comparison between the infernal machine and Oedipus Rex (the king) The myth of Oedipus' incest and patricide has been told many different times. The basic plot remained the same. Oedipus leaves Corinth to try to escape a destiny of incest and patricide. After leaving the city, he ends up saving Thebes from the Sphinx, becoming king of the city and thus fulfilling the prophecy. The character of Oedipus changes in each play to help support a different meaning of the entire myth. Cocteau's The Infernal Machine and Sophocles' Oedipus the King are both centered on myth, but their themes are different. By changing Oedipus' personality, motivations, relationship with Jocasta, his mother and wife, and his character development, Cocteau makes his theme the idea that the gods simply play with humans, instead of Sophocles' theme that man cannot escape his destiny. Sophocles depicts Oedipus as an intelligent though too proud man, however Cocteau depicts Oedipus as a selfish and not too intelligent man. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus actually solves the riddle of the Sphinx and then became known for being intelligent. Tiresias, an old blind prophet, reminds him: "But it is an enigma to answer that you are the strongest." Sof. OT 440. Oedipus' intelligence is also manifested in his curious nature. From the beginning Oedipus searches for Laius' murderer by asking many questions. This ultimately leads to his downfall, although Jocasta tries to get him to stop asking questions: "Please, do not seek it, I pray you, if you have any care for your life. What I am suffering is enough." (Soph. OT 1060-1063)Cocteau's Oedipus does not have to solve the riddle of the Sphinx because she gives him the answer in... middle sheet......Abrams, MH A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th ed . New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.Cocteau, Jean. The Infernal Machine and other comedies. (Bermel, Alberto.). New York: New Directions. 1963.Ehrenberg, Victor. "Sophocles Rulers: Oedipus." In Twentieth-Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O'Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Jaeger, Werner. "Sophocles' mastery of character development." In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997. Sophocles. (1991). Sophocles I: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone (Grene, David.). Chicago: University of Chicago.Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Trans. by F.Storr. no page http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixednew?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi