Oedipus The King Sight And Blindness Analysis

Oedipus the King is a play written by Sophocles. This play is full of symbolic meanings. Sight and blindness are symbols that are used multiple times throughout the play. Some of the most important ideas of the play would not be clear without the use of sight or blindness. These symbols are referred to literally, figuratively and ironically. Many of the unfortunate events that take place in Oedipus’s life are due to blindness. One way that blindness is used figuratively in this play is by a character being naïve about a subject or event. When the play opens, Oedipus is determined to find the person who is responsible for Laius’s death. However, he is blind, or unaware that he is actually the person who is responsible for the death of the previous king. When Oedipus makes a promise to the people of Thebes to exile the person who is responsible for the death of

On his journey to get away from whom he thought were his parents, Oedipus kills a group of men. Oedipus is blind to the fact that one of the men was King Laius, who he will later learn was his father. Although the very poor and cruel decisions that Oedipus and Jocasta make ultimately lead them to their fate, they were blind to the extent of most of their decisions. Once Oedipus and Jocasta learn that they are mother and son, they are both mortified. Jocasta commits suicide because she is so ashamed of her decisions. Oedipus uses Jocasta’s pins to gouge his eyes out. Oedipus decides to do this so that he can no longer see the agony and suffering that he has caused. It is ironic because he is now literally blind; whereas he has been figuratively blind his entire life. Oedipus, Jocasta, and Laius all ended up facing the fate that they were all trying so desperately to avoid, due to their own