Are you suffering from the Oedipus complex? Know what it is?

Soon to be King Oedipus Laius, king of Thebes, has the oracle of Delphic Apollo that his newborn son will kill him. Laius’s wife, Jocaste and himself pierce the feet of their newborn son and has a slave leave the baby for dead on Mount Cithaeron Who would keep a baby that is going to kill them? Kill or be killed!!!!!

He lives!!!! Instead of leaving baby Oedipus for dead, the slave gives the baby to a family in Corinth. Later in life, Oedipus questions who his real parents are and is told by the oracle of Delphi that he will soon kill his father and breed children by his mother. Oedipus, believing that the oracle is talking of his parents in Corinth, decides never to return in order to avoid this tragedy.

To Thebes!!!! At the crossroads of Thebes, Delphi, and Corinth, an old man (who Oedipus kills) tries to prevent Oedipus from passing through (for his own good) Oedipus runs into a Sphinx (winged lion with a head of a woman) who will only let passers by if they answer the question to the following riddle: What in the morning walks on four legs, at midday on two, and in the evening on three.

Die Sphinx Die!!! Answer: human beings. Oedipus answers correctly and the Sphinx is forced to throw herself from the cliff’s ledge. Oedipus has saved the territory of Thebes from the monster and it is now free. He is a hero.

Remember the Old Man? The old man killed by Oedipus near the pass to Thebes, happened to be the king of Thebes on his way to see the oracle in order to find a way to get rid of the Sphinx The throne is left open, the Queen is still very attractive, and Oedipus would probably make a good king, so the citizens of Thebes offers the Queen and the throne to him.

The Sibling Rivalries begin Queen Jocaste and King Oedipus have four children. Twin brothers: Eteocles and Polyneices Two girls: Antigone and Ismene

The Plague!!!! A plague strikes Thebes some many years after the birth of Oedipus’s children. He is asked to do something, so he sends for the oracle of Delphi once again. The oracle of Delphic Apollo tells Oedipus that the God’s are angry with Thebes because the death of the previous king Laius was never avenged. One man was a witness; he is now a very old man living in the mountains.

As if he were my father. . . King Oedipus states that nobody should help the murderer of King Laius and that he will seek justice for this crime as if King Lauis were his own father (Remember what the oracle told him earlier?) In order to find out who the murderer is, Oedipus consults the blind prophet Tereisias (famous prophet)

Just drop it already!!!! Tereisias tells Oedipus it would be better for all if he would drop the issue. Oedipus claims that Tereisias is a conspirator with murderers. Angered by this, Tereisias tells Oedipus “since you would like to know so badly, by sun down you will find out yourself a husband and a son and brother of your children. EWWWWWWW, gross man.

Jocaste reveals. . . Oedipus runs to Jocaste in hopes of having his beliefs confirmed. However, this conversation plants seeds of doubts into Oedipus because Jocaste explains that an oracle once told her late husband that he would be killed by his son, but in fact he was killed by some robbers at the crossroads of Corinth, Thebes, and Delphi, shortly before Oedipus showed up (remember the old man Oedipus killed?)

O Crap!!!! The course of peripeteia (turn of events) releases the mechanisms of anagnorisis (realizing). Messenger comes running in at this time: Your father Polybus is dead; you are now king of Corinth. Why return there though, he was told he would marry his mother.

Hmmmm.. . But, he was also told he would kill his father and that didn’t happen, or did it? The messenger calms Oedipus’ fears by informing him that he was adopted and the parents he knows in Corinth are indeed, not his parents. The messenger explains he knows this for fact because he got Oedipus from a shepherd and that he was found with his feet pierced Putting it together yet. . . . Don’t say anything!

O dear, O, O dear.. . Hearing this, Jocaste starts to understand everything completely and pleads with Oedipus to stop this investigation. Jocaste disappears into the castle never to return. Even the chorus pleads with Oedipus to stop this madness.

That’s your mother dude!! The shepherd who was summoned shows up and the messenger recognizes him as the man who had given him the baby. The shepherd reveals that the baby was of King Lauis and Queen Jocaste and that indeed if Oedipus is that baby, “he is the most wretched man that ever lived.”

Tragedy This news was too much for Jocaste to bear, so she commits suicide by hanging herself in the same room that she shared with father and son. Oedipus runs in, finds her and grabs a pin from her dress and pokes out his eyes; after what he has committed, he feels, he must not see the sun. He is exiled from Thebes

A new King! Oedipus’s uncle, Creon takes the throne of Thebes (temporarily). Antigone and Ismene follow their father to Athens where he is awarded refuge. He dies (we don’t know how) and Antigone and Ismene return to Thebes. Antigone is to marry Creon’s son, Haemon (Yep, that makes him her cousin)

The quarrel. . . . Oedipus’s two sons both want heir to the throne of Thebes; Eteocles gains authority and exiles Polyneices who in turn raises up an army in order to come back and reclaim Thebes for his own. The two brothers kill one another in the battle and the throne is left to Creon.

A hero’s funeral, and traitor’s consequence Eteocles is given a hero’s Christian burial and permitted to enter the after life Polyneices’s is left in the open air to rot, therefore, he will not be able to enter the after life. No coins for him!!!! Anybody who does decide to bury him will suffer severe consequences. Antigone, you poor, poor fool!!!!

The Family Tree