Oedipus the King
Storyboard Text
- Thebes is suffering due to a plague on the land. The king, Oedipus sends Kreon to speak with the god Apollo. Kreon brings news that the murderer of Laios, the former king, is dwelling in Thebes and must be exiled to cure the land.
- “It was murder that brought the plague-wind on the city” (104-105).
- Prologue
- Scene 3
- Kreon sends a prophet named Teiresias to help Oedipus find Laios’ murderer. But Teiresias accuses Oedipus of killing Laios and hints at Oedipus’ dark future. Oedipus is outraged and believes Kreon is using Teiresias to try and take the throne of Thebes.
- “I say that you are the murderer whom you seek” (144).
- Scene 1
- Scene 4
- Oedipus confronts Kreon and accuses him of attempting to take the throne. Iokaste, Oedipus’ wife, comforts Oedipus and tells him of a prophecy that her son would kill her husband. But instead, Laios was killed by robbers. Oedipus is disturbed because he killed a man resembling Laios and sends for the only witness of the murder.
- “But if he says one man, singlehanded, did it, then the evidence all points to me” (319-320).
- Exodos
- Scene 2
- A messenger comes to Oedipus, telling him that his father,Polybus, has passed away. Oedipus is relieved, seeing that the prophecy that hewill kill his father cannot come true. But the messenger tells him that he is not the son of Polybus and was found by a shepherd, abandoned from the house of Laios. Oedipus sends for the shepherd who found him.
- “Polybus was not your father” (101).
- The shepherd who found Oedipus is summoned and under threat of death, tells Oedipus that he is the son of Laios and Iokaste. Oedipus is devastated, learning he has killed his father and married his mother, and runs away from the shepherd.
- “No man living is more wretched than Oedipus” (67).
- Oedipus discovers that Iokaste has killed herself and he takes pins from her gown and blinds himself. Oedipus then submits to Kreon’s leadership and begs Kreon to send him away.
- “Send me from Thebes!” (284).
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