What stopped Oedipus? It would appear that nothing stopped him, although one almost wishes something would. Nothing stopped him from killing his father, defeating the sphinx, marrying his mother, or gauging his eyes. But the truth is that Oedipus ultimately failed to understand or accept that he has fulfilled this aweful prophecy until the truth becomes utterly inescapable.
There are two genre of individuals explicitely profiled in this play. The first is the thinker--the knower; one who understands or knows all and yet fails to act. The other, is the doer; a character who does not measure consequence and lacks perception or understanding. Oedipus embodies the doer. This is ultimately why he is unable or unwilling to understand that the words of Apollo's oracle have become a reality. When the knower--Tieresias--presents to King Oedipus the knowledge that he killed his own father, Oedipus rejects the notion. His character as a doer prevents him from understanding or accepting this jolting prophecy. Still more evidence is later presented. So much so that Queen Jocasta is driven to kill herself at the knowledge that her own son, whome she has marries, killed her husband. However, it is not until the servant who took Oedipus to the mountain that fateful night finally professes that, without a doubt, Oedipus is the child whome he saved, that Oedipus finally is forced to accept this aweful realization.
In Oedipus Rex it becomes clear that it is ones character which determines what will halt you. Oedipus maintained a character and a purpose as a doer. This is what stopped him from understanding that he had fulfilled the terrible prophecy.
