The chimney-sweeper
when my mother died i was very young,
and my father sold me while yet my tongue
could scarcely cry ‘weep! weep! weep! weep! '
so your chimneys i sweep, and in soot i sleep
what is the narrator expressing by these lines

What is the significance of the above statement in relation to the play’s conclusion? oedipus treats his inferiors poorly but ultimately grants them the same respect he grants to nobility. while teiresias appears to be mocking oedipus, the real message is one of warning about the forces working against the king. oedipus earns great fame for answering the riddle of the sphinx but ultimately loses his crown to a common man. just as oedipus is unable to conceive that he has done wrong in the past, he is unable to imagine that his enviable position is impermanent.