Oedipus Rex Summary | Chapterly

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles: A Complete Summary "I must hear. Count on me. I will not rest until I've tracked the truth." Overview Oedipus Rex (also known as Oedipus the King) is the most famous and most perfectly constructed tragedy ever written. Composed by Sophocles around 429 BC, it tells the story of Oedipus, king of Thebes, who investigates a plague devastating his city and discovers — through his own relentless pursuit of truth — that he himself is the cause. He has unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, fulfilling a prophecy he spent his entire life trying to escape. Aristotle considered it the supreme example of tragic drama, and it remains the gold standard. Its power comes from dramatic irony: the audience knows the truth from the beginning, and watches in horror as Oedipus, driven by precisely the qualities that make him a great king — intelligence, determination, refusal to accept easy answers — destroys himself. The play asks whether knowledge is always a good thing, whether fate can be escaped, and what happens when the seeker of truth discovers that the truth is unbearable. The Story The Plague and the Oracle Thebes is suffering a terrible...