Oedipus King of Thebes: As a young man, he saved the city of Thebes by solving the riddle of the Sphinx and destroying the monster. He now sets about finding the murderer of the former king Laius to save Thebes from plague.
Creon: The second-in-command in Thebes, brother-in-law of Oedipus. He is Oedipus' trusted advisor, selected to go to the oracle at Delphi to seek the Apollo's advice in saving the city from plague...read more...
At once Oedipus' mother and his wife, Jocasta represents the most immediate victim of Oedipus' fate, after the tragic hero himself. In contrast to Oedipus, Jocasta distrusts the oracles and believes that whatever happens will happen by unforeseeable chance. Still, she is wary enough to honor Apollo with offerings in a crisis...read mre...
With the character of Antigone, the reader of the Oedipus Trilogy might get a false impression of watching a young girl grow up, as in a novel or a true series of related plays. Remember that each play of the Oedipus Trilogy stands on its own. Although the stories of the three tragedies are connected, Sophocles did not write them in chronological order, nor did he mean for them to be viewed in a particular sequence...read more...
In Oedipus at Colonus, Polynices represents the son who wishes to reconcile with his father for self-serving reasons. Wily and somewhat shameless, Polynices dares to compare himself with his father, Oedipus, as a fellow outcast — this, despite the fact that Polynices is in part responsible for Oedipus' banishment. The gall of this argument marks Polynices as an opportunist and his ill-fated plan as a simple grab for ..read more...
As Oedipus' other daughter — the more prominent being Antigone — Ismene represents primarily a complement and contrast to her sister.
In Oedipus at Colonus, Ismene serves her father mostly as an information gatherer, a resident of Thebes who can bring her wandering father and sister news of ....read more...
As leader of Athens in Oedipus at Colonus, Theseus emerges as the ideal king, the personification of the city-state's vision of itself at its highest point. At the same time of the production of Oedipus at Colonus, such a vision of the ideal Athenian was comforting to the war-torn Athenian audience. Theseus possesses, it seems, every Athenian virtue. He is diplomatic in negotiating with the prickly Oedipus, pious in his concern for the ...read more...