# How does Oedipus Rex end?

> Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

## Answer

Oedipus Rex ends with Jocasta dead by her own hand, Oedipus blinded, and Creon stepping in to govern Thebes. The messenger narrates Jocasta’s suicide and Oedipus’s self-blinding; Oedipus then begs exile to lift the plague he embodies. Creon agrees to consult Delphi again before final banishment and assumes responsibility for Oedipus’s children.

There is no restoration of the old household — only pity from the chorus and a king reduced to dependence on the man he accused. The ending points forward to Oedipus at Colonus, where exile becomes sacred rather than merely polluting. For this play alone, emphasize purification: Thebes may heal once the polluter leaves, but Oedipus’s suffering is not finished, only transformed into the wandering that the next tragedy will reinterpret.

## Evidence

- [oedipus-rex](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_rex_se/chapters/oedipus-rex.md): Messenger reports deaths and blinding; Oedipus requests exile.
- [oedipus-rex](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/oedipus_rex_se/chapters/oedipus-rex.md): Creon assumes authority and takes charge of the royal family.

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