When Polynices arrives seeking Oedipus’ support in his struggle for the Theban throne, Oedipus at first refuses to talk with him. After Polynices makes his argument—namely, that both he and his father have suffered at the hands of Eteocles and Creon and that both will prosper if Polynices’ side wins the throne—Oedipus rejects him in fury. Despite his father’s curse that the brothers should die at one another’s hands and despite Antigone’s pleadings to avoid war, Polynices goes back to his troops, ready to storm Thebes.
