Oedipus Rex If the superiority of a work of literature is based on its ability to arouse in the reader a combination of delight and anxiety, then Sophocles has succeeded in Oedipus Rex. His work provides its readers with a healthy confusion of pleasure and disquietude. These elements contribute to the effectiveness and purpose of the story. Three major sources that produce this healthy confusion are the prophecy of Teiresias, and the arrival of the messenger from Corinth, and the character of Oedipus himself. The arrival of the town’s seer, Teiresias congers up a strong sense of anxiety. The reader, along with Oedipus, awaits the