Oedipus the King

Thebes is suffering from a plague when King Oedipus promises to discover the cause and save the city. An oracle declares that the pollution will end only when the killer of the former king, Laius, is identified and punished. Oedipus begins an investigation with the confidence of a ruler who once freed Thebes by solving the Sphinx's riddle.

Witnesses, memories, and prophetic statements gradually connect the old murder to questions about Oedipus's own birth. Years earlier, he had left Corinth after hearing a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. His attempt to escape that future now becomes part of the evidence he must examine.

Sophocles' Oedipus the King turns detection into a tragedy of self-knowledge. The audience can see connections before the protagonist accepts them, but the play's force comes from his determination to continue asking questions. Readers can track the tension between responsibility and ignorance: Oedipus acts without understanding his identity, yet his public duty requires him to uncover the truth.