Sophocles - Oedipus Journal # 1

159- The people of Thebes are dying and Oedipus doesn't believe it and the priests show up to talk to Oedipus.
160-The priest of Zeus shows up and asks Oedipus to recoginize that people are dying.
161-The priest ask Oedipus to do something about all the people dying.
162-Oedipus reviels he has done something he sent Creon to Delphi to talk to the oracle.
163-Creon returns and tells Oedipus that he has news.
164-Creon reveals what the oracle told him about what must been done to stop the plague
165-Creon reveals what the oracle told him about Laius death.
166-Oedipus is shocked that the people of Thebes did nothing to find out what happened to their king.
167-Oedipus vows to rid Thebes of the corruption that is causeing the play. The murder of King Laius.
168-The people of Thebes pray to the gods to protec tthem from the plague.
169-The people pray some more and ask for pity.
170-The people pray more to Zeus, Apollo, Artemis, and Dionysus.

Literary Techniques

Metaphor-"Here are boys, still too weak to fly from the nest,..."(16-17)
Compare the young men of the city to helpless bird that can do nothing to escape for danger, who need protection becuase they are so young.

Imagry-"you hurled the flames of pain..."(188). Very strong imagry about the situation of the city. Ask the plague to be taken else where.

Personification-"And black Death luxuriates in the raw, wailing miseries of Thebes" (37-38). Create an image of the complete satisfaction death gets in the misery of the people. Implies how horrible the plague is.

Metaphor- "laboring over many paths of thought."(79). This metaphor convaies that idea that Oedipus has struggled over many ideas and chosing one by comparing it to trying to figure out what path to take.