Is Oidipous subject to the slightest fear? He is indeed afraid of fulfilling the prophecy that he must kill his father and marry his mother. It is ironic that despite this fear, or perhaps rather due to it, he cannot consider that the man he killed was his father. This is like his inability to consider that the man he killed might have been Thebes’ king, but here he is not at all afraid that the prophecy directing him to find Laios’ killer might be directing him to himself. So, while in the one case it is his fear of prophecy that blocks his consideration, in the other case it is his presumption of innocence. [Md] [Mpea]