Question

why does oedipus curse the man who saved him when he was infant?

Answer 1

Because Oedipus is angry, desperate for someone to blame, and still ignorant of the full truth. In Sophocles’ play the story runs like this: as an infant Oedipus was exposed on a mountainside to prevent a prophecy; a shepherd (or servant) rescued him and handed him on to others, so he was raised by the royal couple of Corinth. Later, when a plague strikes Thebes and Oedipus vows to find Laius’ killer, he also vows curses on anyone who aided the murderer or abandoned an infant. When the tale of his own exposure comes up, Oedipus angrily curses the man involved because he thinks that man’s action — abandoning/passing him on instead of revealing his origins — set in motion the miserable life and crimes Oedipus has lived.

Two things are important here:
- Psychologically, Oedipus is looking for someone to hold responsible for the city’s and his own misery; cursing the man is an immediate, human reaction.
- Dramatically and thematically, the curse is an instance of tragic irony: Oedipus’s imprecation is morally understandable but futile — it cannot undo fate, and much of his anger is misdirected (the man who “saved” him actually made possible the life that fulfilled the oracle). The episode highlights Oedipus’s impulsive temper and the play’s themes of fate, guilt, and the limits of human justice.