Oedipus Rex was Sophocles' most famous play. It was first performed around 429 B.C. In the play there were six main characters and the chorus. They were: Oedipus, Creon, Jocasta, Antigone, Shepherd and Tiresias. Just before the start of the play, Oedipus leaves Corinth because he thinks that by doing this he will escape a prophecy that says he will kill his father and marry his mother. But little does Oedipus know that him leaving Corinth only jumpstarted the prophecy. And so he ends up killing his father Laius and marrying his mother Jocasta. Oedipus and Jocasta then have four children named Antigone, Polynices, Eteocles and Ismene.
In the beginning of the play, a priest and his followers ask Oedipus to save them from the plague that was emerging. Creon then announces that Laius, the king, had been killed and that the murderer needs to be punished. Oedipus promises that he will find the murderer and punish him for what he has done. When Oedipus goes to see Tiresias to figure out who killed Laius he is bewildered to find out it is Oedipus himself who had committed the murder of Laius. Oedipus then starts to ask around about his death because he was in denial about murdering Laius. A messenger from Corinth tells Oedipus that he was adopted and that his birth father is dead so there was no need to worry about the prophecy coming true. Jocasta is the one who ends up figuring out the truth about Oedipus, that he is her son. Then, the Herdsman who rescued Oedipus as a baby tells him that he was indeed Laius and Jocasta's child, and that he killed his father. At this point in the play, it is reported by a servant that Jocasta has committed suicide. Oedipus then gauges his eyes out, making himself blind, and is exiled from Thebes.
Link where you can find a PDF of the play:
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