In Episode 4 of Oedipus Rex, what do you make of the following coincidences concerning the herdsman?The herdsman: (a) saved infant Oedipus from...

I think you are slightly mistaken in your focus on the
role of the Herdsman. He only provides information concerning the true parentage and
origins of Oedipus, and was not the sole survivor of the attack on Laius and the sole
witness.

The role of the herdsman or shepherd obvioiusly is
the missing piece of the jigsaw that Oedipus has been hunting for throughout the entire
play. He is able to give voice to the fears and suspicions that Oedipus has had
throughout the play. It is the herdsman himself, who, after being threatened, says he is
on the "bring of dreadful speech" that Oedipus has insisted he delivers, even though
Oedipus recognises that he is on the brink of "dreadful hearing." Note what the herdsman
tells Oedipus and how he gives witness that will lead to the downfall of his
king:

I
pitied the baby, my King,

And I thought that this man would
take him far away

To his own
country.

He saved him--but for what a
fate!

For if you are what this man says you
are,

No man living is more wretched than
Oedipus.

The herdsman
presents therefore the inevitable culmination of the self-discovery of Oedipus as he
comes to realise his own identity and what he has done. He has already worked out that
it was he who killed Laius, his father, and in this scene receives the final infallible
proof that reveals to him that he has killed his father and married his
mother.