Quote 7
OEDIPUS
And on the murderer this curse I lay
(On him and all the partners in his guilt):--
Wretch, may he pine in utter wretchedness!
And for myself, if with my privity
He gain admittance to my hearth, I pray
The curse I laid on others fall on me.
See that ye give effect to all my hest,
For my sake and the god's and for our land,
A desert blasted by the wrath of heaven.
(244-253)
Oedipus’s intense determination to uncover the mystery of Laius’s murder ironically leads him to inadvertently curse himself.
OEDIPUS
Yea, I am wroth, and will not stint my words,
But speak my whole mind. Thou methinks thou art he,
Who planned the crime, aye, and performed it too,
All save the assassination; and if thou
Hadst not been blind, I had been sworn to boot
That thou alone didst do the bloody deed. (345-350)
Oedipus’s determination to force the unwilling prophet Teiresias to speak blinds him to Teiresias’s potential reasons for reluctance and leads him to falsely accuse the prophet.
Quote 9
OEDIPUS
From whom of these our townsmen, and what house?
HERDSMAN
Forbear for God's sake, master, ask no more.
OEDIPUS
If I must question thee again, thou'rt lost. (1164-1167)
Oedipus’s determination blinds him to the signs of reluctance and impending disaster around him.