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Examples Of Ignorance Is Bliss In Oedipus Rex

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Is Ignorance Bliss? The phrase “ignorance is bliss” can be applied to many everyday situations, like if someone used the toilet-scrubbing toothbrush without knowing, or if a vegetarian ate gelatin without knowing that it is made up of animal cartilage. But in the Greek tragedy “Oedipus Rex”, playwright Sophocles challenges the stance that ignorance is bliss and the relationship between man and truth. In fact, Sophocles’ tragedy proves that ignorance is not bliss; without knowing his untimely fate, Thebes would continue to be fraught with plagues until Oedipus’ death. Using the archetype of fate, Sophocles proves that knowing the truth benefits society as a whole. In “Oedipus Rex”, main character and tragic hero Oedipus is victim to his fate, gouging out his eyes after he finds that he has fulfilled the prophecy of killing his father and sleeping with his mother. Although his life is ruined by this tragedy, his people benefit from it, because they know that the reason for the plagues upon their country …show more content…

As soon as Oedipus finds out his unfortunate fortune, he cuts out his eyes. He never wants to see the pain he brought on to others again, and doesn’t want to see his mother in the underworld, “shouting that they [his eyes] would not see either the evils he had suffered or the evils he had done” (Sophocles 1293-1294). Oedipus knows that he inflicts suffering onto the people of Thebes through his choice to ignore his fate. Jocasta, his mother and wife, only encourages his ignorance, trying to distract him from his real issues by making him think that fate is on his side, asking, “Why should a person fear when the ways of fortune are supreme, when there is no clear foresight?” (Sophocles 999-1000). She wants him to not realize that she is his mother, worsening his ignorance and pain. Jocasta wants him to become even more unaware of his fate and the harm he is causing his

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One of the essential reasons that Oedipus Rex is an elegant example of tragedy is because it renders the suffering of the main character, (Oedipus), who is of noble rank in society. Oedipus begins the story as king of Thebes, but soon realizes after an appalling truth that he is the man who killed his own father, married his own mother, and conceived children with her. Once he discovers that his wife/mother Jocasta has hung herself, he takes her brooches and gouges his eyes out screaming: “What good were eyes to me? Nothing I could see could bring me joy” (Lines 1471-1472). Oedipus speaks these words and elucidates the reason for why he gouged out his own eyes.

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