The narrative structure is unique, because or the fact that the audience already knows the story. Oedipus's realization that he has killed his father and married his mother is the climax, but it happens early in the play, because there is no suspense to build for the audience. Sophocles instead chooses to build the emotion of Oedipus. The reason he gets so angry is because there needs to be a build of some kind, but it can't be suspense.
There are definately sub plots. The whole play is not action, as much as hearing a bunch of people's stories. So each new piece of information Oedipus learns is accompanied by a subplot about the character revealing it. We learn about the shepherds' lives, Oedipus's background, and Jocasta's early life.
The period of time covered is interesting. It is just one continuous scene, so it would seem that time has passed the same for the audience as for Oedipus, so about two hours. But the play kind of defies time, because the shepherd that live so far away off in the hills, are summoned to the palace, and get there in a matter of minutes. So in fact, the play might be up to months long, but there is no indication of the passage of time, so I assume the audience is just supposed to accept that the shepherd could come so fast.
The end is important. It sets the stage for Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. All the questions are answered except why all of this happened to him. I think that does not have to be addressed, because the audience would know about hubris, and fate, and all of the other elements that add up to why this happened. He was cursed from before his birth. That is a concept that would have made more sense in ancient Greese than it does now.
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