1. Oedipus Additional information

2. When Creon returns with his news we also learn that the murderer is still within the city of Thebes after all these years. Oedipus ironically promises to solve the mystery of Laius’s death, vowing to curse and drive out the murderer (* dramatic irony – reader knows something character does not ) When Tiresias accuses Oedipus of being the murderer, Oedipus accuses Creon and Tiresias of conspiring against him. Oedipus questions Tiresias as to why he did not help the Thebans with solving the riddle of the Sphinx years ago and brags he solved it himself. Oedipus makes fun of Tiresias’s blindness, but ironically the one who is truly blind to what is occurring is Oedipus himself.

3. Tiresias defends his skills claiming Oedipus’s parents trusted him. Oedipus grew up in the distant city of Corinth and questions Tiresias on how he knows his parents. Tiresias presents Oedipus with a riddle: The murderer of Laius will turn out to be both father and brother to his own children, and the son of his own wife. While living in Corinth, Oedipus overheard someone at a banquet saying he was not the real son of the king and queen. The messenger who brings the news of Polybus’s passing also says the people of Corinth want Oedipus to rule them now. The messenger who brings this news is a shepherd as is the old man who survived the fight at the 3 way crossroads.

4. Polybus’s wife (Oedipus’s foster mom) was called Merope. The servant of Laius sent by Jocasta to murder her son bound the boy to a tree by his feet and left him on the mountain to die. The servant took pity on the child and took him to a far city (Corinth) thinking the distance would avoid the prophecy from coming true. He handed the baby to a shepherd in Corinth, who turns out to be the messenger who brings the news of Polybus’s death. Childless, Polybus and Merope accepted the child as a gift and named him Oedipus (Swollen-Foot) because of the wounds they found upon him. Jocasta’s suicide and Oedipus’s self torture (poking out eyes) goes on off stage and a nameless servant tells the audience what occurs.

5. Jocasta hangs herself in her bedroom because she realizes the truth. Oedipus finding her dead uses the pins from her own robe to stab out his eyes. Keeping in mind the topic of blindness in the scene with Tiresias, when Oedipus truly sees the truth (“eyes are opened”), he deliberately blinds himself. Oedipus begs Creon (who is now in charge) to exile him. He asks Creon to watch over his daughters, Antigone & Ismene. Homework: Answer Oedipus Questns.