Oedipus The King: Journal 1

One Sentence Summary for Each Page:

Pg. 159: A plague struck the city and priests kneel before Oedipus with branches wound in wool. Oedipus asks the priests what they need from him.

Pg. 160: The priest explains to Oedipus how the city is devastated and in ruins. This is caused by the plague, cattle and crops dying, women dying in labor, children stillborn, etc.

Pg. 161: The priest begs Oedipus to help all of the people in the city the same way he had once before.

Pg. 162: Oedipus says that he hurts as well, for himself, for the people, and for the city. He sent Creon to Delphi to find out what he should do to help the city. Then Creon came back, and Oedipus hoped that he brought good advice, a rescue plan for the city.

Pg. 163: Oedipus talks to Creon, trying to find out what the god had told him. Creon tries to pull him away to the palace to tell him privately, but Oedipus wants all of the priests to hear the news as well. The news sounds like it is good.

Pg. 164: Creon tells Oedipus in front of the priests that Apollo says that they must banish or kill the man or men who killed their old leader, Laius.

Pg. 165: Oedipus asks Creon where they could find the killer or killers, and Creon said that Apollo told him that they would be found in Thebes. Oedipus questions where, and if there was anyone who could help them find them, but Creon does not know where, and there is no one to help them. The one person was too terrified and could not explain anything clearly. Although Creon offers hope when he says that there was one thing that the man told them.

Pg. 166: Creon describes how King Laius and the people he was with were attacked by thieves, and Oedipus cannot believe that they wouldn't have tracked down the killers then and there. When he asked why, Creon said that Sphinx told them to let it go.

Pg. 167: Oedipus decides to rid their city of corruption himself by finding the killers. He is confident that they will triumph. The priests feel like they have recieved a good answer to their problem because Oedipus is offering himself to save his city. Oedipus calls on the guards to call the city before them.

Pg. 168: The chorus (citizens of Thebes) talk to Zeus, asking what news came to their city and asking what he will bring. They also talk about their terror. They mention the godesses Athena and Artemis as well.

Pg. 169: The citizens cry how their city has numberless griefs and miseries and how it is a city of death. They beg for mercy a rescue from the gods.

Pg. 170: The citizens are still begging for the gods to stop the god of death that has raided their city and turned it to ruins.

Literary Techniques:

"Here are boys, still too weak to fly from the nest" (Pg.160): Personification is used here to display how bad the conditions are in the city by showing how the men are too weak to support themselves.

"our ship pitches wildly, cannot life her head" (Pg. 160): Personification is used again to reveal the terrible conditions in the city.

"Thebes is dying" (Pg. 160): The personification emphasizes, yet again, how the city is completely in ruins.

"And black Death luxuriates in the raw, wailing miseries of Thebes" (Pg. 160): The personification of death reveals how death has appeared everywhere in the city.

"But my spirit grieves for the city, for myself and all of you" (Pg.162): Personification of Oedipus' soul reveals how sad he feels for everyone in the city including himself, and to show how he wants to help.

"groping, laboring over many paths of thought" (Pg. 162): This figure of speech reveals how much Oedipus was trying to find a way to save his city.

"Lord Apollo, let him come with a lucky word of rescue, shining like his eyes!" (Pg. 162): This simile shows the hope for the city which would come with an idea to try to rescue the city.

"I tell you even the hardest things to bear" (Pg.163): This reveals how Creon would tell Oedipus anything.

"don't nurse it in your soil- root it out!'" (Pg. 164): Apollo tells them to get rid of the corruption that is in their land that they are nursing at the moment. This reveals how the city did not know of the corruption that was in their land.

"the trail of the ancient guilt so hard to trace?" (Pg. 165): This foreshadows how difficult it will be to find the killer or killers and save their city.

"I'll start again- I'll bring it all to light myself!" (Pg. 167): This reveals Oedipus' desparity to save his city by ridding them of corruption.

"What word from the gold vaults of Delphi comes to brilliant Thebes?" (Pg. 168): The gold vaults represent the hope that the citizens have for the triumph of their city. This is also seen in how they still describe Thebes as brilliant.

"terror shakes my heart" (Pg. 168): This reveals how even though the citizens are hopeful for their city, they are still very fearful.

"Tell me, child of golden Hope, warm voice that never dies!" (Pg. 168): The citizens describe Zeus as the child of hope. They are looking to him for an answer, and hoping that they will be provided with one. By saying that his warm voice never dies, it again emphasizes the hope that he provides them with.

"you hurled the flame of pain" (Pg. 168): The citizens are begging the gods for help in their struggles in the city. After discussing their past here, they beg for the gods to come down again to help them like they did before.

"heart of the market place enthroned in glory, guardian of our earth" (Pg. 168): The citizens beg for Artemis, the protecter of their earth, to help them.

"Thebes like a great army dying" (Pg. 169): This simile emphasizes again the horrible conditions in Thebes.

"and there is no sword of thought to save us, no" (Pg. 169): The citizens feel like there is nothing there to save them, no plan for rescue.

"like seabirds winging west, outracing the day's fire" (Pg. 169): The dead are compared to these seabirds, which reveals just how many are dying. They "outrace the day's fire".

"Thebes is dying" (Pg. 169): This personification shows how the city is completely in ruins.

Page 170 is filled with imagery of the gods fighting the god of death in order to save the city of Thebes.