A key example of how one's image can be altered through the loss or gain of self-control, is demonstrated when the horrible past that has been avoided until this point. Furthermore, the shepherd continued to tell the truth even after Jocasta begged him not to. It was revealed that Oedipus was the cause of the plague by killing his father and marrying his mother. The shock is so incredibly terrifying for both Oedipus and Jocasta that they both go to extreme measures to try to forget what they had just heard. Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus gouges out his eyes and asks to be exiled from Thebes. “Oedipus is a kind of symbol of human intelligence that cannot rest until he has solved all the riddles, even the last riddle,” which, ironically, is that both characters are referring to the relationship under consideration, as they both lose all control of the situation and destroy the image they had. Consequently, the sudden actions taken by Oedipus to blind himself from the world as he now knows it are in a sense courageous. He takes responsibility for his actions by saying "this horror is me... and no one but me is strong enough to bear it." Although his image is forever altered, he shows great self-control by acting as the person responsible for the plague and taking his anger out on himself. As Dodds points out “Oedipus is great because he accepts the