Oedipus Foil

Creon acts as a foil to Oedipus. Following his rather heated conversation with Tiresias, Oedipus confronts Creon with his accusations of disloyalty. Instead of being paranoid and ill-tempered like Oedipus, Creon shows himself to be honest, forthright, and even tempered. To prove his loyalty, he offers a rational explanation as to why he has no reason to conspire against him. He, Oedipus, and the queen hold equal power, so “who in his right mind would rather rule in anxiety than sleep in peace” (654-655)? A position as king is stressful but holds the same power as the queen’s brother. So why would Creon want to take on such responsibility if he already obtains the same power? He questions Oedipus’ logic to prove his loyalty, because he “is not the man to yearn for kinship, not with the king’s power in [his] hands” (657-658). And in the event that Oedipus refuses to take Creon’s word for truth, Creon has proof. Oedipus could simply go to Delphi and examine the oracle himself, thus personally seeing an accurate account of Creon’s message. But being the brash and quick to anger person that he is, Oedipus cannot see rationally. He is so caught up in his own rationale that he can't see that he is the traitor that he accuses Creon of being. He cannot see that jumping to conclusions and falsely accusing Creon shows that he himself lacks loyalty. He is lacking so much, he is willing to kill his brother-in-law, who has proven himself trustworthy, merely on a hunch.