Oedipus was dismayed that the citizens of Thebes had not already done so. Oedipus begged and pleaded that if any of the citizens knew anything about the murder to come forward. That if the people helped him, he would not harm them, even if that person was the culprit, he would simply exile them so that Thebes could prosper. Oedipus calls the prophet to learn that it was he who murdered the king. Oedipus was beside himself with grief, the one thing he had tried to prevent his entire adult life had come true without his knowledge. Oedipus had killed his father and married his mother. After hearing her worst fears Jocasta hanged herself, when Oedipus found her he was even more devastated, he went a little crazy. “He tears off her brooches, the long golden pins that hold her dresses... he thrusts them into the sockets of her eyes, shouting: “you, you will no longer see the pain that I have suffered”..." (1403- 1407). Oedipus blinds himself because he is so horrified by what his life has become that he can no longer bear to see anything. Oedipus makes the decision to leave Thebes so that the people he has protected all this time will be safe. From his birth, Oedipus' life was decided for him. The choices he made may have seemed like free will, but a prophecy made about him at his birth ultimately came true. Oedipus tried to change the outcome of his life by distancing himself from everyone he cared about so that the prophecy would not come true. In doing so, he ended up back where he started, killed his father and married his mother. Oedipus' life was destined to be like this: "it is mine alone, my destiny, I am Oedipus »!”