Oedipus the King Outline

1102 Words5 Pages
Oedipus the King I. This play is about a king, Oedipus, that has a plague troubling his kingdom. In order for the plague to end the murderer of the previous king, Laius, has to be banished from the kingdom or killed to make up for the murder of the king. Through oracles and prophesies King Oedipus comes to find out that he is the murderer of King Laius and that he was also his father. Oedipus also discovers that his wife and widow of King Laius, Jocasta, is also his mother. Believing that he grew up in Corinth and that King Polybius was his biological father, Oedipus left Corinth in fear that he would kill his own father and lay with his mother because of a prophesy he was told. Not knowing that his real parents were Laius and Jocasta, Oedipus murdered his father on his journey to leave Corinth. He learns that his real parents had given him to a servant because of the prophesy that King Laius would be killed by his own son. When everyone discovers the truth Jocasta kills herself and Oedipus stabs his own eyeballs with some brooches from her dress. II. The critical perspective I chose is social significance. In the early 400s B.C. Greeks believed heavily in prophesies and oracles. They had many gods they prayed to for different reasons. In this play Creon, Oedipus’s brother in law, has spoken to Apollo the god of music, arts, knowledge, healing, plague, prophecy, poetry, manly beauty and archery. He spoke to him specifically because of the plague in Thebes and asked what needed to be done in order for the plague to be over. That is when he learns that the murderer of king Laius still lives in Thebes and needs to be banished or killed to end the plague. Oedipus learns that Laius and Jocasta were his birth parents, but was abandoned to be killed because of the prophesy that King Laius was to be killed by his own son. The Greeks based their lives on such
Open Document