Self Awareness Quotes In Oedipus The King

Self-awareness is an esseential part of life; it is the conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings, motives, and desires. Throughout the play, Oedipus the King by Sophocles, it is said that Oedipus' biggest flaw is the sin of Hubris, but in reality not knowing who he is also plays a part in his seelfishness, arrogance, and rashness. He is also very self-orientated and he can't see past his success long enough to realize his mistakes. Oedipus is the classic example of a man whose central problem is that he does not know himself because he is completely oblivious to the truth that surrounds him and subconsciously ignores his true identity for most of the play.

To start off, Oedipus could not know himself when he did not know his past and where he came from. This quote states " How fair a child then I seemed ,how foul the canker...fruit(p 39)" which means Oedipus never knew he was adopted and always believed Poybus and Merope to be his biological parents. The fact that he was unaware of this fact also led to him being in denial of the prophecy later on, thus rejecting his true identity. After provoking him into telling, Teiresias says "You are the man, The accurseed polluter of this land. " (p. 11) Oedipus however doesn't believe him

becausee he does not know any better; he thinks Merope and Polybus are his parents and since he did not marry nor kill either of them, he refuseed to believe he was the causee of the plague in Thebes.
In addition to that, Oedipus did not know that he killed the king, Laius,who is his biological father. In doing so, Oedipus is fulfilling the prophecy but of coursee he is ignorant of that. The theme of ignorance in the play also affects Oedipus' inability to see the truth along with his stubborness. An example is the quote "You know, though your blinded eyes cannot see, what plagues our city; and we turn to you, O seer...to others' service all his powers to lend." (p 9) In other words, while Teiresias is blind he can still "see" all,which is more than can be said for Oedipus. Teiresias says Oedipus has the worst of them all because he lives a life of deception, while he's king of Thebes, Oedipus is letting his stubborness keep him from accepting the truth.
Furthermore, Oedipus does his best to subconsciously ignore his true identity for most of the play and only sees the truth when it's impossible for him to avoid it anymore.

When Jocasta describes Laius' murder,it is easy to piece the story together and figure out that Oedipus was the murderer. The only reason that Oedipus does not realize the truth is because he does not want to, he is in denial and refuses to accept his identity. Likewise, when the messenger is speaking of the child brought to Polybus and Merope with bounded ankles, Oedipus should have realized that he was the child the messenger was speaking of, but he still refused to completely believe it until the herdsman was able to corroborate the messenger's

story.
Even more, Oedipus' hubris is also not letting him know himself. He could have accpeted the prophecy long ago if not for the act that his pride did not let him believe he could coomit such a heinous act as the prophecy stated. To exemplify Oedipus says " See, for this crown the State conferred on me. A gift, a thing I sought not, for this crown." (p. 12) Oedipus cannot "see" past his success to realize his faults.
To conclude, in the play it seems everyone around Oedipus sees the truth except Oedipus himself. He is unable to see past his success and unable to face reality therefore not allowing him to see where he actually came from. Oedipus was adopted by Polybus and Merope, killed King Laius, married his biological mother Joacasta and has children with him without realizing the truth until it is too late.