Act VAct Summaries & Analyses
Act V Summary
Act V is brief and does not feature the main characters. A messenger describes how Oedipus reacted to the realization that he did kill his father and marry his mother. He recounts that Oedipus contemplated suicide, wanting his body flung to wild beasts as punishment for Thebes’s suffering. Upon further reflection, Oedipus decided that his crime deserved an even more horrific, slower punishment than to quickly die. The messenger then describes how Oedipus tore out his eyes with his own hands.
The chorus enters, declaring fate the master of human life, with humans unable to resist or change their fates.
Note: In the Oxford edition of the play used in this guide, Act V ends here, with the chorus’s speech once again functioning as a marker between acts. However, many other translations retain the traditional five-act structure, with Act V continuing until the end of the play.
Act V Analysis
As in other Senecan tragedies, a messenger delivers important information toward the end of the play. In keeping with the traditions of Greek tragedy, the pivotal act of violence takes place offstage. Through the messenger’s speech, the audience hears both a recounting of Oedipus’s actions from an observer’s
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By Seneca
