The Oedipus Plays (AmazonClassics Edition) recap

A plague drives King Oedipus to investigate the unsolved murder of Laius. He discovers that he unknowingly killed Laius, his father, and married Jocasta, his mother; Jocasta dies by suicide and Oedipus blinds himself. Years later the exiled Oedipus reaches Colonus, where Theseus protects him from Creon and Polynices. Oedipus rejects both sons, grants Athens the benefit of his secret grave, and dies under divine guidance. His daughters return toward Thebes, where Eteocles and Polynices kill each other in civil war. Creon becomes king, honors Eteocles, and forbids burial of Polynices. Antigone defies the order and is condemned to confinement in a cave. Creon reverses himself after prophetic warning, but too late: Antigone, Haemon, and Eurydice all take their own lives. Creon survives to understand that his rigid rule has destroyed his family.

Thebes suffers a plague, and King Oedipus vows to identify and punish the unknown killer of the former king, Laius. The prophet Tiresias accuses Oedipus himself, while Jocasta tries to discredit prophecy by explaining that Laius was supposedly killed by strangers despite an oracle that his son would murder him. Details of the place and circumstances trouble Oedipus, who remembers killing a traveler before he came to Thebes. A messenger from Corinth reports that Oedipus's supposed father Polybus has died naturally, but also reveals that Oedipus was adopted. The surviving shepherd from Laius's party finally admits that Oedipus was the infant son of Laius and Jocasta, spared after his parents tried to evade the oracle. Oedipus has therefore killed his father and married his mother without knowing either identity. Jocasta hangs herself after grasping the truth. Oedipus finds her body, blinds himself, and asks to be exiled. Creon assumes control of Thebes, while Oedipus mourns the disgrace and suffering that will fall upon his daughters.

Years after his fall in Thebes, the blind Oedipus arrives with Antigone at Colonus, sacred ground near Athens. Local elders fear his presence until he explains that an oracle has promised power to the land that receives his grave. Ismene brings news that Oedipus's sons are fighting over Thebes and that Creon wants Oedipus placed near the city so Thebes can benefit from the prophecy without truly welcoming him home. Theseus grants Oedipus protection. Creon then seizes Antigone and Ismene and attempts to force Oedipus away, but Theseus recovers the daughters. Polynices asks his father to support the army he is leading against his brother Eteocles. Oedipus refuses and curses both sons to die by each other's hands, despite Antigone's plea for reconciliation. Thunder signals that Oedipus's appointed death is near. He leads Theseus alone to the secret place where he disappears from mortal life, entrusting knowledge of the site only to the Athenian king. Antigone and Ismene grieve, then decide to return toward Thebes in hope of preventing their brothers' destruction.

Oedipus's sons have killed each other in the war for Thebes. The new king, Creon, honors Eteocles but orders the rebel Polynices left unburied. Antigone performs funeral rites for Polynices despite the death penalty and refuses to deny the act when a guard arrests her. Ismene offers to share the blame, but Antigone will not accept help from a sister who initially chose obedience. Creon treats defiance as a threat to government and rejects both Haemon's argument that the city sympathizes with Antigone and Tiresias's warning that the gods reject the exposed corpse and Creon's punishment. Shaken by the prophecy, Creon finally buries Polynices and goes to release Antigone from the cave where she has been sealed. He arrives after she has hanged herself. Haemon attempts to strike his father and then kills himself beside Antigone. When Eurydice hears of Haemon's death, she also takes her own life. Creon returns broken, acknowledging that his decisions caused the deaths. The royal house is devastated again, and the survivors are left with the lesson that power without judgment brings ruin.

Creon refuses burial to Polynices after the civil war and condemns Antigone when she performs the forbidden rite. Although Haemon and Tiresias warn him that his inflexibility is destroying both family and city, he changes course too late. Antigone hangs herself in the chamber where she has been confined. Haemon finds her, turns a weapon on his father, and then kills himself; Eurydice takes her own life after hearing of her son's death. Creon returns carrying Haemon's body and learns of his wife's suicide. He is left alive, stripped of his family and authority over the consequences of his choices. The trilogy therefore closes with Antigone dead but no longer alone in ruin: Creon's insistence that civic command outrank sacred and familial obligations has destroyed his own household, and he finally recognizes responsibility when the damage cannot be reversed.