Blindness Vs. Sight In Oedipus The King And Antigone

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 the play, Antigone, Creon, the king after Oedipus, is blinded by his pride. He sentences Antigone to death for burying a body. In these two plays it shows how the sins of the fathers are being passed down, giving family members blindness and punishing them. The kings’ arrogance and pride causes them to be blind, resulting in the citizens and family members being affected by the kings’ behaviors. Oedipus became blind by trying to escape his fate, as well as the pride and arrogance he had developed. In the text the author states, “And if this killer lives within my house, and if I know him, then may I myself receive the curse I just now laid upon his head” (43).

Many people in today’s society is blind to the world. They only see what they want to see, rather than knowing and having an understanding of what’s going on. For example, a prideful boss is arrogant by knowing they have money and can tell the coworkers what to do. The only thing the boss does is sit around, buys new statues of himself to put in his office, and has the workers work harder to pay for his statues. Even though the higher up companies says it’s illegal to have your workers’ pay for your things in your office you want. The reason behind this is when Creon and Oedipus were kings, they thought about themselves and made rules around their likings even though it didn’t line up with the higher ups (the gods). Same with the boss, he made the workers work to pay off his unnecessary statues even though it was illegal. Being self-centered is never the solution, the eyes of a person need to be opened and aware of their surroundings as well as being