Blindness Vs. Sight In the plays Oedipus the King and Antigone by Sophocles, the city of Thebes deals with two kings, who cause great pain to the city. In the play Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the very tempered king of Thebes, in which this city has a plague. Little does Oedipus know after blaming everyone else, he is the real cause of the disaster.
The field is freshly raked, the sun is blaring in, the game is beginning, but before she is ready, the ball is hit. With the spot light on her, she quickly stumbles over her feet and misses the ball. “Stupid rock” she mumbles under her breath. Her parents protect her with words like “good job” then she proceeds to smile. Ignorance is bliss, for some.
Do you think you can escape death? I believe that you cannot escape death. In the story “Masques of the Red Death” there are many symbols. The clock, the rooms, and the stranger are all symbols.
To release himself of his prideful ways, Oedipus took it upon himself to discard the eyes that failed to see the truth. To amend the situation he, “raised [the ornament] down straight into his eyeballs.” University of Pennsylvania Professor, Peter T. Struck, established a literary commentary in which he wrote, “by blinding himself, as opposed to committing suicide, Oedipus achieves a kind of surrogate death that intensifies his suffering.” Struck agrees that by committing this self-inflicted retribution, Oedipus is redeeming himself for his sins in a way that death would not allow him to do. Now that Oedipus is finally able to see the truth, he recognizes his mistakes and exclaims, “I don’t deserve to live among you…send me from Thebes”(p.80).
Master of Tragedies Neil Gaiman once said, “There’s none so blind as those who will not listen.” This quote relates to the theme of sight and blindness in “The Tragedy of Oedipus Rex”. King Oedipus was a man who would not accept the truth about himself. Physically he was not blind but in truth he was. There are three examples of Oedipus’s metaphysical condition of blindness which will be listed as follows.
Blindness Vs. Sight In the stories Oedipus the King and Antigone, the kings who ruled Thebes are very troublesome men. Oedipus is the main character in Oedipus the King, whom is blinded by killing his father. In the end, he marries his mother and punishes himself for his sins.
In this play, he has created a marriage that promotes respect towards women. Traditionally, women are not treated as equals in their society, but Sophocles believes otherwise and expresses his opinion through his plays. Sophocles presents that the marriage between Oedipus and Jocasta is respectable and equal. When Oedipus was going through a difficult time, Jocasta became aware of this and wanted nothing else but to help Oedipus find what he was looking for. Oedipus, who is in search of the truth regarding his birth, is questioning Jocasta, looking for answers.
Oedipus experienced blindness figuratively and eventually literally. The concept of sight and blindness in Oedipus Rex teaches many lessons. One lesson is that seeing something is based on one’s perspective, therefore it will not always be experienced the same way among different people. It depends on the way people perceive the information they receive.
When he became physically blind, he was able to learn to live with the truth of the prophecy (Haque and Kabirchowdhury 118). Oedipus demonstrates his final acceptance of his fate given by the gods in his final conversation with Kreon- “Give me what I ask for...drive me out of this country as quickly as may be to a place where no human voice can ever greet me” (Sophocles 1268). Oedipus lost his ability to see, and along with it his hubris. All he was left with was a forced exodus and a complete reliance on the gods.
Throughout the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles, there is continual use of vision and blindness foreshadowing the events to come near the end of the play due to Oedipus’ ignorance. Ironically, most of the main characters with their sight still intact are blind to the truth and revelations that come to pass while the few that are blind see what is to come and what becomes of those spoken of in the prophecy. In a paradoxical trend, sight in the play can equal deception or ignorance while blindness represents truth or revelation. Oedipus is a brash man.
It's great ignorance to have physical sight when you are ultimately blinded by the truth that you cannot see as in the case of Oedipus. The king makes ironical statement to Teiresias of how he cannot be hurt by Teiresias (Calame, 1996). This later turn to Oedipus equating physical blinded to ignorance as he removes his eyes so as not to see his terrible actions. The play displays Oedipus two encounters of blindness.
Some truths are better left in the dark. Sophocles’ tragic play, Oedipus the King, tells about the lack and gain of knowledge and reveals that people can not always handle the consequences of the information they uncover. The tragedy begins with Oedipus, the King of Thebes, reigning over the city riddled with plague. As Oedipus is sought after and admired by his citizens, he vows to solve the source of the defilement. However, an oracle from the Greek god, Apollo, reveals that the plague will only be lifted once the murder of the deceased king, Jocasta’s first husband, Laius, is solved.
First, he was blind to the truth about his own life. Oedipus had no idea that his real parents were Laius and Jocasta, he was so blind that he got mad at anyone that would even suggest an idea such as that. As the story went on though, Oedipus could no longer run from the truth; he was forced to open his eyes to the reality and truth of his life. Oedipus killed his father and married his mother; he is the brother to his own kids and the son of his own mother. Oedipus was the one that was causing all of the downfall and bad times in Thebes.
Oedipus married his mother, Jocasta is dead and Oedipus pokes his eyes out, Thebes is in mourning. “Aaah, all has come to pass. All is true!” (line 314, part 2) what Oedipus is trying to find is his misery, Oedipus is tormented by his
So in the end, Oedipus no longer thinks of himself. Thinking of his children 's impending marriage, Oedipus begs for his children and no longer can think of himself as anything more than a creature that embodies what it means to be pathetic: “When you come to the age ripe for marriage, who will he be who will run the risk, children, to take for himself the reproaches that will be banes for my parents and offspring alike? What evil is absent? Your father slew his father; he ploughed his mother, where he himself was sown, and he sired you in the same fount where he himself was sired.
