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Essay / Tragic heroes: noble birth, fatal flaw and ruin
No different when Oedipus calls Tiresias to come to Thebes. When Tiresias arrives, Oedipus asks him to tell him what is happening, although Tiresias refuses. However, Oedipus pushes him to tell him out of sheer frustration. “I say that you are the murderer of the king whose murder you see” (Teiresias. II. 415-416)! Oedipus reacts quickly and speaks without wondering if he has already killed anyone. “Not twice will you utter such slander without remaining unpunished” (Oedipus. II. 417-418). Oedipus says it without remembering it. If Oedipus thought back to the time he killed a man at a crossroads, the murder could have been solved and the people of Thebes could have suffered less. Oedipus also reacts irrationally when Creon again suggests that Oedipus is the murdered one. He speaks to Jocasta and says: “He is right, Jocasta, for I find him plotting” (“Oedipus the King” I. 750). Again, Oedipus believes that anyone who accuses or suggests that he is the murderer, he automatically thinks that he is a traitor. Oedipus tends to think irrationally, not thinking about his past and making impulsive decisions.