white"People of our land Thebes, behold this Oedipus,
who knew the famous riddle and was a nigh powerful man,
whose fortunes all the citizens watched with emulation,
how deep the sea of dire misfortune that has taken him!
Therefore, it is necessary to call no homo blest
every bit nosotros await the final twenty-four hours, until he has reached
the limit of life and suffered goose egg grievous."

Was Oedipus a good person? There are many things to consider when answering this question. What defines good? What defines evil? Upon enquiry, good was constitute to mean having the right or desirable quality, while evil is undesirable. Expert could as well mean having a positive influence on the world, and evil having a negative influence. Does neutrality come onto the spectrum? Can a person exist both adept and evil? Is in that location a circumstance where a person may be a mix of the ii? He was prophecized to kill his male parent and marry his mother, merely Oedipus believed that those would not come into fruition and did piddling in an attempt not to practise these things. Oedipus kills his father in self defense force without the knowledge that it was his male parent. What would that say well-nigh his character? He as well unknowingly married his female parent, and had children by her. He punished himself for his deportment, but did the punishment fit the crimes?

"And if,
once I'd come to the world of pain, as come I did,
I fell to blows with my begetter, cut him down in claret—
bullheaded to what I was doing, blind to whom I killed—
how could you condemn that involuntary act
with whatsoever sense of justice?"

Oedipus went to meet the oracle at Delphi, having heard that there was a prophecy waiting for him. He was then told by the oracle that he was going to kill his father and ally his mother. Devastated, he made his fashion dorsum to Thebes when he was stopped by a traveling caravan that, unknowing to Oedipus, carried his father. The caravan was going to kill Oedipus, and in self defense force and fueled past the rage of the recently received prophecy, Oedipus killed his male parent. Does this make him evil? He killed a human being beingness. Would self defense be a good plenty reason to kill someone? Would this qualify as a adept bear upon on the globe? Wouldn't that depend on whether or not his father was a skillful person? His begetter was a office of the world, so wouldn't his expiry have been a negative influence on the world? Unless his father was himself an evil person, that is.

"She was, ah woe is me! she was my mother;
I knew it non, nor she; and she my female parent
Blank children to the son whom she had borne,
A birth of shame. Merely this at to the lowest degree I know
Wittingly thou aspersest her and me;
Simply I unwitting wed, unwilling speak."

Oedipus married his own mother. The children they had together were also his siblings. Although he didn't know that the woman he was marrying was his female parent, his children were at cracking danger because of it. Does his ignorance alibi his actions? Does annihilation excuse the danger he put his children in? When it was realized that his mother was also his wife, she was found dead, having killed herself. Can any  blame be put on Oedipus? He was foretold to ally his female parent, then it was unable to be stopped, but peradventure if he heeded the prophecy and believed it he might not accept married at all, for fear that any adult female could have been his mother.

"Exercise non tell me that these things were not
washed well, nor offer me further counsel.
For I don't know with what eyes I could expect
and see my begetter when I go down to Hell,
nor again my poor mother; to those two
my deeds are across what hanging could punish.
Or is the sight of my children desirable
for me to run into, sprouting as they sprouted?
Surely never to those eyes of mine!"

"Exposing such defilement as this,
did I intend to see them with my own optics?
Not at all. Rather if I could somehow block
my hearing from the ears, I would non concord back
from fully shutting off this wretched frame of mine,
and so that I'd be blind and hear nothing, for to live
outside comprehension of these woes would exist sweet."

After realizing the atrocities that Oedipus had committed, he punished himself. He blinded himself so that he would never take to meet the world that he had defiled. The fact that he had gouged his eyes out shows his apologize for his actions, which may make him seem leaning more towards good on the spectrum of good and evil. But was blindness a punishment that fit his crimes? He became someone who needed a crutch, and who used his daughter in this manner. Indeed, because of his "penalisation", Antigone threw away her life to aid her father until the stop of his.

"But, don't blame me but similar that, with mere suspicion.
For it is not just either to randomly
consider wicked men skilful or the good wicked.
I retrieve that casting off a good friend is equal
even to throwing out one's ain dear life.
In fourth dimension, though, you will surely know these things, since
time solitary shows that a human being is merely,
but you might larn he is bad in a single day."

In the search for the reply to this question, many more than questions needed answering. The answer may exist that there is no binary for what is good and what is evil, there is only what is. Oedipus cannot be considered expert or evil in any state, because the concept of good and even is extremely subjective and no definition tin really be absolutely stated. There is such a matter as skilful and evil, because people believe that at that place is and it'due south existence is based upon the conventionalities of information technology, merely the way people ascertain each varies so greatly that what they are cannot really exist said.