PAPER Topics

Start of Term Paper
The play begins with a request to Oedipus by the townspeople to rid Thebes of the plague, since he had so heroically solved the riddle of the Sphinx in the past. He sends Creon, his brother-in-law and uncle, to the oracles at Delphi. Creon retu ....

Middle of Term Paper
... of the murder, which infuriates him, and also preludes to his “shameful intimacy.” Oedipus then draws upon his solving of the riddle of the Sphinx to undermine the blind prophet, convinced that he, in alliance with Creon, was plotting against him. Creon’s modest rebuttal consisted only of a threat to himself- that if Oedipus’ claim against him were true, then let him not live out the rest of his days. Later, in a conversation with Oedipus, he justifies his denial of the charge that Oedipus had placed against him by illustrating the irrelevance of attempting to dethrone the king. When Jocasta enters, she sides w ...