Ignorance In Sophocles 'Oedipus The King'

Nearly everything Oedipus says reveals his lack of knowledge. Oedipus says, “Whoever murdered him may also wish to punish me” (139-140). In this one phrase, Oedipus shows the audience that he does not know who killed the king, for he would not come to punish himself. He says he will search out the answers “as if for my own father” (329), when ironically that is precisely what he is doing. When talking about the fate of the searched-for murderer, Oedipus says it will not be cruel. However, the reader finds out later that he creates for himself what may be considered a more severe punishment- scarring his eyes. Perhaps the most ironic and two-fold example of irony is that Oedipus criticizes Tiresias for being physically blind. The man may not

Sophocles states that “But the hand that struck my eyes was mine, mine alone--no one else-- I did it all myself!” (Oedipus-1469-1471). Oedipus is owning up to his own actions and establishes his own sense of moral responsibility because he does not blame the gods for what happened, but himself. He says that “the hand that struck my eyes” were his own, expressing that he chose to blind himself due to the great moral responsibility he feels to own up for the action he did. The drive of curiosity and the consequences of complex minds do not just apply to Oedipus. Sophocles provides an excerpt from Teiresias stating, “Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the man that 's wise! This I knew well, but had forgotten it, else I would not have come here” (Teiresias, 342-345). The pursuit of wisdom or knowledge is driven by curiosity and Teiresias expresses that wisdom brings no good to man. The urge of curiosity is so strong that even Tiresias, a prophet that can see everything, forgets about the “no profit” disadvantage that comes along with the pursuit of knowledge that is caused by

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. If someone tells you a truth that you do not want to accept, gather evidence before blaming others and accept the truth whether it is hard or

Our pride often hinders us from taking other’s opinion into account despite good or bad. Nevertheless, sometimes it is better to listen to others for own well being. Oedipus, the protagonist, takes pride in his wisdom due to his belief of escaping fate, and solving a riddle to become a king. As a result,he embarks upon a dark journey by willing to unmask the culprit behind King Laois’ murderer to free his people from the plague. However, during the process, the Prophet alerts him to not investigate further and reminds him of his awful prophecy, where he kills his own father. Because of his wisdom Oedipus wants to escape his fate; he neglects the Prophet’s words and pursues further to approach a shepherd, who alike the Prophet has an unpreferable

In the tragedy “Oedipus the King” it begins with Oedipus showing his flaw of judgement when disregarding Teiresias warning. Teiresias warns him that he doesn’t want to hear the real truth, and that he shouldn’t continue to look for this man because the very

Teiresias visits the city of Thebes and reveals the truth about why there is so destruction in the city. As the truth is coming out, Oedipus becomes blind toof what Teiresias is saying to him. He becomes very prideful and doesn’t want to believe the truth that is being revealed to him and his people. After Oedipus argues and insults Teiresias, he claims, “I have saved this land from ruin. I am content” (38). After his final words, Oedipus strongly proves to be a prideful man. He is ignorant to the truth. This seemsproves to be his fatal flaw during the play. Overall, while Oedipus hears the truth unraveling in front of him, he is too full of himself to actually realize everything being said is

Oedipus and Jocasta can not seek the hidden truths in Oedipus the King. Many life lessons are found in this important piece of literature. Blindness can mean many things, but blindness can keep people away from the

Ignorance is bliss. However, in Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, Oedipus is a complex character that seeks the truth but not the truth about himself. Throughout the story, his character’s behavior brings many conflicts and struggles between the characters. Each time the King is confronted by a challenge, his choice in behavior causes him more problems than it resolves. Instead of stepping back and evaluating the situation and getting all the facts, Oedipus jumps to wild conclusions and unjustly accuses others of conspiring against him. While all along deep inside of him he has a feeling in his gut that there is some truth to what he is being told. He is very arrogant, quick to anger and ready to blame others before

When the great king of Thebes was revealed the dreadful truth he cries out, “O God! It has all come true. Light, let this be the last time I see you. I stand revealed - born in shame, married in shame, an unnatural murderer” (89). During that time, Jocasta commits suicide. 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. But now in a reversed position, Oedipus is a man that is physically blind but in truth is not.

As parents raise their children, they teach them to always tell the truth. But do people always want to know the truth? In the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Oedipus shows his ignorance to the truth for most of the play. Only at the end does he decided to pursue it. In Minority Report by Steven Spielberg, John lived by catching future murderers. He did not have to uncover any plots from the past, until he was accused of murder. People start pursuing the truth when things are going badly. Truth is undesirable during times of peace and becomes a necessity during conflicts.

Concluding Sentence: Oedipus made some horrific decisions and all were a matter of free will, along rising to becoming king in Thebes which cost him to fulfill his horrid prophecy.

In the play King Oedipus, Sophocles depicts Oedipus’ inevitable downfall, which represents man’s struggle between free will and fate. In an attempt to use the audience’s knowledge to his advantage, Sophocles opens the play seventeen years after Oedipus murders his father, Laius and marries his mother, Jocasta. The sequence in which the story unravels reveals the strong psychological focus towards Oedipus’ character. In search of his identity, Oedipus’ enigmatic quality and moral ambiguity compels readers to question whether his ignorance renders him morally blameless. The vagueness about Oedipus’ intellectual state can be interpreted as unconscious knowledge, which may make him morally culpable. Guilty

Do people really know themselves? This is a question that people ask themselves all the time, and can be a question brought up in your day’s worth of thinking. In the playwright entitled “Oedipus The King” by Sophocles, Oedipus is the main character in the play. He is the classic example of a man whose central problem is that he does not know himself. Firstly, in the text, he states that he has a hidden determination to find his true self, but has yet to do so. Additionally, hubris can be interpreted as excessive pride. Oedipus exemplifies hubris in a way that can be defined as a façade, the way he wants to be until he finds his true self. The actions of Oedipus in this playwright can clearly show that Oedipus is the classic example of a man whose central problem is that he does not know himself.

Henry Rollins once stated, “Weakness is what brings ignorance, cruelty, and pride, all these things that will keep a society chained to the ground, one foot nailed to the floor.” In Sophocles play Oedipus Rex, Oedipus, the king of Thebes, weakness is his fate. Throughout the play, Oedipus is trying to outrun his fate because he feels the gods are subordinate to his powerful figure. Oedipus is seen as a god throughout Thebes because he defeated the mighty Sphinx, who was once haunting over the city. After defeating the Sphinx, Oedipus took over as king by killing his father and coupling his mother as his hubris blinded him from reality. Sophocles uses dramatic irony to show the ignorance of Oedipus Rex as he cannot see the truth. Oedipus cannot see the truth because his hubris is encouraged by the people and himself. Oedipus’ ignorance is also clearly displayed after an effort to save his city. Although Oedipus is a fictional character created thousands of years ago, his actions can easily connect to many people in today 's society. The theme conveyed in Sophocles play Oedipus Rex is hubris often results in one 's ignorance.

Blindness is also a motif recited numerously during the story, from times before the story right down to the end, reflecting the wise and ignorance in the characters of Oedipus Rex. Sophocles, interestingly, seems to have grouped the characters of the play into two distinctive groups, the ones who can “see” and the ones who can’t “see”. This contrast of seeing and not seeing is becomes overt when the prophet Tiresias enters the stage. Tiresias is literally blind, but he can see clearly of not only Oedipus ' past, present, but also the horror in his future. Oedipus ' eyes works fine, but he 's completely blind of the ugly fate that gods have placed upon him. This blindness towards doom is made even more ironic by the fact that he was made king by his knowledge and insight. Oedipus was known as the person who solved the famous riddle of the Sphinx, a monster which terrorized the citizens. As the play proceed, we can see how much of a contrast between the two groups of character there is, even the messengers knows stuff that the king doesn’t. Sentences like “My son, it is clear that you don’t know what you are doing” (Sophocles 55) salutes to the ignorance of the supposedly “wise” king. Using words like “son”, Sophocles gives an sign that even the messenger It illustrates the flaws that exist in Oedipus, amplifies it by comparing him to other who are supposedly