Oedipus Rex

A tragedy by Sophocles in which Oedipus unknowingly kills his father, Laius, and marries his mother, Jocasta. Its investigation of Laius’s murder reveals Oedipus’s identity and fulfills a prophecy.

Greek tragedy: A form of ancient Greek drama, often centered on a hero’s suffering and a catastrophic reversal. The play’s tragic form makes recognition and reversal drive the action.
Oedipus: A figure of Greek myth who became king of Thebes after solving the Sphinx’s riddle. His choices and discoveries form the tragedy’s central action.
Sophocles: An ancient Greek tragedian whose surviving plays include Oedipus Rex and Antigone. He composed the version of Oedipus’s story staged in this tragedy.
Oedipus complex: A psychoanalytic theory that a child experiences unconscious desire for one parent and rivalry with the other. Freud derived the theory’s name from the myth, but it is not the tragedy’s central explanation.
Dramatic irony: A literary effect in which an audience knows something important that a character does not. The audience’s knowledge of the myth sharpens the gap between Oedipus’s confidence and his true identity.
Laius: The mythological king of Thebes and father of Oedipus, killed by his son without either recognizing the other. The search for Laius’s killer begins the play’s investigation.
Oedipus myth: A cycle of Greek myths about Oedipus, his family, and the fate of Thebes. Sophocles draws on this wider myth while shaping the story around an investigation.
Oedipus the King (Stravinsky–Cocteau): An opera-oratorio by Igor Stravinsky, with a Latin libretto by Jean Cocteau, based on Sophocles’ tragedy. Its ritualized musical retelling contrasts with the original play’s dramatic investigation.
Anagnorisis: A moment of recognition in which a character discovers a decisive truth about themselves or their circumstances. Oedipus’s recognition of his parentage transforms the investigation into personal catastrophe.
Jocasta: The queen of Thebes, wife of Laius and later wife of her son Oedipus, unknowingly. Her attempts to dismiss prophecy give way as the evidence identifies her family.

Linked from 12 pages