SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Themes Motifs Symbols. Quotes Tiresias Quotes. Lords of Thebes, I and the boy have come together, hand in hand. Two sees with the eyes of one. Oh god, is there a man alive who knows, who actually believes.
Provoked by the anger and insults of Oedipus, Tiresias begins to hint at his knowledge. Finally, when Oedipus furiously accuses Tiresias of the murder, Tiresias tells Oedipus that Oedipus himself is the curse. Oedipus dares Tiresias to say it again, and so Tiresias calls Oedipus the murderer. Driven into a fury by the accusation, Oedipus proceeds to concoct a story that Creon and Tiresias are conspiring to overthrow him.
The leader of the Chorus asks Oedipus to calm down, but Tiresias only taunts Oedipus further, saying that the king does not even know who his parents are. This statement both infuriates and intrigues Oedipus, who asks for the truth of his parentage. Tiresias answers only in riddles, saying that the murderer of Laius will turn out to be both brother and father to his children, both son and husband to his mother.
The characters exit and the Chorus takes the stage, confused and unsure whom to believe. They resolve that they will not believe any of these accusations against Oedipus unless they are shown proof. Creon enters, soon followed by Oedipus. Oedipus accuses Creon of trying to overthrow him, since it was he who recommended that Tiresias come.
Creon asks Oedipus to be rational, but Oedipus says that he wants Creon murdered. When Jocasta hears that the charge comes from a prophet, she dismisses it immediately. No one can see the future, she insists. As proof, she offers the story of a prophecy that her son would kill her husband, a fate avoided when Laius abandoned the child on a mountain.
After Oedipus learns the details of Laius' death, he begins to worry that he is indeed the murderer. Jocasta, however, reminds him that Laius died at the hands of many men, not one. Nevertheless, Oedipus asks that the only living witness to the murderer — a shepherd — be brought to him for questioning. This scene marks the change in the play from a simple detective story to psychological drama. From now on, the problem of the play will be not only who killed Laius, but also what can people know of one another and themselves, and how can they know it.
Despite his rejection of Tiresias, Oedipus does believe in the power of prophecy, as he confesses to Jocasta. Oedipus recalls two disturbing revelations — one from an oracle, the other from a drunken man — that make him doubt himself.
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