429 BCE · Sophocles
Oedipus Rex
The man who solved every riddle except the one that was his own life.
Sophocles
Oedipus Rex
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Oedipus is brilliant, beloved, and the best king Thebes has ever had. So when a plague devastates his city, he does what he always does — he hunts for the answer. The answer, it turns out, is him. Sophocles builds his tragedy not from villainy or weakness but from the one thing Oedipus cannot stop doing: looking for the truth. What he finds at the end of that search has haunted readers for two and a half thousand years.
The companion
Summary
What happens, and how the book is built.
Read summary →Analysis
Close reading. What this book is really doing.
Read analysis →Chapters
Chapter by chapter — short notes, no fluff.
Read chapters →About the Writer
The human behind the book.
Read about the writer →Themes
The ideas it keeps circling back to.
Read themes →Characters
The cast — who they are, and what they carry.
Read characters →Symbols & Motifs
Recurring objects and images — and what they carry.
Read symbols & motifs →Quotes
Passages worth saving.
Read quotes →Lines to Ponder
Single lines worth sitting with.
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