Oedipus Rex Quotations Interpretation and Analysis Kim

1. Blind instead of seeing, beggar instead of rich (26).

Tiresias prophesizes Oedipus downfall and points to Oedipus inability to know his
identity as his ultimate downfall. Although this statement is said in the heated argument between
Oedipus and Tiresias, Tiresias words, stark and belligerent as they might seem, do not waver in
truth. This further supports the blind-sight theme which points the ironic distinction between
Oedipus sight and Tiresias insight.

2. "This is his [Oedipus'] place, sir, and he's within. This lady is his wife and mother...
of his children" (49).
In this statement, Sophocles craftily creates the syntax of the sentence to be the irony of
the statement. While Jocasta is the mother of Oedipus children, the syntax of the sentence could
be misread as, This lady is his wife and mother, due to the cut of the line after mother. This
quotation is critical to the play because it portrays Oedipus inability to see what is apparent in
subtle or apparent hints given in the syntax of sentences.

3. How can a man have scruples, when its only Chance thats king? Theres nothing
certain, nothing preordained. We should live as carefree as we may (52).
The syntax of the sentence may be manipulated to be How can a man have scruples,
when its only Chance that hes king? This reinforces the idea that Oedipus is helplessly under
the power of Chance. Because of Chance he lived, because of Chance he became king; because
of Chance he married his mother. The irony in Jocastas statement is that while she so
confidently believed that she outwitted the gods, she did not. But in this statement, she declares
that things may not be as certain as they seem. Thus she indirectly refutes her own thinking
because she believes she outwitted the gods while she claims that things may not be as they seem.
This quotation is critical to the piece because it conveys the popular idea of the time that
gods were pointless. Although this idea is refuted by Socrates with a firm conclusion that gods
are indeed profound, that idea represents the rational thought of a person experiencing
occurrences that prove, or believe to prove, the pointlessness of the gods.

4. "Apollo once declared that I would come to couple with my mother and with these
very hands of mine spill out the life-blood of my father. All of which has put me far and
long from Corinth in sweet prosperity maybe but what's so sweet as looking into parents'
eyes?" (53).
Oedipus declares this prophecy as if he has not already fulfilled it. He is so certain that
his walk is blameless. Even in his diction, he claims that nothing is as sweet as looking into
parents eyes. This is all too true as he married his mother and engages in intimate actions. He
also includes the word once when he references to Apollos prophecy as if Apollos once-
powerful prophecy is now useless.





Oedipus Rex Quotations Interpretation and Analysis Kim

5. I do not blush to own Im Fortunes pampered child. She will not let me down. She
is my mother (60).
At this point of the play, Oedipus is the only person who does not know the inevitability
of his damnation. He was the one who was inquiring zealously for more knowledge, one
question after each answer, but he remains the only one without knowledge. Although Oedipus
believes he is fortunate to be rescued by the shepherd from Mount Cithaeron, even calling
Fortune (Chance) his mother, he does not know. The irony in this verse is Oedipus, oblivious of
the fact that he was abandoned by his biological mother, believes Chance, who he calls mother,
will bring him good fortune. However, both mothers abandon him to die.

6. Make no mistake: you are a doom-born man (67).
The shepherd claims that there was nothing Oedipus could do to change his fortune.
From the audiences perspective, Oedipus recklessly walked himself into his fate. However, this
is not the case. The inevitability of Chances prophecies is a power that cannot be changed.
Oedipus flaw was his ignorance to the inevitable nature of divine intervention. Therefore, he
was fated to be Oedipus, not act in a certain way in which Oedipus is not. He is doomed to be
himself which leads him to this tragedy.

7. Oh yes, I pierced my eyes, my useless eyes, why not? When all thats sweet had
parted from my vision (73).
Oedipus irrationality and excessive nature is depicted in this quotation. He pierces his
eyes because he believes his vision has betrayed him for false information; when he is the one
at fault not his eyes. This excessive action is exactly what Aristotle warned not to do in his
golden mean theory: everything in moderation. Because Oedipus acts in excess, he must
endure more suffering instead of proceeding to rationally solve this problem.


8. Stop this striving to be master of all. The mastery you had in life has been your
fall (80).
This quotation depicts Oedipus character: zealous, rash, and proud. These characters are
Oedipus downfall because he wants to solve the problem to the plague looking to the past to
find who he is. All these problems could not, cannot be solved without first acknowledging that
one does not know the answer. Oedipus believes that he is always right, as shown when he
claims that Apollo once prophesized about him, but now has no control over his life. Another
example is when he is oblivious to his own irrationality when he claims that Creon and Tiresias
are scheming to overthrow him while making his claim on no actual premise.