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Oedipus
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One of the primary characters in Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus is the aged, blind seer Teiresias. He holds a primary thematic position in the story as the man who reveals the future and the will of the gods. Prophecy is the cornerstone of this story, if not all Greek tragedy, and Teiresias is the most skilled at his craft. So who is this guy Teiresias? Why is he blind and how does blindness affect his prophecy?
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The quiet, pensive nature of Hamlet versus the vainglorious outrage of Oedipus is the key to the debate over whether the actions both men take are selfish or selfless. This is a debate that is not answered easily and fully deserves further thought. When discussing which of the murders was the worst, that of Claudius comes to mind first. After putting thought into the mass murder of Laius' caravan, though, that thought is taken back. Which truly is worse, premeditated regicide or heat-of-the-moment "road rage" (the original road rage at that)? As a usurper of throne and wife, Claudius is the ultimate familiar turncoat, but as a guiltless killer of men who would not let him pass on a road, one must wonder if Oedipus has a conscience at all.
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Oedipus and Jocasta have a happy marriage and a number of children. However, years later, tragedy strikes Thebes again when a blight strikes the city, killing both crops in the field and babies in their mothers' wombs. Oedipus sends his brother-in-law to the oracle of Apollo to ask how to lift this blight, and as the play opens, the answer comes back: find Laius's murderer and banish him from Thebes. Little does Oedipus know that he himself is Laius's murderer ? he killed an old man at a crossroads just before coming to Thebes, and this old man was Laius himself.
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Oedipus had a happy childhood, never knowing what had happened. When he get older, he too consulted the Oracle at Delphi, who told him that he would kill his farther and marry his mother. Not wanting the prophecy to come true, Oedipus ran away. On his way to Thebes, Oedipus had an argument with a stranger and killed him. The stranger was Laius, his father.
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Oedipus rules over Thebes, a city whose mythological background is important to understanding the play. Oedipus even begins the play by calling its residents the "new blood of ancient Cadmus" (not "ancient Thebes", as Fagles' liberally translates the Gre ek). Look up Thebes and Cadmus independently here and follow any leads that look relevant. In short, Cadmus founded the city of Thebes after he killed a dragon, and he sowed the dragon's teeth into the ground, from which sprang Thebes' first inhabitants. Thus, Thebes' current residents are mainly descended either from a hero who tamed the wild beast, or from the beast itself. Think about the relation of this background to the larger theme of civilization and savagery in this drama.
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The Oedipus myth goes back as far as Homer and beyond, and sources vary about plot details. The play that Sophocles presents is merely the very end of a long story, and some plot background must be provided to make the story understandable for modern audiences. The real myth begins a few generations before Oedipus was born. The city of Thebes was founded by a man named Cadmus, who slew a dragon and was instructed to sow the dragon's teeth to form a city. From these teeth sprang a race of giants who were fully armed and angry; they fought each other until only five were left, and these five became the fathers of Thebes.
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Oedipus