In stating that he is “neither confident nor . . . fearful” Oidipous indicates that his mind is perfectly balanced, perfectly objective, perfectly rational; he awaits the Oracle’s statement with perfect equanimity. Oidipous remains detached from the suffering around him and does not imagine that it might yet touch him directly. When he learns that it does, as the audience knows he must, it can anticipate that his emotional state will undergo the most radical of reversals (one feature of the play that particularly struck Aristotle). Thus, Oidipous’s words give the audience occasion to realize that a stance of dispassionate objectivity and rationality may reflect ignorance or delusion and thus lead to decisions and actions tending to make matters worse rather than better. [Md] [Mpea]