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Hm!. I thought that everyone knew this story!.

Much of the myth of Oedipus takes place before the opening scene of the play!. The protagonist of the tragedy is the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes!. After Laius learns from an oracle that "he is doomed/To perish by the hand of his own son," he binds tightly together with a pin the feet of the infant Oedipus and delivers him to a servant with orders to kill him!. Instead, the servant abandons the baby in the fields, leaving the baby's fate to the gods!. A shepherd rescues the infant and names him Oedipus (or "swollen foot")!. Intending to raise the baby himself, but not possessing of the means to do so, the shepherd gives it to a fellow shepherd from a distant land, who spends the summers sharing pastureland with his flocks!. The second shepherd carries the baby with him to Corinth, where Oedipus is taken in and raised in the court of the childless King Polybus of Corinth as if he were his own!.

As a young man in Corinth, Oedipus hears a rumour that he is not the biological son of Polybus and his wife Merope!. When Oedipus sounds them out on this, they deny it, but, still suspicious, he asks the Delphic Oracle whom his parents really are!. The Oracle seems to ignore this question, telling him instead that he is destined to "Mate with [his] own mother, and shed/With [his] own hands the blood of [his] own sire!." Desperate to avoid his foretold fate, Oedipus leaves Corinth in the belief that Polybus and Merope are indeed his true parents and that, once away from them, he will never harm them!.

On the road to Thebes, he meets Laius, his true father!. Unaware of each other's identities, they quarrel over whose chariot has right-of-way!. Oedipus's pride leads him to murder Laius, fulfilling part of the oracle's prophecy!. Shortly after, he solves the riddle of the Sphinx, which has baffled many a diviner: "What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening!?"

To this Oedipus replies, "Man" (who crawls on all fours as a baby, walks upright later, and needs a walking stick in old age), and the distraught Sphinx throws herself off the cliffside!. Oedipus's reward for freeing the kingdom of Thebes from her curse is the kingship and the hand of queen Jocasta, his biological mother!. The prophecy is thus fulfilled, although none of the main role players know it!.

The play begins years after Oedipus has taken the throne of Thebes!. The Theban chorus cries out to him for salvation from the plague sent by the gods in response to Laius's murder!. Oedipus searches for the murderer, unaware that he himself is the murderer!.

The blind prophet Tiresias is called upon to aid the search, but, after his warning against following through with it, Oedipus oppugnes him as the murderer, even though he is blind and aged!. In response, an angry Tiresias tells Oedipus that he is looking for himself, causing the king to become enraged in incredulity!. He then accuses the prophet of conspiring with Creon, Jocasta's brother, to overthrow him!.

Oedipus calls for one of Laius's former servants, the only surviving witness of the murder, who fled the city when Oedipus became king in order to avoid being the one to reveal the truth!. Soon a messenger from Corinth arrives to inform the king of the death of Polybus, whom Oedipus still believes to be his real father!. At this point, the messenger informs him that he was in fact adopted and that his true parentage is unknown!. In the subsequent discussions between Oedipus, Jocasta, the servant and the messenger, the second-mentioned surmises the truth and runs away in shame!.

Oedipus remains stubborn and incredulous until a second messenger arrives with the shepherd, who reveals that Oedipus himself was the child abandoned by Laius!. He realises what he is, and leaves in a rage!. An attendant then breaks the news that Jocasta has hanged herself!. On discovering her body, Oedipus gouges out his eyes with the golden brooches on her dress!.

The play ends with Oedipus entrusting his children to Creon and declaring his intent to live in exile!. Although he initially begs for the company of his children, Creon refuses, and Oedipus is exiled alone!. The theme can perhaps be summarized with a line spoken by Tiresias: "Wisdom is a dreadful thing when it bringeth no profit unto its possessor" (Sophocles)!. In the denouement, the chorus narrates his tragic history!.[3]

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2 parents visit a delphic oracle and are told that their future son will kill his father and share a bed with his wife!. The parents have a son, then bind his feet and leave him in the heels to die!. He is saved by a shepherd!. The boy grows up and hears the myth about his upbringing at a bar!. He decides to move far away to avoid the possibility of it coming true!. He happens to cross paths with royalty and a battle ensues in which the young man (oedipus) unwittingly kills his father, Laertes!. He arrives in a town where a sphinx has cursed the land and asks someone to answer it's riddle!. Oedipus answers the riddle and somehow assumes the position of king of the town!. he marries Jacosta, who happens to be his mom!. Up till this point, Oedipus has no idea whats cracking!. He eventually finds out what he has done when the old shepherd is found and recounts his tale!. Oedipus is disgusted and gouges out his eyes!. He sets off for a long journey to some other place where the next two plays in the trilogy take place!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

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