From reading Oedipus the king the clearest timeless human experience I can find is the fear of incest.
Jacosta says much the same in the play when, trying to soothe Oedipus, she tells him that many a man has dreamed of killing his father and marrying his mother. As such it deals it deals with the incest taboo which is found in all cultures.
it also deals with patriarchal society’s deepest fears: that a son might murder his father and marry his wife.
Beyond that, it deals with the Adlerian “fear of not being manipulated by forces larger than we can understand.
And, finally, it deals with a more mundane fear we all have: that in acting for all the right reasons, we may do precisely the wrong thing.
