Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus is a story in which a city (Thebes) and its people have a problem and ask their King (Oedipus) to solve the problems, which face them, and get life back to normal. The people in Thebes (like many people when they have problems they can't solve) go to outside sources of help to try to correct their problems. These outside sources go from other cities, prophets, messengers, and Shepard's, in this case. People Oedipus calls and sends for from outside the city of Thebes help to piece together the facts to find the solution to the cities problems and expose (to every ones surprise) the unexpected answer. The outside influences, along with the knowledge of the people of Thebes, are all important to finding the resolution to the problems that are facing the city.

The characters who live in the city of Thebes are the people who have a problem that they cannot solve on their own. In solving those problems, the characters within the city of Thebes play just as much of a roll in solving them as do the characters from outside the city. Although the characters such as Teiresias, the messenger, and the shepherd all brought information to Oedipus and t

The roll the characters such as all the suppliants played was one where they gathered outside the palace and in the story were unnamed, and spoke no individual lines in the reading. These suppliants were called upon by Oedipus to bring forth any information that could be of help in finding the answer to the city of Thebes' problems. The Priest is the leader of the suppliants and Oedipus communicates to the suppliants through him. In this way Oedipus hears the problems and thoughts of the suppliants in a timely manner.

There are many small characters that have an impact on this story along with the main ones. These characters are looked at as the common people in the Village of Thebes, the messengers (even though the messengers bring important information), and also the old men of Thebes. The old men of Thebes take part in the Writen part of the story, by acting as a chorus and in that way voicing the opinion of the common people.

The relationships that the characters have with each other can get confusing and complicated. Some characters such as Creon and Oedipus have a love then hate relationship because of accusations and mistrust. After the current problems of the city of Thebes are solved the relationships between all the characters change and new relationships form between different people.

The relationship that Oedipus and Polybus shared before the story had an effect on the progression of the story. Their prior relationship had an effect on the story because of things that Oedipus assumed about his and Polybus' relationship. Oedipus assumed that Polybus was his real father and when news came that Polybus had died, and of natural causes Oedipus assumed that the Oracle was false. When Oedipus assumed that the Oracle was false he slowed the story line down and added confusion because he eliminated possibilities that weren't fal

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Approximate Word count = 1257
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)