Dated as far back as 420 BC, Sophocles the Greek tragedian wrote this book which survived the hands of time till this day. Sophocles wrote 120 books but only seven survived the hands of time. While reading the book I felt so blessed having a book dated as far back as 420BC in my possession. Hehe.
Greek dramatic tragedies are my favorite books to read including the Shakespearean tragedies. Though the language used is somehow outdated, it gives an insight to history and what kind of language was used back in those days.
Oedipus Rex was set in the city of Thebes. Each city and its immediate surrounding was independent in itself during the ancient times and each city was ruled by an own King. The city of Thebes was in Egypt with no idea of how it got to Greece.
There are four main characters in the play and the first tragic character is;
King Oedipus followed Jocasta, his mother and wife, the queen of Thebes.
Creon is another character in the play who happens to be Jocasta's brother.
Not gonna mention all the characters in the play but the main characters.
The story:
The story is simply that of a child who was born into the royal household of Thebes who according to prophecy was to kill his father and marry his mother. The prophecy had it that when the child is born, he should be destroyed because from the time of the origin of man, especially when th human race had increased incest was regarded as evil and unnatural therefore an incestors relationship will spread evil which in turn will destroy the community.
When the child was born into king laius' house according to prophecy, the king and his wife Jocasta decided to kill the baby. In order to do this, they twisted the child's ankle and they became brittle later sending a shepherd to leave the child on a sacred mountain close to thebes for the child to die there. The shepherd who takes the child to the mountain can't help but give the baby to another man; a Corinthian who in turn took the baby to his master, the king of Corinth, knowing that the king had no child of his own. Meanwhile, the other shepherd returns with news that he has done what he was asked to do.
When the king of Corinth adopted the child that was brought to him, he named the child Oedipus which means swollen feet. The child grew up without in ignorance of his background and one day, someone revives him of it at an occasion telling him that those he calls parent aren't his actual parents that he(Oedipus) should go and look for his actual parents.
Oedipus runs home to inquire if his foster parents the real truth but the foster parents weren't straight forward about their answers causing him to go inquire of the Oracle and when he does, he finds out the truth and runs away from Corinth in a bid to find his new parents he meets an aged man at a place where three roads meet there he kills the man, runs away and arrives at the city of Thebes his real hometown and that's where the tragedy began.
One thing I enjoy about ancient Greek tragedy was the unity of time, place and action. The unity of time had it that everything that must take place in the play must happen within 24hrs. For a play to be in this manner meant most of the actions were gonna be reported actions.
For example, in the play after Oedipus killed his father and runs to Thebes, he marries lauis' widow(Jocasta) his mother and she births kids for him but when the truth finally reveals itself, she kills herself and Oedipus gouge out his eyes all these are reported actions in the play as those can't be shown on stage lest it's gon' look exaggerated and so unreal.
Sophocles book "Oedipus Rex" is a worthwhile read. Read it before? Would love to read your comments on this one.
I too would feel blessed with such an old book. Literally a tragedy, what happened to the main character's eyes? Did he gouge them out? @teknon
Yes he did, I stated that somewhere close to the ending of my review. He did gouge them out when he couldn't stand the shame he brought upon his people for marrying his own mother.
I use a translator and sometimes I don't understand some things well.
Thanks for the clarification, what a terrible ending. 😱
Oh, lo siento, no sabía que estabas usando un traductor, pero menos mal que entendiste el mensaje.
Terrible de hecho.
Bruh, that story line is one hell of a story. Wow. Felt like seeing a movie, lol. Pretty typical of those old books and all.
You're a lucky fella
Haha! That's true. These old books had great story line with an amazing plot, leaves the reader in suspense one thing that intrigues more is always the sad ending. Lol
Indeed😊