1. A tragedy By: Sophocles
Oedipus Rex
A tragedy
By: Sophocles

2. Author: Sophocles
Genre: Tragic Play
Language: Originally written in ancient Greek
Written 430 BC in Greece
Set to take place in Thebes

3. Rising Action
Creon returns from the oracle with the news that the plague in Thebes will end when the murderer of Laius, the king before Oedipus, is discovered and driven out.

4. Major Conflict
Tiresias tells Oedipus that Oedipus is responsible for the plague, and Oedipus refuses to believe him.

5. Climax
Oedipus learns, quite contrary to his expectations, that he is the man responsible for the plague that has stricken Thebes—he is the man who killed his father and slept with his mother.

6. Falling Action
The consequences of Oedipus’s learning of his identity as the man who killed his father and slept with his mother are the falling action. This discovery drives Jocasta to hang herself, Oedipus to poke out his own eyes, and Creon to banish Oedipus from Thebes.

7. Themes The power of unwritten law The willingness to ignore the truth
The limits of free will

8. Today’s Plan Practice in auditorium today and tomorrow
Perform next week
Directors: Lead the read-through and practice with stage directions.