Doubt/Certainty

In Oedipus the King, we witness Oedipus' certainty of himself when he is speaking the the town of Thebes. He is trying to figure out who has killed the former King, Laius. Oedipus demands the townspeople to tell him if they know who has killed King Laius, or else. "Oh dear gods, my curse on those who disobey these orders! Let no crops grow out of the earth for them-shrivel their women, kill their sons, burn them to nothing in this plague that hits us now, or somethin geven worse," (Sophocles 173). This passage shows Oedipus' certainty that he is not the killer because he would not have said such terrible things if he knew it was true. Later in the book, we witness Oedipus' doubt that he is the one who has killed Laius because he believes that King Laius is not his father. "Apollo told me once-it is my fate-I must make love with my own mother, shed my father's blood with my own hands. So for years I've given Corinth a wide berth, and it'd been my good fortune too," (Sophocles 216). Oedipus explains this oracle and how he keeps away from Corinth so he could never commit these actions. This shows his doubt that he has killed Laius because he still believes the King on Corinth is his father. In Wild Duck, we also see this doubt in a family relationship. Hjalmar gets filled with doubt that Hedvig is not really his daughter. "Just answer me this: does Hedvig belong to me-or? what?" (Ibsen ?). By comparing these two works, you witness that the two authors both use doubt to show the disfunction of families.