Oedipus the King by Sophocles was a play written after a devastating plague struck the city of Athens in 430 BC. The play is about how knowledge can lead to devastation and destruction depending on how the characters discover the truth about the Oracle of Delphi. Years before Oedipus became king of Thebes, the previous king, Laius, received a prophecy that his son would grow up to kill his father. Armed with this information, he entrusted his baby to a shepherd to dispose of. Years later, Laius is murdered and the Sphinx emerges and locks down the city refusing to let anyone enter or leave the city unless he can solve his riddle. The city is essentially under siege. But no one knows the answer to his riddle. “What happens on four legs in the morning, two at noon and three in the evening?” Everyone who tries to answer the riddle is killed by the Sphinx until the day a stranger arrives in the city. The Sphinx asks him the riddle and he answers simply: “Man”. The stranger solves the riddle and the Sphinx plunges into death. The city opens up to him, he marries the widowed queen, becomes king of Thebes and, despite himself, begins to fulfill most of the prophecies. What is the significance of sight and blindness for understanding Oedipus the King? But the reason why Oedipus, who is the prince of Corinth, came to Thebes is to escape his own oracle. Before coming to Thebes, he went to seek the Oracle of Delphi to ask if Polybius and Merope were his natural parents. The Oracle of Delphi replied: "You are destined to mate with your mother, you will bring forth a race of children that no man can bear to see - you will kill your father, the one who gave you the life!" With this information, Oedipus fled Corinth to escape...... middle of paper...... me. Oedipus simply wanted to have more knowledge and asked more questions to gain wisdom and this ultimately led to his downfall. Knowing the future can destroy a man; and it ruins the lives of two men in this story. Oedipus was blind to see the truth; he was also blinded by prophecies. He ran away from home, killed his father, married his mother and had children with her. “But the play of Oedipus does not stop with these words; he gradually acquires new strength and new understanding” (Segal 133). And the real meaning of this story is that ignorance is bliss. Works Cited Knox, Bernard MW Oedipus at Thebes. New Haven: Yale UP. 1957.Rpt. In Oedipus Tyrant. Ed. Lucy Berkowizs and Thedore F. Brunner. New York: Norton, 1970. 148-165 Segal, Charles. Oedipus Tyranmus: tragic heroism and the limits of knowledge. 2nd. Ed. New Yourk: Oxford UP, 2001.