Oedipus’s Forms of Blindness LEAD IN. The famous tragedy of “Oedipus the King,” written by Sophocles, is a drama telling the story of a great king’s personal suffering with their true meaning and fate. Once Oedipus discovers his true actions, he …
THESIS. Oedipus experiences both physical and metaphorical blindness through being unaware of his own actions, being unaware of the truth of a fate that has followed him his whole life, and the physical act of blinding himself. Sophocles dramatizes Oedipus’s blindness to himself through his denial of the truth, which is blatantly presented to him. Teiresias reveals to Oedipus that he is the one who has brought such turbulence and misery to his beloved city, although the words of this blind prophet have always come true, Oedipus refuses all statements and beliefs that blame him for being the source of any harm or misfortune (Sophocles 12). Oedipus convinced himself that he was taking every precaution necessary to avoid his unthinkable fate. He fled his home and rejected any circumstance that may have put him in the presence of one his adopted parents (Sophocles 12). However, Oedipus did not realize that in his attempts of proving his fate wrong, he was only driving himself in the direction of a tragic downfall. As he fled from the city that his parents –or the people he thought were his parents-- reside in, he was only inching himself closer to fulfilling his unavoidable fate (Sophocles 12). Once
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Awareness of other humans, objects, environments, ideas, and, most importantly, oneself. The forms and levels of awareness are endless, but identifying one’s actions gives that person the capability to control their fate. A person’s future depends on their own choices and how they choose to interact with other people and things around them. Fate is determined by a person’s will power to be aware of themselves in relation to the world around