Oedipus Rex: Lines 998-1310 Summary & Analysis

Jocasta enters and makes an offering to Apollo to appease Oedipus's mind. Just then, a messenger—an old man—arrives from Corinth, with news that the people there want to make Oedipus their king. Polybus, king of Corinth—the man Oedipus believes to be his father—has died. Jocasta is overjoyed because she views Polybus's death as further proof that the prophecies are false.

Oedipus enters and learns the news. Relieved, he celebrates with Jocasta and agrees with her that the oracles and prophecies are "dead," and that chance alone rules the world.

Jocasta urges Oedipus to live without fear. Yet Oedipus admits that because his mother is still alive, part of the prophecy might still come true.

The messenger asks what Oedipus is afraid of. Oedipus tells him the prophecy—that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother—and says that this is why he has never returned to Corinth. The messenger tells Oedipus he never had anything to fear. Polybus and Merope weren't his real father and mother.

The messenger tells Oedipus that he (the messenger) came upon a baby on the side of Mount Cithaeron, near Thebes. He freed the baby's ankles, which were pinned together, and gave the baby to Polybus to raise as a gift. That baby grew up to be Oedipus, who still walks with a limp because of the injury to his ankles. When Oedipus asks for more details about who his parents were, the messenger says he doesn't know, but was given the baby by another shepherd who was a servant of Laius.

Jocasta reacts sharply to this last piece of news. Meanwhile, the chorus tells Oedipus that this other shepherd, Laius's old servant, is the same man as the eyewitness to the murder of Laius.

Jocasta now begs Oedipus to abandon his search for his origins. Oedipus thinks she's worried that he will discover he's the son of some slave or commoner, a fact that might shame her. She insists that isn't it, and continues to beg him not to question the shepherd. He won't listen to her. At last, she lets out a wrenching scream, calls Oedipus a "man of agony," and flees through the palace.

Oedipus declares that he must know the secret of his birth, no matter how common his origins. A shepherd approaches. The messenger confirms that it's the same man who gave him the baby. Oedipus and the messenger question the old shepherd. When they bring up the subject of the baby, the shepherd refuses to speak.

Only after Oedipus threatens to torture the shepherd does the shepherd admit that he gave the baby to the messenger. The shepherd then refuses to name the father and mother of the baby. Oedipus threatens to kill the shepherd if he does not speak. Finally, the shepherd gives in: the parents of the baby were Laius and Jocasta. The shepherd says he was told to kill the baby boy because of a prophecy that he would grow up to kill his father. But the shepherd took pity on the baby and gave it to the messenger.

Realizing who he is, and that the prophecies have come to pass, Oedipus lets out a terrible cry and rushes into the palace. The messenger and shepherd exit.