Oedipus of Sophocles is a great work of art written by a great poet,this play symbolizes for the human misery and despair...
the torments of the human soul,the innocence and guilt,Wisdom Out of Suffering and Fate that determines many things no matter how we struggle to change it....
Oedipus hears about his dreadful fate from the Delphic oracle and flees from Corinth. But instead of fleeing from his fate he runs into it...

Oedipus a passionate heart,who ask questions and take risks,has all the qualities of a great man...he has gone through sudden shifts on the course of his life and lets every situation control him....

Despite his flaws, Oedipus is a good person who seeks the truth no matter how devastating. and who accept the responsibility for his actions.....

At the end of the play, Oedipus accepts his fate as well as the punishment given to him ....

He had promised to exile the one who is responsible for the plague , and he fulfills his promise even if he himself is the one to be exiled. By mercilessly punishing himself, he becomes a great hero...
who has a Respect for Justice ....

Jocasta, on the other hand, appears as a person who would rather control the situation. She reveals that she is more mature than Oedipus and even reveals a maternal side towards him. This is evident in the way she tries to stop Oedipus from investigating further into the mystery of his birth. At this point, she has realized the possibility that Oedipus may be her son. She would rather let the dreadful fact remain a mystery then let it ruin their lives
The entwined sheets with which she hangs herself symbolize the double life she has led........

Oedipus tragic position and his trial to elude the prophecies and to challenge his Fate, that was inevitable as he at last fails, but just having the courage to attempt , makes him a true hero.

This play raises a question,when someone is trying to avoid doing things. Does he have free will or the ability to choose his own path or is everything in life predetermined?

A legendary play about listening to oracles yet fate still has its way of happening.

"How dreadful the knowledge of the truth can be
When there’s no help in truth."

Wow. This was...intense. And I don’t mean the sort of intensity I feel whenever I read a Shakespeare play, but this is a sort of intensity I can’t even describe.

To be honest I kind of expected for this to be quite dry. I mean, I was required to read this for my English literature class and you know how it usually is. Plus, this old is pretty old, and not Shakespeare old. Usually books like this can be quite tedious and tiresome and I am in one hell of a reading slump so I wasn’t really looking for anything heavy or difficult to help me out of it. To be honest, I was kind of relying of Twilight to rescue me. But that was a hit and a miss. But surprisingly enough, this was not at all what I expected. It wasn’t dry, it wasn’t tedious, it wasn’t very complicated and it most certainly wasn’t boring. It was incredible.

The thing is, I would understand if someone who isn’t the biggest fan of literature wouldn’t like this, like I mentioned before it’s not for everyone. But it is for me. Shakespeare is one of my favorite play-write of all time (hence the username), so being able to read this play and recognize all of the similarities between this and one of Shakespeare’s or even any other tragedy, was mind-blowing for me. And at the end of the day, this play really motivated me to pick up a book and read. I love it and it is one of my favorites.

Oh and by the way, Oedipus kind of reminded me of Thor and Kreon reminded me of Loki. I don’t know why, I guess I’m too much of a Marvel freak.

Трагедия возникла в Древней Греции из обрядов (дифирамбов) в честь Дионисия. Чаще размер ямбический триметр, реже трахаический тетраметр.
Безусловно, поразителен сам факт, что в V веке до нашей эры делались постановки спектаклей, авторы писали тексты, а актеры и хор исполняли.
Что же волновало античную публику? Да, все мы слышали про Эдипов комплекс, но, не читали трагедию, у нас были смутные представления об Эдипе. Содержание пьесы разочаровало. Царю Эдипу при рождении было предсказано стать отцеубийцей и жениться на собственной матери. Его отец Лаий приказал убить его, новорожденного, но пастух, которому был отдан приказ, сжалился. Он вырос, пророчество сбылось, но Эдип сначала не знал, узнав же, он с горя выколол себе глаза и покинул Фивы. В общем, инцест по незнанию, "по воле рока".
Конечно, культурное значение велико, коль скоро Зигмунд Фрейд назвал свое открытие по имени царя Эдипа. "Эдип в Колоне" - тоже довольно мрачная история. Эдип с Антигоной пришли в Колон, от другой дочери он узнает, что младший сын Этеокл сверг старшего брата Полиника. Эдип предрекает смерть братьев от рук друг друга и умирает.

"Yazık, insanın değiştiremeyeceği şeyleri bilmesi ne korkunç."

"Bu yüzden, beklemeli en son günü, ve dememeli ölümlü kimseye bahtiyar
Acılar çekmeden hayatın hedefine ulaşmadan önce o kimse."

Beware: spoilers

I, too, would gouge out my eyes and flee my hometown if I found out I married my long-lost relative.

The Moirai (or Fates as they're more commonly known) played a cruel joke on Oedipus.

My childhood nemesis got married to her second cousin, but that's not as bad as what Oedipus did.

I have a soft spot for Oedipus because he is the father/brother of Antigone, my favorite heroine. Yes, he is her father AND brother.

People who know nothing about Oedipus:

n  n

Oedipus finds out his wife is also his mother, his children are also his siblings, his brother-in-law is also his uncle and the man he killed on the road was his father.

Is it wrong to laugh at this?

The fact he killed his father over road rage is the most Greek mythology thing I've ever read. Oedipus narrowly avoids being hit by his biological father's chariot at an intersection. The only logical solution is to kill Laius and his entourage. Common sense has no place in Greek mythology.

Why does everyone refer to this as a tragedy when it's obviously a dark comedy?

This reminds me of the Foo Fighters music video 'Walk,' where Dave Grohl experiences an existential crisis while stuck in traffic.

Let's rewind to the beginning.

There once was a king named Laius who ruled over Thebes. Laius had a beautiful wife named Jocasta and all the wealth and power he could desire. If this was a Disney movie, Laius and Jocasta would have a happily-ever-after ending. Unfortunately for Laius, he was a supporting character in someone else's (Greek) tragedy.

After receiving an oracle from Delphi, he was warned that if he had a child, the child would kill him and marry his wife. Can you tell where this is going? Laius got drunk one evening and forgot he wasn't supposed to have sex. We've all been there.

The oracle: don't have sex
Laius and Jocasta: what if we have sex, and if we conceive a child, we'll hire a shepherd to leave it on a mountain to die?

I find it amusing that the solution to all problems is abandoning a child on a mountain. It is reminiscent of what Priam and Hecuba did to Paris.

n  n

Several months later, baby Oedipus is born. Fearing the prophecy, Jocasta gives her child to a shepherd to be exposed on the mountainside. The shepherd takes pity on the child and gives him to another shepherd, who gives the child to the childless king and queen of Corinth.


Oedipus is raised by his adoptive parents in Corinth. He is happy until he consults the Delphi oracle, who predicts that he will kill his father and sleep with his mother. (In the days before Google, people relied on the oracle for information). Oedipus felt afraid and decided to nope out of Corinth to protect his 'parents.'

Long story short, Oedipus and his biological father meet on a random road, get into an argument, and Oedipus kills him. Road rage - claiming victims since the Heroic Age. Fate brings Oedipus to Thebes, where he becomes king and marries his mother, Jocasta, fulfilling the prophecy.

They have four children - Eteocles, Polynices, Ismene, and my beloved Antigone. Eteocles and Polynices are power-hungry idiots, Ismene is useless, and Antigone is a certified badass. That's all I have to say about that.

Throughout the book, Oedipus denies the truth and seeks reassurance that he didn't kill his father or marry his mother. Denial, thy name is Oedipus. Eventually, he accepts that he F up big time.

n  n

I shouldn't find a book that deals with attempted filicide, parricide, and incest funny, but I do.

Upon discovering the truth, Oedipus becomes furious and demands his sword to kill Jocasta. I can't help but imagine the poor servants who had to witness this unholy family drama unfold.

Luckily for him, she unalived herself. Oedipus is overcome by sadness. I'm not sure why. Just a moment ago, he was about to attack her with his sword. Anyway, he finds Jocasta dead and gouges out his eyes with the pins from her dress. Can this guy be any more dramatic?

Oedipus, saying goodbye to his daughters/half-sisters, Antigone and Ismene: Our family is messed up, and for that, I apologize. I can't be your dad anymore. I've asked your uncle Creon to take care of you. Farewell.

Me, having read Antigone:

n  n

After discovering the truth about his past, Oedipus decides to leave Thebes and go into self-imposed exile.


Upon reading it for the second time, do you know what I realized? If ancient Greece had traffic regulations, none of this would have occurred. Oedipus would not have killed his father and banged his mother if there were traffic lights and pedestrian crossings on the road. The absence of modern technology has led to all this drama.

OMG this Oedipus dude just totally banged out his own mom LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLZ

But really, there were descendants whose genetic makeup is irrevocably tied into my own that were walking the Earth when Sophocles wrote this play. And here I am, in 2017, thousands of years later, reading it. Literature serves humanity in subtle yet profound ways; it is one of the only bridges we have into the psychology of the past. The world is so goddamn complicated. Reading books like this make me feel gigantic and tiny at the same time.

DUDE GOES BLIND BANGS MOM LOL

Este día te dará la vida y te traerá la ruina.

El tiempo es lo único que muestra al hombre justo; pues al malvado se le puede conocer en un solo día.

"How dreadful the knowledge of the truth can be. ...
Alas, how terrible is wisdom."

Los dioses se lo tomaban muy en serio cuando se trataba de maldiciones y venganza, pero creo que esta fue una de las más crueles, no solo por Edipo y Yocasta, sino por todos sus hijos. ¿Qué culpa tenían todos de lo que hizo Layo? Lo peor es que a él ni siquiera le fue tan mal, en realidad.

"[...] Θα το νιώσεις
με τον καιρό καλά,τι ο χρόνος μόνο
τον τίμιο άντρα φανερώνει· όμως
το φαύλο σε μια μέρα τον γνωρίζεις."