In both Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Homer's The Odyssey, the main characters transgress beyond accepted social norms and commit crimes. Odysseus blinds a man, acts recklessly in providing for the safety of his crew, and is unfaithful (repeatedly) to his wife. Oedipus is unkind to a blind man, refuses to listen to good advice, falsely accuses people, and kills a man. In both cases, though, the epic heroes Odysseus and Oedipus are not blameworthy because the audience understands that the acts of lawlessness and transgression are not the fault of the heroes; it is their fate to behave in such a way. While it is a suspension of reality to absolve the heroes of blame for their immoral or illegal actions, such a suspension is common in literature. The fictional heroes "get away with murder" because it is really not their fault. Readers of mythology and literature in general can appreciate the loophole that allows fated characters to escape retribution. The actions and consequences of the heroes suggest that people are willing to tolerate or even approve of transgressions if the circumstances are beyond the hero's control.
             The ill-fated descendant of the House of Cadmus, Oedipus, has both a lucky and an unlucky beginning. Because of his fate to grow up and kill his father, his parents, Laius and Jocasta, choose to send him off to die on Mount Cithaeron. The lucky child is rescued by a kind-hearted servant and a shepherd and taken in by the childless King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth. While it may seem that Oedipus escaped his fate by being moved away from his native Thebes to Corinth, his teenage years reveal the news of his fate. His flight away from the people whom he assumed were his real parents leads him down the road to Thebes. On the road, Oedipus shows his temper when he is nearly run off the road by a man in a chariot. Oedipus kills the man in the chariot along with his entire entoura...