Oidipous responds to Kreon’s request to be treated as a pupil rather than an accused by launching into a question that has all the earmarks of a cross-examination. The audience might surmise that Oidipous is inclined to treat any exchange, even a potentially salutary one, as an act of hostility or antagonism. This explains the hostility he displayed earlier when Teiresias refused to answer his questions. The presumption of antagonism makes him into the bad listener and bad learner he claims to be. He seems to feel more at home with an antagonistic rather than a cooperative approach to conflict resolution. [Md] [Mg]