Oedipus/oates Compare&contrast

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Tiresias is well known to the people of Thebes as “god’s prophet” (1262) and is “gifted with the truth as no one else” (1264). And Arnold Friend appears to be just a stranger that drives up in a “jalopy, painted a bright gold” but he too has psychic powers. May Hal sees Arnold Friend as a being with super natural powers, too. She writes, “Friends’ mesmeric influence on Connie supports my contention that he represents a supper human force” (11:403). Appearing different from each other, Arnold Friend and Tiresias both play similar roles in their stories, the protagonists react to them in a similar way, and they both have psychic powers.
Tiresias uses his bower to “see” the truth when he tells Oedipus, “You are the murderer you seek” (1264). This is a true statement that Oedipus is unaware of at the time. Oedipus eventually proves the prophet right when he does find out that he is the murder he is looking for. But Oedipus is offended by this prophecy and lashes out at Tiresias in anger by saying:
“ You have no strength, blind in your ears, your reason, and your eyes”. (1264) Tiresias replies with another prophecy, “Unhappy man! Those jeers you hurl at me before long all those men will hurl at you” (1264).

Carter 3
At the end of the story, this prophecy coming true proves that Tiresias has psychic abilities. Oedipus jeer he threw at Tiresias does come back to him. When Oedipus becomes irrational and pokes his own eyes out and no longer has strength his people feel the same way about him as he did of Tiresias when he made that rude comment. Tiresias also predicted the future with precision when he told Oedipus:
“A seeming stranger, we shall be shown to be Theban born, blind, who once could see, a beggar who was rich. He'll go and point with a stick. To his beloved children he’ll be shown a father who is also a brother; to the one who bore him, son and husband; to his fa...