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I both love and hate Oedipus Rex because the end is so stupid.
The whole play is (in one interpretation!) about self-identity and the battle between knowing who we are and how we are percieved by ourselves and the world around us. You'd expect for Oedipus to end the play fully relalized and yet...
By blinding himself, which, yes it is out of guilt and is a form of self-flagellation, but it also acts as a way to continue ignoring who he is. Without eyes he cannot see his children, the genetic abominations, nor does he have to see the world he has helped corrupt. He can continue to live in bliss. In his blindness he does not become Tiresias- he is not a prophet- he is just a pathetic man as scared as us to see himself in the mirror.
Yeah sorry about your boyfriend… turns out he’s actually your son you thought you had killed 2 decades ago. Oh yeah he also killed your late husband… yeah the oracle was right