Hear Oedipus question a shepherd who affirms the prophecy is fulfilled in Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus Rex
The crisis of Oedipus the King, in which a shepherd reveals Oedipus's hidden past and the awful truth that Oedipus has fulfilled the Delphic oracle's prophecy.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Odysseus convinces Penelope that he is her husband by knowing a particular and secret detail of the construction of their bed.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.“Tell me, Muse…”Media Editors: Meg Matthias , Lee Goldstein
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Clifton Fadiman examines the inspiration Charles Dickens's work took from the milieu of Victorian England, with its startling contrasts of morality and hypocrisy, splendor and squalor, prosperity and poverty. This video is a 1962 production of Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.In Sophocles' Greek tragedy Oedipus the King, the blind Oedipus asks Creon to banish him from Thebes.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Oedipus, demonstrating an excess of presumption (or hubris) in his confidence that he has escaped the prophecy of Apollo's oracle, sees that he has been mistaken and that—just as foretold—he has married his mother and killed his father. He therefore blinds himself. In this excerpt from a 1959 production by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation of Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex, the blind Oedipus is conferring with the leader of the chorus.
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Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library; CC-BY-SA 4.0 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Short excerpts from a Folger Shakespeare Library production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, with critical analysis by the cast and crew.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.In this excerpt from Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus the King, learn about the function of the chorus, which, commenting here on actions and characters from the standpoint of traditional wisdom, decries human disregard of the gods, particularly of the oracles of Apollo concerning Oedipus. This video is an excerpt from a 1969 film produced by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
Transcript
OEDIPUS: If you won't speak willingly, we'll see if pain can make you speak.
SHEPHERD: In God's name, don't, don't torture me. I am an old man. Oh God! What more do you want to know?
OEDIPUS: Did you give him the child he asked about?
SHEPHERD: Yes, I did, and I wish I had died that day.
OEDIPUS: You will die now if you don't give an honest answer.
SHEPHERD: And if I speak, I shall endure worse things.
OEDIPUS: What--more delay?
SHEPHERD: No, no. I said it before. Yes, I gave him the child.
OEDIPUS: Where did you get it? Was it yours or the child of someone else?
SHEPHERD: It wasn't mine. Someone gave it to me.
OEDIPUS: Which of these Thebans here? From whose house did it come?
SHEPHERD: In God's name, master, don't ask any more questions.
OEDIPUS: You are a dead man if I have to ask you again.
SHEPHERD: It was a child born in the house of Laius.
OEDIPUS: Was it a slave or a member of the royal family?
SHEPHERD: Oh God. Now comes the dreadful truth, and I must speak.
OEDIPUS: And I must hear it. And hear it, I will.
SHEPHERD: It was the son of Laius, so I was told. But the lady inside there, your wife, she is the one to tell you.
OEDIPUS: Did she give it to you?
SHEPHERD: Yes, my lord, she did.
OEDIPUS: For what purpose?
SHEPHERD: To destroy it.
OEDIPUS: Her own child.
SHEPHERD: She was afraid of dreadful prophesies.
OEDIPUS: What were they?
SHEPHERD: The child would kill his parents. That was the story.
OEDIPUS: Then, why did you give it to the man from Corinth?
SHEPHERD: In pity, master. I thought he would take it away to a foreign country, to the place he came from. If you are the man he says you are, you were born the most unfortunate of men.
OEDIPUS: Oh God. It has all come true. Light, let this be the last time I look on you. I stand revealed--born in shame, married in shame, an unnatural murderer.
SHEPHERD: In God's name, don't, don't torture me. I am an old man. Oh God! What more do you want to know?
OEDIPUS: Did you give him the child he asked about?
SHEPHERD: Yes, I did, and I wish I had died that day.
OEDIPUS: You will die now if you don't give an honest answer.
SHEPHERD: And if I speak, I shall endure worse things.
OEDIPUS: What--more delay?
SHEPHERD: No, no. I said it before. Yes, I gave him the child.
OEDIPUS: Where did you get it? Was it yours or the child of someone else?
SHEPHERD: It wasn't mine. Someone gave it to me.
OEDIPUS: Which of these Thebans here? From whose house did it come?
SHEPHERD: In God's name, master, don't ask any more questions.
OEDIPUS: You are a dead man if I have to ask you again.
SHEPHERD: It was a child born in the house of Laius.
OEDIPUS: Was it a slave or a member of the royal family?
SHEPHERD: Oh God. Now comes the dreadful truth, and I must speak.
OEDIPUS: And I must hear it. And hear it, I will.
SHEPHERD: It was the son of Laius, so I was told. But the lady inside there, your wife, she is the one to tell you.
OEDIPUS: Did she give it to you?
SHEPHERD: Yes, my lord, she did.
OEDIPUS: For what purpose?
SHEPHERD: To destroy it.
OEDIPUS: Her own child.
SHEPHERD: She was afraid of dreadful prophesies.
OEDIPUS: What were they?
SHEPHERD: The child would kill his parents. That was the story.
OEDIPUS: Then, why did you give it to the man from Corinth?
SHEPHERD: In pity, master. I thought he would take it away to a foreign country, to the place he came from. If you are the man he says you are, you were born the most unfortunate of men.
OEDIPUS: Oh God. It has all come true. Light, let this be the last time I look on you. I stand revealed--born in shame, married in shame, an unnatural murderer.