An excerpt from our study guide for "Oedipus el Rey" ...
It is still uncertain whether there ever was a real historical figure known as Oedipus (pronounced by the Greek “oy-Deep-us” meaning swollen feet), but this Greek tragedy was written around 429 BCE by the playwright Sophocles.
Starting with the characters’ history, Laius and Jocasta are king and queen of Thebes, a town in Greece, and at one time they were blessed with an infant son. Nevertheless, an oracle prophesied that the boy would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. To thwart this prophecy, Laius and Jocasta decided to kill their baby—not an unusual practice for that time when dealing with an unwanted or even defective infant. A common method was to abandon the child to die in the wilderness. Not wanting to leave any doubt, the baby Oedipus’s feet were pierced and tied together (an act that connects with the origins of Oedipus’s name and also helps in identifying him later). The baby is found by a kindly shepherd who gives him over to be adopted by the king and queen of Corinth. Later when Oedipus begins to question his origins, he visits different oracles who tell him of the odd prophecy—that he will kill his father and wed his mother, though none of this makes sense to Oedipus. He then decides to leave Corinth.
Approximately twelve years before the action of the play begins, Oedipus has been made King of Thebes in gratitude for his freeing the people from the pestilence brought on them by the presence of the riddling Sphinx. Since Laius, the former king, had shortly before been killed, Oedipus has been further honored by the hand of Queen Jocasta. Oedipus, now king of Thebes, is then confronted with the problem of plague in the city. The people ask for his help again, but Oedipus has already anticipated the need. Informed by the oracles that the plague is caused by the unpunished murder of the former king, Laius, Oedipus has vowed to hunt down the killer. To discover the criminal, Oedipus sends for the blind seer, Tiresias. Unwilling at first, Tiresias finally names Oedipus himself as the killer. Oedipus, outraged at the accusation, denounces it as part of Creon’s (brother to Jocasta) plot to gain the throne. Jocasta appears to assuage the situation, arguing that seers are fallible and that she has waylaid the old prophecy that claimed Laius would be murdered by his son and that this son would also sire children through his mother. Jocasta confesses that she has prevented this by abandoning her son to the wilderness; and that Laius had been killed by robbers. Eventually and by degrees, Oedipus comes to the realization that he is the murderer of Laius, also his own father, and that he is now married to his mother, Jocasta. The dreaded prophecy has been fulfilled. Horrified at the discoveries and finding that Jocasta has committed suicide in response to this appalling news, Oedipus, pulls the pins from her robe and stabs out his own eyes. Oedipus then emerges from the palace, bleeding and begging to be exiled. He asks Creon to send him away from Thebes and to look after his daughters, Antigone and Ismene. Creon, covetous of royal power, is all too happy to oblige. Then, carrying out the fated punishment promised for the murderer of Laius, Oedipus goes into exile.
Sources:
Oedipus Rex Full Summary: http://maninotes.blogspot.com/2010/09/oedipus-rex-full-summary.html
Enjoying "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles, Ed Friedlander MD, Kansas City University of Medicine and
Biosciences: http://www.pathguy.com/oedipus.htm
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