Theof 's life
in is that he intends to find the truth and instead meets his fate. When a
drunken man tells Oedipus he is not his father's son, Oedipus seeks the truth by traveling
to consult a Dephic oracle; however, the oracle says merely that Oedipus would kill his father
and beget children by his mother. Resolved to avert such a fate, Oedipus determines to never
return to Corinth where he has grow up with Polybus and Morope, the king and queen.
Unfortunately for Oedipus, along the way from Delphi, he becomes angered at a man who orders him
off the road, killing him. Later, outside Thebes, Oedipus encounters the Sphinx and solves its
riddle. As a reward, he is made King of Thebes and is given the hand ofin marriage. Thus, he
has fulfilled the prophecy of the oracle, ironically, because he has made such efforts to prove
him wrong.
Indeed, it is this pride, or , which seals
the fate of Oedipus the king. His burning demand to know the truth brings him to Delphi; his
return from Delphi effects his encountering of the man in the chariot who--unbeknowst to
Oedipus--is his father, and it is his insistent pride that causes Oedipus to demand the truth
fromandso that he can rid Thebes of its plague. Finally, with more irony, Oedipus seals his own
fate as he calls for an investigation of Laius's death, an investigation that will not
"bring what is dark to light," but, rather, bring about Oedipus's blinding, as in
guilt and agony, Oedipus removes his own eyes.
As in Robert Frost's poem,
"The Road Not Taken," Oedipus takes the path that seems the right one, but
knowing how way leads on to way,
he cannot turn back and not know what he knows now. His life is altered beyond
anything he ever has imagined.
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