Explanation: In the quote, Teiresias directly tells Oedipus who is the murderer and he is in denial and believes that he is lying. In other words, Oedipus is told exactly who he is looking for and, later in the story, has to go through a series of conversations in order to gather proof to believe Teiresias.
Oedipus denies the truth and faces the consequences later on in the play. He gets furious when everyone is blaming him for killing Laius. As he is blaming others, hubris appears within his personality. Oedipus becomes blinder as hubris takes over him.
Oedipus Rex essay Final draft Oedipus certainly deserved his fate. Oedipus and his actions are clearly disrespect to the gods , he faces the fate he deserves. He was doing things that would eventually lead up to the unfortunate event of his death , he was even warned by the great and wise Teiresias , but he being himself was to stubborn and did not listen. All the things Teiresias said would happen became the truth. He killed his father, married his mother, yet he tempted his fate , he deserved everything that came his way .
“Fortunate is the man who has never tasted God’s vengeance!” (Sophocles, pg. 215) this statement is about fate, where it is trying to pity Creon as the God’s will curse him because of his unjust law. Although the quote implies “men” Antigone, who is the daughter and sister of Oedipus, is also pitted because the gods have cursed the family. Both Creon and Antigone are unfortunate human beings because the gods are punishing them.
Some of the clever and ironic word play Tiresias uses is when he says “How terrible- to see the truth when the truth is only pain to him who sees” (Sophocles 176), “You bear your burdens, I’ll bear mine. It’s better that way” (Sophocles 177), and “ You criticize my temper . . . unaware of the one you live with” (Sophocles 178). In the first quote, Tiresias uses clever word play to show how the truth brings pains to those who see it, just like when Oedipus sees the truth leads down a path of pain and eventually making him become blind. In the second quote, Tiresias use clever word play to show that everyone has something their burdens some that may not know about them, just like the Oedipus had the burden of killing his father.
P.13 Oedipus questions Teiresias, curious to know what he knows. “Oh gruesomely clear it has all unraveled… I was bonded with the people I should have never killed.” P.40 Oedipus sees what he has done wrong and feels vulnerable and horror. The audience clearly sees that heroes are very human and how real their limitations. Most people would have felt that same vulnerability if the gods had made us their plaything and tormented us, writing a prophecy of our doom.
The fate of Oedipus was not his own but he caused a disruption of a nation that could have been
After his accusations, Oedipus mocked Teiresias for his blindness, and told him to leave the palace as Oedipus had grown tired of him. Oedipus’s imperfect nature stopped him from learning the truth from Teiresias before it was too late, and lead to great loss at the end of the play. Throughout the story of Oedipus the King, the imperfectly noble nature of Oedipus is displayed for all to learn from. His temperamental and overzealous nature made him argumentative and combative when Teiresias tried to tell him the truth about the murder, causing Oedipus to accuse his good friend Creon of being a usurper.
As the King and blind man speak they steadily become more and more heated between one another. Oedipus, uses the most derogatory and repulsive insults to try and anger Teiresias into revealing the past to him. After being broken down by Oedipus, Teiresias still does not wish to capitulate the fate of Oedipus in hopes that one would be able to live on with his life in peace. By holding the fate of Oedipus to himself, Teiresias can be seen sacrificing personal pride in hopes that one can stay joyful and
The blindness of having the eyesight but cannot see and the blindness of poking his eyes so as not to see again the social evils that he had done (Calame, 1996). His metaphorical blindness came out of pride, ignorance and as a result of the people who knows the truth and hide it from him. The second bit of his blindness comes out of shame that makes him want to avoid seeing the cause of his actions. Comparing Teiresias and Oedipus the King, Teiresias has the insight and knowledge when Oedipus has eyesight without knowledge that is termed as ignorance (Calame, 1996). Oedipus out of pride and ability to see feels that he knows the truth while he is far from the truth.
I think it will have been easier for oedipus to bring someone else to justice than to bring himself to justice. What he thought just also change because of that, the guilt made him think that simple banishment was not enough and that he deserved a way worse punishment for doing such horrible things. When you think of the situation oedipus was in he did got the justice he was looking for, or to be more accurate we could say that he have himself justice since he was the one who begged croan to excile him and the one who took his own sight out, the fact that he did that, that he have himself to justice was a very noble thing to do and shows that oedipus did what was right in spite of having to suffer the consequences of what he unconciously did. Throught the play we can see that oedipus attitude towards justice is that you need to get it by yourself, he thinks that he should get and exile the killer himself.
It is ironic how he talks about what could possibly be his own consequences for his actions. While giving the speech Oedipus says “I pray, too, that, if he should become an honoured guest in my own home and with my knowledge, I may suffer all those things I’ve just called down upon the killers” (Sophocles). Oedipus explains how the suspect will face bad things, and that if the murderer was let into his own house, with his knowledge, he shall be punished for it. The reader can infer that Oedipus may be the culprit considering he may ironically be the “honored guest in his own home.” This can seem like a reasonable outcome considering the reader knows that the position of a king is honorable.
His character and temper are depicted in his relentless persistence for seeking the truth. After the initial decision to find the murderer of Laius, Oedipus sets off a series of decisions and events that lead to his tragic discovery and downfall. The first obstacle is old Teiresias “master of the wise and hidden mysteries,” whom Oedipus poses many questions in order to find out the answer. Teiresias provokes Oedipus, alluding to his sin, but avoids telling him the truth. After being irritated and aggravated Oedipus becomes rough and starts insulting blind man.
Because Teiresias didn’t satisfy his curiousity, Oedipus kept seeking the murderer and neglected several hints that he is the person that he himself tried to punish, although he also scared that Teireias’ prophecy on him was right therefore Indirectly, Teiresias intended to let Oedipus to seek the truth on his won rather than to harm Oedipus pride as a king by gave him the truth at that time. Once again Teiresias gave Oedipus his prevision [page 57, right column, line 37] and to be later proven to be true [page 67, right column, line 55] as a hint that no body can escape from his own
Teiresias, a blind prophet (ever ironic), tells Oedipus of his fate and receives in return insults and accusations. In this exchange, a paranoid Oedipus accuses him of conspiring with Creon, failing to grasp the truth and magnitude of the prophets words. Oedipus' blindness to the truth is blatant as he makes a fearful and impractical hypothesis that, "Creon [his] old trusted family friend, has secretly conspired to overthrow [him], and paid off... a bogus priest, who can only see his own advantage,
