Oidipous’s hopeful interpretation of the look in Kreon’s eyes reflects his sincerity, but it also points up the discrepancy between such signs and the terrible reality that the audience knows must be about to unfold. The contradiction between the audience’s knowledge of the prophecy already fulfilled and Oidipous’s hopes in the prophecy not yet revealed may thus prompt the audience to further juxtapose Kreon’s present arrival from Delphi with Oidipous’s consultation there years ago, since which time Oidipous must have been hoping (if not praying) that things would never turn out as “Lord Apollo” said they must. And just as Oidipous’s present hope of a salvation fortunate and bright is destined to go unfulfilled, his fears then were fulfilled almost instantly. Clearly, when consulting Delphi one does not always get what one hopes or expects; the consultation itself may seem to the audience to carry some risk. Good reason to avoid it altogether. [Md] [Mpea]