thing I could see could bring me joy" (241).
This play ends with a great awakening, but without redemption, victory, or joy. The lesson Oedipus has "seen" is too much for him to bear. He blinds himself because the "horror of darkness" (240) to which he condemns himself seems to him a better place than the world of sight which he does not deserve. Yet he certainly finds no peace from his guilt in the darkness in this play.
Oedipus rages in this play primarily when he is confronted with a situation over which he has no control. His rage is meant to demonstrate two things: his arrogance, pride or hubris in relation to the gods; and at the same time the punishment the gods mere out to him as the result of that hubris. The gods know that Oedipus is a willful man who will follow the mystery to its end, and whose rage will serve as a spark to that willfulness. The gods use his rage against him, knowing that anger will force him to ne
...