We are introduced to King Oedipus from the beginning where he is addressing his people on the current situation of Thebes. This city has been cursed by the Gods because Oedipus has unknowingly murdered his father and married his mother. From the start, Sophocles has introduced mystery as to how Oedipus survived and managed to come back to Thebes. Nevertheless Thebes has been cursed by the gods. The only way Thebes could be helped according to the Priest was through the wisdom of the blind prophet Teiresias. Thus, when Teiresias was calle

d he refused to tell Oedipus the truth. The reasons for this could be because he didn’t want to get involved or that he was not allowed to say the truth. This angered Oedipus and he called the prophet blind. “The truth is strong, but not your truth. You have no truth. You’re blind. Blind in your eyes. Blind in your ears. Blind in your mind.” This is ironic because it is Oedipus who was actually blind of the truth. Nevertheless, the prophet got angry and told Oedipus that he was the killer of his father and that he had married his mother and had children with her. Oedipus got furious by this accusation and started blaming both the prophet and Kreon for conspiring against him. At this point in time we see the characters changing both of Oedipus and Teiresias. Oedipus starts ignoring the truth and starts believing that what he is being told is a lie; thus he starts becoming angry. Whereas the prophet uses riddles to tell Oedipus the truth, “Go inside and ponder that riddle, and if you find I’ve lied then call me a prophet who cannot see”. This shows that Oedipus could have believed the prophet; though he didn’t and instead he reacted in an irrational manner. Sophocles is trying to show that sometimes the truth can be so painful and unbelievable that it tends to change a persons attitude towards another.

Oedipus has many opportunities through which he could have realized the truth. One instance is when he was called a bastard by a drunken man “I was at a banquet and a man – he was very drunk – said I wasn’t my father’s son, called me a bastard”. Oedipus c

Some topics in this essay:
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