Oedipus Tyrannus

Oedipus Tyrannus

1. The play starts with people moaning about problems to Oedipus (miasma)

   • Oedipus has sent his brother-in-law/uncle (ew) to consult the [crazy women who can tell the future]
     • CREON!!! returns and says that they must either kill or exile the murderer of Laius (the previous king) to be rid of the miasma
       • Oedipus says that he will only exile the murderer

2. Tiresias enters

   • Oedipus demands he tells him all he knows
     • Tiresias claims he should not, for Oedipus' sake
       • Oedipus demands him to tell him what he knows once again
         • Tiresias says that Oedipus was the murderer of Laius
           • Oedipus says he is lying and plotting against him with Creon
             • Tiresias leaves
   • Tiresias is a crazy blind morphodite fortune teller

3. Creon returns

   • He has heard the accusations of Oedipus
     • Oedipus confirms that these accusations and true and that Creon is a traitor
       • Creon claims that he would rather keep his power while doing no work than have a little more power and a huge amount of work
         • Oedipus tells him to leave immediately
           • Oedipus' wife enters and stops the fight
             • Creon leaves

4. Oedipus talks with his wife about the murder

   • He discovers that he may have been the murderer
     • A slave arrives informing Oedipus that his father has died
       • Oedipus does not want to take his father's throne in fear of marrying his mother
         • The slave tells him that he is not their son

5. Oedipus demands to know who his parents were

   • The slave tells him a different slave gave Oedipus to him
     • He has this slave brought to him
       • The slave tells him that his father is the king he killed...
         • ...and his mother is the woman he married!

6. Oedipus looks for his mother

   • He finds that she has hung herself
     • Oedipus gouges his eyes out
       • He then leaves forever