Oedipus context

The production of Oedipus at the National stars Ralph Fiennes in the title role of the king fated to fulfil dire prophecy and bring about the downfall of those around him. The text is a new translation of Sophocles' play by Frank McGuinness, who has previously reworked Chekhov, Brecht and Ibsen, to considerable acclaim Photograph: Catherine Ashmore/PR

In order to establish the cause of a plague blighting the city of Thebes over which he reigns, Oedipus begins investigating its past. The search reveals that he is himself the abomination at its heart. His wife Jocasta is in fact his mother, and a man he killed many years ago was in fact his father, Laius. In anguish, he blinds himself and demands to be exiled from Thebes forever Photograph: Tristram Kenton/Guardian

Sigmund Freud gave the name 'Oedipus complex' to desires experienced in children between the ages of three and five involving harm to the parent of the same gender and attraction to the parent of the other gender. In Freudian terms, it is considered heavily repressed in healthy adults Photograph: Harlingue/Viollet/Rex Features

Oedipus manages to solve the riddle of the sphinx, believing himself capable of righting any wrong. It is this hubris in the face of the uncaring gods which makes his downfall a compelling subject for art, such as Oedipus and the Sphinx, painted by Ingres in 1808 Photograph: The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images

Gerard Depardieu took part in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex in Naples in 2001, showing that opera is never slow to pick up on a good bloodbath Photograph: Roberto Jandoli/Rex Features

In 2002, Canadian Opera put on Oedipus Rex with Symphony of Psalms as part of the Edinburgh international festival at the Playhouse. Photograph: Murdo Macleod/Guardian

The world of film has been less vigorous in embracing the myth, with exceptions including Oedipus the King (1967), starring Orson Welles as Tiresias Photograph: The Kobal Collection

Pasolini’s film Edipo Re of the same year featured Franco Citti as Oedipus and Silvana Mangano as Jocasta, his mother Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

Freud’s ideas took hold in the popular imagination, manifesting across popular culture including The Doors’ epic song The End, with its notorious section involving a killer expressing Oedipal desires Photograph: AP

Even Woody Allen has given his take on the tale with the Oedipus Wrecks segment of the portmanteau film New York Stories. Woody played an attorney with - you guessed it - an overbearing mother Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive