Sophocles' Oedipus Rex Dramaturge
Synopsis
The people of Thebes have been stricken by a terrible plague, and in prayer and supplication, they go to their king, Oedipus. He assures them that he has already moved to discover the cause of the affliction and has sent Creon, his brother-in-law, to the oracle at Delphi to learn what should be done. Creon soon returns with the message that the plague will vanish as soon as Thebes finds and casts out the murderer of the late king, Laius. Oedipus then consults the blind prophet, Tiresias, who is hesitant to speak. After much urging and threatening by the king, Tiresias announces that Oedipus himself is the cause of the scourge and is furthermore guilty of both incest and patricide.
..... This accusation enrages the king and he accuses Creon of plotting with Tiresias to discredit him. Only the intervention of the queen, Jocasta, prevents further rashness and hostility among the men. In this most famous of Greek tragedies and one of the most skillfully plotted plays ever written, a man tries to defy fate by the power of his own personality, and in doing so, discovers the truth about himself.