It is
agreed by many scholars that not only is 's ultimate failure a result of hisbut that his failure
occurred before he had ever even taken the crown. Indeed, Oedipus had already unknowingly
slaughtered his own father before he had won the hearts of the people of Thebes. In this sense,
he never had any hope of being a good king, or even any true king at all.
Oedipus's cursed existence is slightly more forgivable, seeing as it seems that fate
was against him from the beginning. In the final moments of the play, we feel an overwhelming
pity for Oedipus as he blinds himself, claiming all of his miserable titles. What is less
forgivable, however, is how he dismissed those who tried to warn him of his folly.
Though Oedipus had already committed a heinous moral crime, he could have at
least remained a just and loved king in Thebes. After all, it was his own strong sense of
justice that motivated him to search so relentlessly for Laius's killer. However, by spurning
the advice of , he spurned the wisdom of the Gods themselves.
Had he only
listened to the seer, and later his wife, he might have lived his life blissfully unaware of his
terrible crime and could have even been a just and good king to the people of
Thebes.
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