The philosopher Sophocles was first recognized as a playwright when he defeated Aeschylus, an already famous playwright, in an annual dramatic competition (Albert et al. 301). Sophocles continued to produce 123 plays throughout his life but only 7 survive today (Albert et al. 301). One of Sophocles’ well known works is the tragedy of Oedipus Rex, which was written over a span of 36 years (Albert et al. 303). Despite Sophocles producing the final tragedy in Oedipus Rex at the age of 90, his esteemed poetic power did not cease (Albert et al. 303). The various symbols throughout Oedipus Rex help to illustrate the theme that one should not avoid their fate as it will always come back to reveal itself.
The symbol of light versus dark is used to portray the good versus evil throughout the play. Oedipus takes it upon himself to become the hero the city of Thebes
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While in a dispute with Teiresias, Oedipus became very defensive over Teiresias’s opinion that Oedipus may actually be the murderer. Oedipus then criticized Teiresias’s powers and continued to mock him for being blind. Teiresias spitefully says, “...You mock my blindness, do you? But I say that you, with both your eyes, are blind:” (1. 398-399). This exposes the irony that Oedipus is the murderer but he refuses to accept his prophecy. Oedipus’s denial over the truth that is right in front of him leads to his downfall. When everything is unraveled and Oedipus finds out his whole life was a lie, he does not know how he can go on living the same. Pained by his discovery, Oedipus says, “How could I bear to see when all my sight was horror everywhere?” (Exodos. 1289-1290). Now that Oedipus is aware of the prophecy coming true, he can not stand to accept he did not actually avoid his fate after all. He is torn about no longer being blind to the fact that he actually had sight of the truth the whole