Oedipus Rex

Written circa 429 BC, Oedipus Rex stands as the most renowned of Sophocles' seven surviving plays and a defining work of ancient Greek tragedy. The narrative opens in Thebes during a devastating plague that forces King Oedipus to hunt for the murderer of his predecessor, Laius. Unbeknownst to him, he has already fulfilled the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. As Oedipus interrogates witnesses including the blind prophet Tiresias, the truth slowly reveals itself: Laius was his biological father and Jocasta, his current wife, is his mother. Upon this realization, Jocasta takes her own life, and Oedipus blinds himself with her brooches before facing exile.

Aristotle cited this play repeatedly in his Poetics as the perfect model of tragic structure, praising its tight pacing and intense emotional impact. While the events occur chronologically first in the Oedipus cycle, Sophocles composed this work after writing Antigone. The text typically runs about 80 pages depending on the translation and formatting, serving as a short but devastating study of fate versus free will and the limits of human knowledge. [edit]