This
moment has to be at the end of the drama. Act IV is the point wherelearns of his true heritage
in that he is Laius' son. The fact that thespeaks at this moment is quite telling:
Alas, o child of Laius,
if only, if only we had
never
set eyes on you!(1250)
My grief is like a libation poured from
mymouth.
But to speak the truth, becauseof you I could breath again
and
becauseof you I sink my eyes into sleep.
This is the
reality that Oedipus grasps at the end of Act IV. This "sleep" is something that ends
up continuing into Act V, where the disastrous end of the play is where eyes need to be closed
in "sleep." Oedipus' search for truth that lived outside of the palace walls was an
internal one. This reversal is initiated at this point and then continued on into the drama's
final act when he recognizes the full extent of the wrong committed and the consequences it
brings onto both his kingdom and his name. The full catastrophic moment is seen when his wife/
mother hangs herself and he blinds himself. This is the moment in Act V where the reversal of
fortune is complete. The intial discovery is one that is seen in Act IV's end and the
implications of it come to fruition in Act V.
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