ipl-logo

Blindness In Aristophanes Oedipus The King

614 Words3 Pages

The conceit that Wealth is blind dates at least back to the complaints of Hipponax (6th cent.). The attempt to cure his blindness, though, occurs for the first time in extant literature in Aristophanes’ Wealth, produced in 388. This paper argues that Aristophanes’ innovative treatment of Wealth’s blindness echoes the transformation of Oedipus in Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, produced in 402. This is not to suggest that Wealth is an all-out parody of Oedipus at Colonus. Wealth’s engagement with Oedipus at Colonus operates on visual, situational, and thematic parallels, rather than direct verbal parody. Wealth’s reworking of Oedipus at Colonus begins in the prologue. In Wealth, an old, blind man dressed in slovenly rags enters, followed …show more content…

Apollo has instructed Chremylus never to let go of the one he first encounters as he leaves the temple, and to bring him home (Wealth 41-43). In lines 56-75 there is a brief altercation with the as-yet-unnamed blind man: Chremylus and Cario try to learn his identity, he responds angrily, they grab hold of him, and he protests vehemently. Given the attempted seizure of Oedipus himself by Creon in Oedipus at Colonus (lines 860 ff.), there is every reason for the audience of Wealth to think that this ragged, blind, and now physically beset old man is Oedipus, until he reveals—surprise—that he is Wealth. (See Revermann 2006: 262-63 on initial “visual misdirection” in …show more content…

The metaphorical and ultimately mysterious transformation of Oedipus becomes in Wealth a much more literal curing of blindness through incubation at the Asclepieum. (The focus on Asclepius may be a nod to Sophocles as well, since ancient sources report that Sophocles was instrumental in establishing an Asclepieum in Athens.) Both Oedipus and Wealth change from their rags into clean clothes, and each is ritually washed of his squalor (OC 1597-1603; Wealth 625, 657-58). Ultimately, the transformed figure in each play is installed at a site advantageous to Athens and has continuing impact on the city

Show More
Related

  • Blindness Vs. Sight In Oedipus The King And Antigone

    656 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus became blind by trying to escape his fate, as well as the pride and arrogance he had developed. In the text the author states, “And if this killer lives within my house, and if I know him, then may I myself receive the curse I just now laid upon his head” (43).

    Read More

  • Oedipus Rex Film Analysis

    804 Words  | 4 Pages

    In this film version, Oedipus’ costume was designed significantly different from other characters. In all scenes before the exodos part, the costume of Oedipus properly framed his characteristics as a powerful, responsible, and noble king. In addition to that, the costume also displayed Oedipus’ wealthy live as a king and a man with a great insight. Later, in the exodos part, the change of Oedipus’ costume dramatically depicted his psychological disposition as well as his new phase of tragic life.

    Read More

  • Blindness In Oedipus The King Essay

    551 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this tragic story there are two forms of blindness, ironically in the story, Oedipus will be both. The first form is figuratively blind, Oedipus spent his life trying not to fulfill this prophecy but as he tries to flee this he runs right into it. This shows how blind he is his whole life and how ignorance is bliss, but it isn’t necessarily right. His whole life he was living in ignorance and denying that he could be the one to fulfill the oracle. By doing this he led himself right into fulfilling the prophecy.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Sight And Blindness In Oedipus The King

    754 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles, there is continual use of vision and blindness foreshadowing the events to come near the end of the play due to Oedipus’ ignorance. Ironically, most of the main characters with their sight still intact are blind to the truth and revelations that come to pass while the few that are blind see what is to come and what becomes of those spoken of in the prophecy. In a paradoxical trend, sight in the play can equal deception or ignorance while blindness represents truth or revelation. Oedipus is a brash man.

    Read More

  • Sight And Blindness In King Oedipus The King

    628 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus discovers the body and is in so much grief he uses the golden pins that held Jocasta’s dress and “spears the pupils of his eyes” (93). This unbearable mishap is the last article of the proclamation that Oedipus carries out. Furthermore, in an attempt to keep his children, Creon advises him to “not be the master in everything. What you once won and held did not stay with you all your lifelong” (107). Oedipus was once a man that was not physically blind but in truth he was.

    Read More

  • Creon Loyalty In Oedipus The King

    837 Words  | 4 Pages

    Oedipus the king, identifies as an Athenian drama that was written by Sophocles. The play features King Oedipus of Thebes a kingdom that had been struck by significant disasters. In that, there was a drought, and the women become barren. Due to the terrible curse, the king sends Creon who is his brother in law to go and seek advice from Apollo what should be done to resolve the matter. This paper will discuss on how Creon is a positive force in the story because of his unwavering loyalty towards Oedipus.

    Read More

  • Oedipus Rex Sight And Blindness Analysis

    1075 Words  | 5 Pages

    Oedipus’ blindness, figuratively speaking, was based on his perspective. He may not be entirely at fault for the reasons behind the plague on Thebes, but it was due to his ignorance which led him to his downfall. In Oedipus’ perspective, it was logical to leave Corinth after hearing about the prophecy due to the fact the he believed that his parents were the king and queen of Corinth. His blindness to the idea that they were not his

    Read More

  • The Three Phases Of Glory In Homer's Odyssey

    1440 Words  | 6 Pages

    And, in the final phase, Odysseus makes good on his fame by reaching Ithaca, but he must remain silent to enjoy his kleos—it is a paradox of the second phase. In this essay, I will compare and contrast Odysseus’s different phases of glory in relation to their development, and how they shape his heroic reputation. First, Odysseus’s initial phase of kleos is strictly passive because the readers hear about his fame from other characters. The step that develops Odysseus’s glory are the stories being told from characters that know little to nothing about his past deeds. The testimonies differ in how Odysseus’s fame is remembered.

    Read More

  • Blind Tiresias In Oedipus The King

    245 Words  | 1 Pages

    Despite his handicap, the prophet can clearly see Oedipus’ life, including the past attempt to kill

    Read More

  • Oedipus Tragic Hero Quotes

    411 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thesis:In Sophocles play ‘Oedipus the king’,Oedipus is an example of a tragic hero because he changed from a hero at the beginning of the play into a tragic hero by the end by experiencing power,tragic flow,downfall and death. Oedipus changes into a person no can believe of,because in the beginning he was a hero for the city of thebes by solving a riddle to defeat the monster that was killing and taking over thebes. Claim:Before the play Oedipus defeats sphinx and becomes a powerful king,At the beginning of the play people rely on Oedipus’s power and help. Data:For example the priest says “Oedipus greatest in all men’s eyes We pray,find some strength again and rescue or city”. Warrant:From this quote readers can see that how empowered oedipus feels like and how people in thebes rely on him,Clearly this scene represents the power stage of the tragic hero.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Blindness In Oedipus The King

    1874 Words  | 8 Pages

    Oedipus The King by Sophocles Theme of Blindness Sophocles was a prolific writer and his long life enabled him to have a prodigious literary output. There is always a deep philosophic content at the back of Sophocles’ plays. Men suffer in the tragedies of Sophocles, characterisation always charged with emotion and poetry guesstimates the growth and development of his dramatic genius. One of the main underlying themes in Oedipus Rex is blindness.

    Read More

  • Nobility In Oedipus The King

    444 Words  | 2 Pages

    The consequence of Oedipus’s imperfect noble nature was his eventual blindness and exile from the place he loved and cared for the

    Read More

  • Oedipus Rex Self Discovery Essay

    796 Words  | 4 Pages

    Brilliantly conceived and written, Oedipus Rex is a drama of self-discovery. Achieved by amazing compression and force by limiting the dramatic action to the day on which Oedipus learns the truth of his birth and his destiny is quite the thriller. The fact that the audience knows the dark secret that Oedipus unwittingly slew his true father and married his mother does nothing to destroy the suspense. Oedipus’s search for the truth has all the tautness of a detective tale, and yet because audiences already know the truth they are aware of all the ironies in which Oedipus is enmeshed. That knowledge enables them to fear the final revelation at the same time that they pity the man whose past is gradually and relentlessly uncovered to him.

    Read More

  • Sight Vs. Blindness In Sophocles Oedipus The King

    1063 Words  | 5 Pages

    His hubris, pride, let the truth be seen as false or not be seen at all. Second, Oedipus was physically blind. His physical blindness played into the role of the Greek tragedy. The blindness completed the tragedy for Oedipus. Every Greek Tragedy is supposed to end with the main characters experiencing their own personal tragedy.

    Read More

  • Oedipus The King Research Paper

    1224 Words  | 5 Pages

    But, he was also a good man, father, husband, and king, and for this reason he is mourned over for his loss of fortune. One of the themes in Oedipus Rex is physical and metaphorical blindness. In Greek culture, those who were physically blind were said to have metaphorical "vision" and were messengers of the gods. For example, In the beginning, Oedipus is blind, not physically, but metaphorically because he does not know the

    Read More

More about Blindness In Aristophanes Oedipus The King

Open Document