Sophocles

             lack of insight. Tiresias's riddles are clear in what they state, but Oedipus cannot .
             understand them because he doesn't know himself well enough. Tiresias conveys, "How .
             dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in truth" (102-103). At this .
             point in the play, Oedipus still cannot conclude who the murderer of King Laius is, even .
             though the riddle is obvious. "The man for whom he is hunting is himself." (Briggs 351.
             358).
             When Oedipus saved Thebes from The Sphinx, he answered this difficult puzzle. The Sphinx demanded: What creature is it that walks on four feet in the morning, on two at noon, and on three in the evening? With his eminent mastery of riddles and having an open mind, Oedipus replied, "It is Man". As a child he crawls on four. When he grows up he walks upright on his two feet, and in old age he leans on a cane. This puzzle is far more complex than Tiresias's rudimentary riddles, so Oedipus has the ability to solve the riddles but cannot let him do so, because of his ignorance. Oedipus is very vain. No matter how straightforward Tiresias's riddles were, Oedipus's pride wouldn't let him solve them. Finally, Tiresias came right out and said what he meant without a riddle, and Oedipus still couldn't accept that he did anything wrong. Tiresias simply stated, "You yourself are the pollution of this country" (138). Oedipus did not understand. Teiresias stated "I say that you are the murderer whom you seek" (147). Following that remark from Tiresias, Oedipus defended himself by accusing his brother in law, Creon. .
             Oedipus's termination was caused simply because of his arrogance and his lack of self-knowledge. He didn't understand himself well enough. He could unravel any mystery besides his own existence. All of his life Oedipus had solved .
             mysteries and puzzles about subject other than he. Now that he was faced with riddles accusing him of something. Oedipus would have solved Tiresias'riddles .