Èdip Rei

Oedipus has become king of Thebes, after defeating the Sphinx and marrying Jocasta, widow of King Laios. Without knowing it, Oedipus has killed his father in a fight when he was returning from Delphi to consult the oracle and has married his mother. A terrible plague has taken hold of Thebes and Oedipus searches for the causes of the misfortune by consulting the oracle of Apollo in Delphi and also with Tiresias, the soothsaying priest of Thebes. The answer is clear: the plague will end when the death of Laios has been avenged. Oedipus is the quintessential tragic hero: the just, intelligent, pious man towards the gods, who wants to know the truth for the good of his people, whatever the cost; and that he does not give up in the attempt to discover it, despite the fact that, as he approaches it, he senses that it will be the cause of his ruin. The different solution with which Jocasta and Oedipus will face the knowledge of the truth is also the reflection of two ways of facing life's difficulties.