Throughout the play, Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, the lines contain many rhetorical devices but one of which being most insightful is the motif of sight. Sight presents both physical and mental meaning that adds more depth toward the characters, Oedipus and Tiresias. Sight as a motif represents the characters and their level of knowledge of their actions and their surroundings.
Oedipus and Tieresisa are prime examples of sight representing their knowledge and their character. When Oedipus first meets Tieresias, he mocks Tieresias for not telling him the murderer of Laius. Tieresias replies,” Listen to me. You mock my blindness do you? But I say that you with both your eyes are blind:” (1.1.498-499), this is referring to Oedipus unable to see
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Similar to sight equaling knowledge, Oedipus was born with sight but has never carried the knowledge of his origins. “Who are your father and mother? Can you tell me? You do not even know the blind wrongs that you have done them, on earth, and in the world below.” (1.1.402-404). Sight is also a motif toward the crimes and actions that both the characters have done. Tieresias, being blind, has immense knowledge of the past and future. However, Oedipus since birth, has had no knowledge of his true parents and the people surrounding him. Oedipus lives a lie when he has a sight, he has no understanding of the man he killed being Laius, and Laius being his father nor does he know that Jocasta is his mother and his adoption. Only once Oedipus gouges his eyes, blinding himself, he comprehends the truth of his birth and his fate. Sight also represents how men act with knowledge and without it, Oedipus is arrogant and short tempered but in great despair for the knowledge of his parents, “How could I not be glad to know my own birth?” (2.3.1029). Yet, Tieresias is more cautious and calm when he is blind. Once Oedipus becomes blind he is no longer arrogant and is instead begging for