Sophocles

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Sophocles

• Considered the greatest playwright of the Golden
  Age of Greece
• Wrote over 120 plays, but only 7 survive to this
  day
• Wrote the three Theban plays Oedipus the King,
  Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone.

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Oedipus The King - Background

• Often considered Sophocless greatest work
• The first of the three Theban plays
• Explores the issue of Fate versus Free Will.
• Deals with the psychoanalytic ideal of Oedipus
  killing his father and marrying his mother.

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Oedipus Myth Part 1

• King Laius of Thebes is told by an oracle that
  his son will kill him.
• King Laius and Queen Jocasta have their sons
  feet pinioned and he is given to a shepherd to
  get rid of the baby.
• The shepherd of Thebes gives the baby to a
  shepherd of Corinth, who presents the child to
  childless King Polybus of Corinth.

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Oedipus Myth Part 2

• Oedipus goes to the oracle of Delphi to confirm
  his parentage, and he is told that he will kill
  his father and marry his mother.
• Not wanting to fulfill the prophecy, Oedipus
  heads to Thebes to avoid his fate.

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Oedipus Myth Part 3

• At a three road crossroad, Oedipus meets a man
  driving a wagon who orders Oedipus to get off the
  road.
• Oedipus refuses to budge.
• The man goads Oedipus, and Oedipus kills the man.
• Oedipus continues his journey to Thebes.

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Oedipus Myth Part 4

• Thebes is being terrorized by the Sphinx, who
  kills all who cant solve its riddle.
• The riddle of the Sphinx, What walks on three
  legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and
  three in the evening?

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Oedipus Myth - Part 5

• Oedipus answers the riddle correctly in
  answering, Man.
• The Sphinx throws itself off a cliff.
• Oedipus enters Thebes as a hero.
• The King is vacant so Thebes offers him to become
  ruler and the hand of Queen Jocasta to marry.

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Oedipus The King Part 1

• Oedipus and Jocasta rule Thebes for several years
  and have four children together Eteocles,
  Polyneices, Antigone, and Ismene.
• A plague besets the city of Thebes, and Creon is
  sent to the oracle at Delphi to find its cause.
• The oracle claims that the murderer of King Laius
  must be discovered.

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Oedipus The King Part 2

• Oedipus promises the murderer will be found and
  banished from Thebes.
• Oedipus consults the prophet Teiresias who tells
  him that he is the killer and his marriage is
  sinful.
• Eventually it is revealed that Oedipus is the
  murderer, and he fulfilled the prophecy of
  killing his father and marrying his mother.

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Oedipus the King Part 3

• Hearing that Oedipus is her son, Jocasta hangs
  herself.
• Realizing his sin, Oedipus gouges his eyes out,
  and he banishes himself from Thebes.