The first play opens with Thebes besieged by a devastating plague, compelling King Oedipus to seek the cause of the city's hidden blood-guilt. As he relentlessly investigates the murder of the former king, Laius, a horrifying truth gradually emerges from prophecies and witness testimonies. Oedipus discovers that he unknowingly fulfilled an ancient oracle by slaying his father and wedding his queen, Jocasta, who takes her own life in despair before Oedipus blinds himself and begs for exile. The narrative continues years later in Oedipus at Colonus, where the blind and banished king arrives at a sacred grove near Athens guided by his loyal daughter, Antigone.
Protected by King Theseus, Oedipus withstands the manipulative overtures of his treacherous brother-in-law Creon and his ambitious son Polyneices, whom he curses before experiencing a mysterious, divine passing on Attic soil. The final tragedy centers on Antigone’s defiant return to Thebes, where she resolves to bury her fallen brother Polyneices in direct defiance of Creon’s cruel edict. Caught in the act, Antigone fiercely defends her loyalty to the unwritten laws of heaven over human tyranny and is condemned to a living tomb. Her resolute stance sparks a chain of devastating consequences, driving her betrothed, Haemon, and the grieving queen to suicide, leaving a broken Creon to lament the ruinous cost of his own stubborn pride.
