Oedipus was known as the king of Thebes his downfall was his short temper and the death of his father. According to Marjorie Barstow, the man who sees but one side of a matter, and straightway, driven on by his uncontrolled emotions, acts in accordance with that imperfect vision, meets a fate most pitiful and appalling (Barstow 4). As an infant, the young Oedipus was abandoned in mountainsides to suffer solo until he reached his demise, but was soon found by a shepherd, owned by king Laius, he was then taken to a royal family in Corinth where he was raised by Laius and Jocasta. According to Jocasta, Laius was assassinated by a band of thieves in a three-way crossroad, just before Oedipus reached his destination to Thebes. In Thebes, a plague was taking place and the citizens of the colony gathered up to beseech king Oedipus if he could do anything to stop the …show more content…
Perceiving this request caused Oedipus to send his brother in law, Creon, to the oracle of Delphi to find out if there was a way to cease the epidemic. Once Creon returned he announced that the only way to halt the plague was to find out who murdered Laius. Oedipus was then determined to uncover who the mastermind to the homicide was. Author Barstow claims, it was never the habit of Oedipus to do more thinking than seemed necessary to the particular action upon which all the power of his impetuous nature was concentrated (Barstow 3). The curiosity of Oedipus then led him to question about the murder to an old man by the name of Tiresias. As Oedipus interrogated the old man he refuses to answer for he knows Oedipus will not be ready for the traumatic response he will receive. The more Tiresias denies the king’s requests the more hostile the king becomes causing Tiresias to spew out