"Oedipus the King" by Sophocles is based on Greek life. The city of Thebes is going through a deadly plague at the start of the play. The reason for the plague is that Laios' murderer has not been punished. Laios was the ruler of Thebes before Oedipus and was supposedly killed during a journey by a group of robbers. The gods at Delphi threaten that unless the murderer is caught and tried, Thebes will continue to suffer. Oedipus firmly resolves to find the murderer and prosecute him. He stops his people from withholding any information about the man in question. He himself curses the murderer.
I believe that Teiresias explicitly revealed Oedipus' guilt. He didn't want to reveal the truth to Oedipus until Oedipus started accusing him of the murder. "Let me go home. Bear your own fate, and I'll bear mine. It is better so: trust what I say" (1392). He wanted Oedipus to find out on his own. The fact that it took so long for Oedipus to recognize his guilt and admit to it was a defect on Sophocles' part. Oedipus had no idea where Laios was killed and that he had did it. He only realized when the shepherd and the messenger was brought in and told him that he had done it, that he was the one who was to kill his father and marry his mother. "I, Oedipus, damned in his birth, in his marriage, damned, Damned in the blood he shed with his own hand" (1414). He would have never realized this if the shepherd hadn't told him that the messenger had given Oedipus to him and he was from the house of Laios. " They said it was Laios' child-(1414).
I don't blame anyone for what happened. It was destined to happen, even though they tried to prevent it, it occurred. Oedipus killed his father and married his mother.
