moves
fromor pride to humility and self-knowledge over the course of the play. At the start of the
play, it is completely incomprehensible to him that he could be responsible for the plague
devastating Thebes. He is blind to his flaws and his fate. He thinks he is a good, upright
person, a fine husband and father, and an able ruler. As the action of the play unfolds, he
comes to realize that he is the root cause of the disease in Thebes. Abandoned at childbirth and
left to die, Oedipus unknowingly killed his father on the road to Thebes years ago. Then he
married the queen, his father's widow, having no idea she was his mother. As he realizes what he
has done, his concept of self alters. He goes from thinking himself unblemished to being in so
much pain he voluntarily blinds himself. Ironically, this event marks his first true insight
about himself. He knows now he is imperfect, and this knowledge lends him wisdom and
humility.
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