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Oedipus is a Classic Case of Uncertain Vision

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In Oedipus his backstory is important because it is the basis for his uncertain vision. Oedipus the King was the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta, but because of a Prophecy that Laius would be killed by his son, he was ordered to be bound and left on the mountain to die by his parents a few days after his birth. Instead the shepherd who was given the duty gave the newborn to a shepherd from a nearby kingdom to rear as his own. That shepherd instead, gave him to Polybus, the King of Corinth who, unable to produce children of his own, raised Oedipus as his son. Years later Oedipus unknowingly killed Laius, and then solved the riddle of the Sphinx, becoming the King of Thebes and winning the hand of Jocasta (his birth mother) in marriage. Several years later, when told of his deeds, Jocasta hanged herself and Oedipus tore his eyes out.

I would say that Oedipus is a classic case of “uncertain vision.” Although Oedipus is revered for his ability see situations clearly, blindness is a thread that runs throughout the story and it is this blindness of his position that does not allow him to make the connection. “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
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