Examine the importance of the following line from Oedipus Rex: "All the generations of the mortal man add up to nothing! Show me the man whose...

I tend to
think that this particular line captures much of the basic thematic significance of the drama.
 Thethat is intrinsic to human consciousness is illuminated in this line.  The "generations
of mortal man" are fairly insignificant, although humans place a primacy on it.  In the
final analysis, the accomplishments ofdo not really stack up to much in comparison to the larger
issues of fate and predestination posited against him.  Oedipus is shown to be an individual who
has to come to such a realization in the most brutal of manners.  In the end, his own sense of
happiness was an illusion, shattered by the reality of what confronted him.  His was on of
"illusion followed by disillusion."  He could not see this as a mortal, with physical
sight.  It is for this reason that he blinds himself, in order to gain greater sight and greater
significance in vision into his own sense of self and his place in the world.  The quote brings
out the predicament of Oedipus as well as the thematic reality that governs the play.   vision
of humanity is one in which myopia reigns supreme, reflecting how individuals see the issue of
their own happiness as being real, but in actuality being nothing more than
disillusion.