Citizens gather at Oedipus's palace in supplication, lamenting that plague, famine, and disease are destroying Thebes.

Creon returns from Apollo's oracle at Delphi declaring that Laius's murderer must be found and expelled.

Oedipus swears before his people to hunt down Laius's killer and bring justice, even at personal cost.

The blind prophet Tiresias arrives but refuses to reveal what he knows about Laius's murder.

After Oedipus accuses Tiresias of the murder, Tiresias finally names Oedipus as the killer he seeks.

Creon confronts Oedipus over accusations of treason, and Jocasta intervenes to stop their bitter quarrel.

Jocasta reveals that she and Laius abandoned their infant son on a hillside after receiving a terrible prophecy.

Oedipus confesses to Jocasta that he killed a man resembling Laius at a crossroads before arriving in Thebes.

A messenger from Corinth arrives to announce Polybus's death and reveals Oedipus was not his biological son.

The Corinthian messenger reveals he personally delivered an abandoned infant Oedipus, ankles skewered, to King Polybus.

Jocasta realizes the full truth and runs away wailing, begging Oedipus in vain to stop his investigation.

Under threat of torture, the old shepherd confesses that Jocasta herself handed him her newborn son to expose.

A messenger reports to the crowd that Jocasta has hanged herself and Oedipus has blinded himself with her dress pins.

The blinded Oedipus appears before his people and begs Creon to let him embrace his daughters one last time.

Creon takes control of Thebes and leads Oedipus inside to await the gods' judgment on his fate.

Thebes is ravaged by plague, and King Oedipus launches a mission to find the murderer of his predecessor, Laius. The blind prophet Tiresias shocks Oedipus by naming him the killer, but Oedipus dismisses the accusation as treason. As Oedipus investigates further, a series of witnesses and messengers gradually expose a monstrous truth: he is Laius's own son, has fulfilled a terrible prophecy, and unknowingly married his own mother. Jocasta, overwhelmed by the revelation, hangs herself, and Oedipus blinds himself in anguish over her body. The blinded king presents himself to his horrified people and begs to hold his daughters before his fate is sealed. Creon takes the throne and leads Oedipus inside to face whatever the gods have decreed.

The rise and catastrophic fall of King Oedipus.

An old priest addresses Oedipus on behalf of the suffering people, calling him first among men and begging for help.

Oedipus assures the crowd he has already acted by sending Creon to Apollo's oracle at Delphi.

Creon delivers the oracle's command: expel the corruption and drive out the unpunished killer of King Laius.

The Chorus sings a hymn to Apollo, Zeus, Artemis, and Dionysus, pleading with the gods to end the blight.

Oedipus promises his people that any murderer who comes forward will receive exile rather than death.

A citizen proposes that Oedipus consult Tiresias, the blind prophet known to speak directly for Apollo.

Tiresias warns Oedipus that no man alive will be destroyed from the earth as brutally as the king himself.

After the confrontation with Tiresias, the Chorus sings in fear but refuses to condemn Oedipus without solid evidence.

Creon argues he prefers royal privilege without the burden and responsibility of ruling as king.

Oedipus questions Jocasta about where Laius was killed and what the murdered king looked like.

Oedipus tells Jocasta that a drunken banquet taunt about his parentage first made him doubt his origins.

Jocasta leaves to make offerings at the shrines, declaring that chance, not prophecy, governs all human lives.

The Chorus sings a hymn speculating that perhaps a god, not Polybus, fathered the infant Oedipus.

The summoned shepherd proves evasive and reluctant to acknowledge that he knows the Corinthian messenger.

Oedipus weeps over his young daughters, grieving that they will carry the stigma of his cursed legacy.

When the priest of Thebes begs Oedipus for help, the king reveals he has already sought divine guidance, and the resulting message from Apollo sets the tragedy in motion. Citizens, a blind prophet, and a chorus of townspeople each weigh in as Oedipus investigates the murder, offering warnings that go unheeded. Creon defends himself against accusations of conspiracy, while Jocasta tries to calm her husband by declaring that chance, not prophecy, governs human fate. As a Corinthian messenger arrives and a reluctant shepherd is summoned, the supporting characters bear helpless witness to Oedipus's world collapsing around him. Their fear, loyalty, and pity frame the horror of the central revelation without being able to stop it. The play closes with Oedipus weeping over his daughters, knowing they will inherit the shame of his cursed name.

The voices around Oedipus as the truth closes in.

Oedipus scorns Tiresias's physical blindness and accuses him of conspiring with Creon against the throne.

Tiresias delivers a parting prophecy that Oedipus will discover he is both son and husband to his own mother.

Moved by the Chorus's loyalty and pleading, Oedipus relents and spares Creon from punishment.

Jocasta dismisses all prophecy as meaningless, citing the supposed death of her abandoned son as proof.

Oedipus admits to Jocasta that he fears the blind prophet may be right about his true identity.

Oedipus requests that the sole surviving eyewitness to Laius's murder be recalled from the countryside.

Oedipus tells Jocasta he fled Corinth after an oracle warned he would kill his father and marry his mother.

Oedipus latches onto one hope: the original witness claimed a band of thieves, not a single man, killed Laius.

Oedipus takes initial comfort in Polybus's death, believing it proves the prophecy about killing his father cannot be fulfilled.

Oedipus realizes the shepherd who witnessed Laius's murder and the man who gave him to Polybus are the same person.

Oedipus commands the unwilling shepherd to be tortured into revealing the truth about the abandoned infant.

The shepherd's forced confession reveals that Oedipus is the cursed child born to Laius and Jocasta.

The Chorus sings a lament over Oedipus's destruction, mourning the terrible brevity of all human happiness.

Oedipus declares to the Chorus that Apollo ordained his fate, but his own hand alone struck out his eyes.

Oedipus asks Creon to exile him to Mount Cithaeron, the hillside where he was left to die as an infant.

Oedipus's destruction unfolds through a chain of choices and revelations that each bring him closer to an unbearable truth. He scorns Tiresias and ignores an ominous parting prophecy about incest, then is persuaded to spare Creon while remaining blind to what the prophet's words truly mean. Jocasta's attempt to dismiss all prophecy as powerless only unsettles Oedipus further, and his own account of fleeing Corinth connects dots he refuses to acknowledge. Each new piece of evidence—Polybus's death, the realization that two crucial shepherds are the same man, and a forced confession—destroys another layer of the false life Oedipus has lived. When the truth finally breaks open, Oedipus gouges out his eyes and accepts a fate he can no longer deny. His final act of self-knowledge is to ask for exile on the very hillside where his doomed life began.