Although Oedipus has seemingly learned the virtues of patience, humility, and contentment through his bitter experiences of exile, he is still able to become enraged. Towering in his anger, almost like Jove or Shakespeare's King Lear, he appears for a second hardly human or natural. Yet alongside this furious rage at his sons is also a streak of gentleness towards his daughters and a tender love for them. Oedipus appears more human than he was as the proud and powerful king of Thebes.

Oedipus will not stand to be captured by the Thebans to suit their selfish purposes. When Ismene tells him that they will not bury him in Theban soil because he bears the guilt of parricide on his hands, he angrily exclaims, "Then they shall never get me in their power".

At the close of this section, Oedipus pays heed to the chorus' advice on how he should appease the deities of the grove through rituals of purgation and propitiation. The details of these rites that the chorus gives to Oedipus also provide us with insights into the complex rituals of the ancient Greeks. This second part of Episode I reinforces the religious dimension of the play. Although Oedipus does not perform the ritual himself, he firmly believes in the necessity and efficacy of this propitiatory rite. He hopes it may purge him of the sin of trespassing into the sacred grove at Colonus as well as bring to his aid the Furies who act as protectors as well as avenging spirits.

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