for his defeat of the Sphinx, and his inward strength, not for his skills in combat. But surely, Oedipus is a great man, not in virtue of great worldly position, but as an illusion, which will vanish like a dream. Oedipus is great because of the virtue of his inner strength, strength to pursue the truth at whatever personal cost, and strength to accept and endure it when found. “This horror is mine,” he cries, “and none but I is strong enough to bear it”(Sophocles 1414). Oedipus had a very strong inward strength, Richard Jebb talks of this inward strength when he comments on Oedipus, “The Theban king … has an inward sense of an strength which can no more be broken; of a vision clearer than that of the bodily eye”(325). Oedipus inner strength is also shown when he asks Creon to drive him out of the land at once, far from everyone’s sight, where he will never hear a human voice ever again. Oedipus accepts his mistakes and will take whatever punishment is handed to him; not once does he cry and ask, “ why is this happening to me?” Instead Oedipus punishes himself by gouging out his own eyes. Why though does he decide to blind himself? He tells us why; he has blinded himself in order to cut himself off from all human contact, if he could take away his other senses he would. Oedipus has mutilated himself because he can face neither the living nor the dead.Donna Rosenberg, editor of World Mythology: An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics, states in her introduction to Greek Mythology that the hero, “valued strength and skill, Wilkins 3courage and determination, for these attributes enabled the person to achieve glory and honor both in his lifetime and after he died”(38). When it comes to honor and glory, Oedipus will not even consider the needs and love of his family. But it would be a mistake to view Oedipus as someone who has no compassion. Oedipus displays his unco...
