索福克勒斯的这部希腊悲剧是根据一位堕落英雄的古代传说改编的。故事中有几个可互换的名字，包括俄狄浦斯·泰伦纳斯、俄狄浦斯·雷克斯或经典的俄狄浦斯王。该剧于公元前429年左右首次上演，情节以谋杀疑案和政治惊悚片的形式展开，直到该剧结束时才披露真相。

神话悲剧

虽然《俄狄浦斯王》是几千年前精心制作的，但它的故事仍然让读者和观众感到震惊和着迷。在故事中，俄狄浦斯统治着底比斯王国，但一切都不顺利。全国各地都有饥荒和瘟疫，众神都很愤怒。俄狄浦斯发誓要找出诅咒的源头。不幸的是，事实证明他是令人憎恶的。

俄狄浦斯是国王莱厄斯和王后约卡斯塔的儿子，在不知情的情况下娶了他的母亲，最后他和母亲生了四个孩子。最后，俄狄浦斯也谋杀了他的父亲。当然，这一切他都不知道。

当俄狄浦斯发现自己行为的真相时，他充满了恐惧和自我厌恶。在这段独白中，他目睹了妻子的自杀，使自己失明。他现在致力于自己的惩罚，并计划作为一个被放逐者在地球上行走，直到生命的尽头。

读者能从俄狄浦斯国王身上得到什么

故事的意义围绕着俄狄浦斯作为悲剧英雄的性格发展。他在寻找真理的旅途中所忍受的痛苦与安提戈涅和奥赛罗等自杀的同行不同。这个故事也可以被看作是一个围绕家庭理想的故事，讲述一个儿子与父亲争夺母亲的注意力。

希腊社会设定的理想受到俄狄浦斯性格的挑战。例如，他的性格特征，如固执和愤怒，并不是理想化的希腊男子。当然，围绕命运的主题是核心，因为神已经将它意志指向俄狄浦斯。直到他成为这片土地的国王，他才知道自己黑暗的过去。尽管他是一位模范国王和公民，但他的复杂性让他被贴上悲剧英雄的标签。

俄狄浦斯国王的经典独白摘录

以下摘自《俄狄浦斯》的一段选自希腊戏剧。

I care not for thy counsel or thy praise; For with what eyes could I have e'er beheld My honoured father in the shades below, Or my unhappy mother, both destroyed By me? This punishment is worse than death, And so it should be. Sweet had been the sight Of my dear children--them I could have wished To gaze upon; but I must never see Or them, or this fair city, or the palace Where I was born. Deprived of every bliss By my own lips, which doomed to banishment The murderer of Laius, and expelled The impious wretch, by gods and men accursed: Could I behold them after this? Oh no! Would I could now with equal ease remove My hearing too, be deaf as well as blind, And from another entrance shut out woe! To want our senses, in the hour of ill, Is comfort to the wretched. O Cithaeron! Why didst thou e'er receive me, or received, Why not destroy, that men might never know Who gave me birth? O Polybus! O Corinth! And thou, long time believed my father's palace, Oh! what a foul disgrace to human nature Didst thou receive beneath a prince's form! Impious myself, and from an impious race. Where is my splendor now? O Daulian path! The shady forest, and the narrow pass Where three ways meet, who drank a father's blood Shed by these hands, do you not still remember The horrid deed, and what, when here I came, Followed more dreadful? Fatal nuptials, you Produced me, you returned me to the womb That bare me; thence relations horrible Of fathers, sons, and brothers came; of wives, Sisters, and mothers, sad alliance! all That man holds impious and detestable. But what in act is vile the modest tongue Should never name. Bury me, hide me, friends, From every eye; destroy me, cast me forth To the wide ocean--let me perish there: Do anything to shake off hated life. Seize me; approach, my friends--you need not fear, Polluted though I am, to touch me; none Shall suffer for my crimes but I alone.

资料来源：希腊戏剧。伯纳多特·佩林。纽约：D.阿普尔顿公司，1904年