ABSTRACT
Thus the Messenger pronounced Oedipus’ self-blinding, punishment for sleeping with his mother and killing his father.1 Oedipus no doubt suffered the intense pain of his wound, but that was only the prelude to his life beyond the moment: a life of loneliness and unsociability, weakness and dependence, and vulnerability-a forceful juxtaposition with the memory of the proud, authoritative man that he once was.
