollen feet or knowledge of one's feet in Latin as a baby and the pisses feet were pierced and bound and his parents abandoned him his mother Jocasta had ordered him killed by a shepherd servant who instead gave the infant to a messenger to be raised by a childless couple but his feet were scarred as a result these scars symbolized the crippling fate destined for Oedipus from his birth it is one of many examples of situational irony that neither Oedipus nor Jocasta connect his scars with the story of his birth [Music] let's review the main themes in Oedipus Rex the first of which is self-discovery earlier in life Oedipus wanted to know his true identity at the expense of his presumed parents Polybus and Merapi stemming from when a drunken man accused him of not really being his parents son Oedipus becomes fixated on his own roots as he works toward another discovery the identity of Laius is killer when Apollo gives Oedipus the terrible prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother he leaves Corinth forever but by doing so he unwittingly brings this fate upon himself Oedipus's desire to seek out his real parents and true identity is a sign of natural curiosity associated with self-discovery Jocasta Oedipus's wife and mother attempts to remain blind to her real identity and its historical czar silly but she continues to pray at the altar revealing her budding self-discovery to the audience realizing the truth she takes her own life and Oedipus blinds and exiles himself both reach their terrible fates through self-discovery fate versus free will is another important theme in Oedipus Rex the gods not human beings determine the fate of an individual Sophocles is play reflects his belief that suffering serves as a way to clarify the power of the gods and their intentions for Humanity in Oedipus Rex fate is unavoidable no matter what the characters do to ensure that they escape their destinies in fact the attempt to escape fate seems to be the very thing that ensures that fate is inescapable for example Jocasta attempted to avoid her fate by telling the Shepherd to abandon then kill her baby which led to a chain of events where Oedipus lived to fulfill the prophecy of marrying her after killing unwittingly his father human choices and the gods will are perpetually at odds blindness is another important theme all of the characters in Oedipus Rex either start off his blind become blind refuse to see the truth or wish they had never seen it at all prophet Tiresias is blind Antipas Jocasta and Creon are willfully blind to the truth Oedipus ends up blinding himself at the play's end and at the end of the play the chorus wishes they had been blind wishing they'd never seen Oedipus whose shame they cannot bear blindness symbolizes the characters ignorant however once they acquire the knowledge or understanding that leads to the truth their vision or fate becomes clear pride is another central theme pride figures prominently in many Greek tragedies and is related to the Greek idea of hubris a person's disregarding of the limits preordained by the gods by attempting to escape the prophecy Oedipus ends up fulfilling it in doing so Oedipus becomes guilty of hubris as he tries to overcome his human limitations and rescind the prophecy his pride lies in his conviction that he can defy the Oracle and change the course of fate like her husband Jocasta is guilty of pride and hubris in her attempt to alter or deny fate but when she realizes that the prophecy has been fulfilled she tries to shield Oedipus from the truth incapable of coping with the prophecies fulfillment she takes her own life [Music] Sophocles the author of Oedipus Rex uses a few central motifs or dominant ideas woven throughout a literary work to support his themes the first key motif is that of the Oracle a prophecy predicted in advance that comes to pass Oracle's appear several times throughout the play to help characters determine the truth even if it is not what they want to hear or ocular predictions shed light on an ending to comedy and the characters fall into place bringing it to pass whether they want to or not the Oracle god Apollo as well as tiresias the prophets who serves the purpose of the Oracle represents the fate of human beings as determined by the gods another motif is that of light versus darkness this motif helps to reinforce the theme of blindness whether literally or figuratively to the truth and to the prophecy that drives Oedipus's tragic tale at the start of the play Oedipus says that to avenge Laius he will shed light on darkness and that with the God's help this will all come to light successfully or else we'll prove our common ruin his words linked the concept of lights with the revelation of knowledge a euphemism common to this day and suggests that without knowledge darkness will prevail in the form of ignorance of the reason for the plague causing common ruin for the people later a prideful and enraged Oedipus tells Tiresias he lives in endless darkness of the nights and thus cannot really affect someone who can glimpse daylight by the end of the play when Oedipus discovers tiresias has been right all along he says o light let me look at you one final time meaning he will either die or blind himself plunging into permanent darkness he accomplishes the latter you