So far I have not been able to decide if Oedipus is a good king. He has some good qualities and some bad ones. The one quality that makes him a good king is that he wants to save his kingdom and citizens from the plague. Even before he is confronted by the priest, he already sent Creon to the oracle to figure out what he must do to get rid of the plague. Creon says that the plague was caused because the murderer of the former king, Laius, was never found. Oedipus immediately decides to find him and sends for Tiresias to help in the search. Tiresias knows who the murderer is, but he refuses to tell the king and instead tells him to stop his search. Oedipus grows angry saying that the prophet himself is the murderer. This is just one of the qualities that makes Oedipus a bad king. He completely disregards Tiresias's advice who is a prophet of the gods. He sends Creon to the oracle for advice, but when he sends for the prophet he refuses to listen to him. Why would he listen to the oracle but not the prophet? Don't they both represent the gods. Oedipus may have hubris, but he also doesn't listen to people; which might be more of his downfall than hubris. When Oedipus is accusing the prophet, Tiresias tells the king that his "strength is in his truth," (I don't remember the exact quote) something that Oedipus does not have.
Truth is a quality that everyone should have, especially a king. Truth and honesty is the foundation for practically every relationship. If you don't trust someone you probably won't be friends, buy anything from them (especially if you are at a store), or even really like the person. That is because everyone wants people to be honest with them. When someone has lost that trust, it can be extremely difficult to gain it back. Hence every relationship is built on trust. Oedipus has no trust or honesty in his life. He does not trust the prophet when they are bickering and he doesn't trust Creon when he accuses him of conspiring against the previous king. Oedipus is not the only one in the story whom does not trust people. Laius and Jocasta were afraid of the revelation given to them. Because of this, they sent their son to death. This also made Jocasta disbelieve the gods. She no longer has faith in them and tells Oedipus of their lies. Oedipus trusts her, but only to an extent.
So far Oedipus is both a good and bad king. He has good intentions, but he goes about them all wrong. He refuses to listen to Tiresias's advice; instead going further into the search for the murderer. He accuses his brother-in-law of conspiracy and only lets it go when his wife confronts him. He wants to free his people and kingdom from the plague so much, that he lets his passion get the best of him. He doesn't think clearly and has no truth in his life. Despite all of this, I can not help but pity him for when he finds out the truth.
You say he doesn't listen to Tiresias and call off the search for the killer, but would he have been a good king if he had stopped? Oedipus is a king in paradox. Do you fight fate? Of course you can't, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try, right? If a prophet tells you you don't want to know something that you need to know as king, what do you do then? This is part of the difficulties that Oedipus has to deal with and why this is considered worthy of study. How do we deal with paradoxes in responsibility?
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