Oedipus Rex of an unbearable self for which one is not responsible. Edith Hall referred to "Oedipus the King" as "this definitive tragedy" and notes that "the magisterial subtlety of Sophocles' characterization thus lend credibility to the breathtaking coincidences," and notes the irony that "Oedipus can only fulfill his exceptional god-ordained destiny because Oedipus is a preeminently capable and intelligent human being." H. D. F. Kitto said about "Oedipus Rex" that "it is true to say that the perfection of its form implies a world order," although Kitto notes that whether or not that world order "is beneficent, Sophocles does not say."
Oedipus Rex many Greek myths, and similarities to Oedipus can for example be seen in the myth of the birth of Perseus. Two oracles in particular dominate the plot of "Oedipus Rex". In lines 711 to 714, Jocasta relates the prophecy that was told to Laius before the birth of Oedipus. Namely: "(The oracle) told him" "that it was his fate that he should die a victim" "at the hands of his own son, a son to be born" "of Laius and me." The oracle told to Laius tells only of the patricide; the incest is missing. Prompted by Jocasta's recollection, Oedipus