invoke this curse may he wear out his life in misery to miserable doom He does not know that he is cursing himself This determination to uncover the truth leads him to discover the murderer of the late king Teiresias Discloses the Truth Teiresias is the blind prophet in this play Oedipus calls him to help in the investigation Teiresias initially refuses to speak The king presses him and he says You yourself are the pollution of this land Oedipus does not believe him and accuses Teiresias of lying This moment marks the first hint that Oedipus might be the killer However his pride and anger close his eyes to the truth Jocasta s Story About Laius Death Jocasta Oedipus wife and the queen tries to calm Oedipus She tells him not to trust prophecies No human being has skill in prophecy To prove her point Jocasta says long ago a prophecy said Laius would be killed by his son but Laius was murdered by strangers at a crossroads and their baby died in the mountains This catches Oedipus attention Oedipus remembers killing a man at a crossroads years earlier Moreover Jocasta reveals Laius was an old man traveling with four servants when he was killed at the crossroads Oedipus starts to panic because this matches his memory of the fight The Messenger from Corinth A messenger arrives from Corinth the place where Oedipus was raised The messenger says Oedipus father King Polybus King of Corinth has died Oedipus feels relieved because he thinks the prophecy killing his father is now false But the messenger adds that Polybus was not his real father He was adopted and raised by the king and queen of Corinth This messenger brought Oedipus as a baby to Corinth Oedipus realizes he might be the son of Laius and Jocasta The messenger says a shepherd from Thebes handed him the baby The Shepherd s Confession Oedipus sends for the shepherd The shepherd admits that Queen Jocasta gave him the baby Jocasta wanted to leave the baby on the mountain to die to avoid the prophecy However the shepherd felt sorry for the baby and gave him to the Corinthian messenger Oedipus Connects the Dots Oedipus now understands that he is the baby Jocasta and Laius abandoned He killed Laius at the crossroads not knowing it was his father He married his mother Jocasta after becoming king of Thebes Jocasta realizes the truth first She runs into the palace and hangs herself Oedipus finds her body He cannot tolerate and blinds himself saying Why should I have eyes when there was nothing sweet for me to see In conclusion Oedipus learns the real identity of the killer of Laius from his investigation to save Thebes from the plague He learns that he himself is the killer Oedipus spent his whole life trying to escape the prophecy but his actions only made it come true The play shows that fate is stronger than human plans