Oedipus (Dryden play) and Jocasta who die in the end: Of all the persons of the drama, scarce one survives the fifth act. Oedipus dashes out his brains, Jocasta stabs herself, their children are strangled, Creon kills Eurydice, Adrastus kills Creon and the insurgents kill Adrastus; when we add to this, that the conspirators are hanged, the reader will perceive, that the play, which began with pestilence, concludes with a massacre. The following quotation, taken from the epilogue, summarises Dryden's approach: <poem> Their [i.e. Dryden/ Lee] treat is what your palates relish most, Charm! song! and show! a murder and a ghost!</poem> Extensive
Oedipus and the Sphinx pass. Failure means his own death and that of the besieged Thebans. The riddle was: "What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon and three at night?". Oedipus answered: "Man: as an infant, he crawls on all fours; as an adult, he walks on two legs and; in old age, he uses a walking stick". Oedipus was the first to answer the riddle correctly and, having heard Oedipus' answer, the Sphinx was astounded and inexplicably killed herself by throwing herself into the sea. Oedipus thereby won the freedom of the Thebans, the kingdom of that city