In no way did I feel that Oedipus deserved the terrible tragedy which befell him. I pity Oedipus, for he seemed to be a well meaning and courageous, if slightly arrogant, man. It seems that his fate was certain and inescapable. However, I feel that it may have been the fact that he and his father both attempted to avoid their fate that caused it to occur as it did. I don't believe in fate, but I believe that if one believes something to be inevitable, as the Greeks believed, then it will be inevitable.

I personally can understand Tiresias's belief that Oedipus should have been spared the knowledge of his incest and patricide. Though in Oedipus's case, it was necessary for him to discover the truth in order to save the city from the plague, in other cases, there is often no good that comes from exposing the fact of incest if it has been committed accidentally. Incest is only disgusting and wrong because society says that it is so, not because it is inherently evil. It is only to prevent having genetically deformed children that society has made it so, and this was already not an issue in Oedipus's case. Had it not been for the plague, it would have been better to leave him in his ignorance.

"She said she cried once each day, not because she was sad but because the world was so beautiful and life was so short." -Unknown (This is my favorite quote; I found it on a picture in a bathroom somewhere.)

"Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run." -Andrew Marvell

"The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it."
"Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope."
"Even the disciple has his uses. He stands behind one's throne, and at the moment of one's triumph whispers in one's ear that, after all, one is immortal." -Oscar Wilde (I don't really understand the last one fully, but it sounds awesome.)

"The reason Weetzie Bat hated high school was because no one understood. They didn't even realize where they were living. They didn't care Marilyn's prints were practically in their backyard at Graumann's; that you could buy tomahawks and plastic palm tree wallets at Farmer's Market, and the wildest, cheapest cheese and bean and hot dog and pastrami burritos at Oki dogs; that the waitresses at the Jetson-style Tiny Naylor's; that there was a fountain that turned tropical soda-pop colors, and a canyon where Jim Morrison and Houdini used to live, and all-night potato knishes at Canter's, and not too far away was Venice, with column, and canals, even, like the real Venice but maybe cooler because of all the surfers. There was no one who cared." -Francesca Lia Block (This is the first paragraph of my favorite book.)