Sight Of Pride

This is illustrated through Oedipus’ blindness throughout the play. Oedipus is angered by the accusations that he killed King Laius. Instead of confronting the problem and rationally coming to the truth, he lashes out in

“Pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death” (Hurst 2). This is how James Hurst describes pride in his heart-wrenching short story, “The Scarlet Ibis.” What speaks to me most about this quote is its profound truth. For the majority of people, pride is either a positive or negative thing, but what Hurst and I seem to agree about is the fact that pride can be both. It is an undeniable symptom of the human condition, a tool that can either create or destroy, and is responsible for the best and worst parts of history.

It is ironic how he talks about what could possibly be his own consequences for his actions. While giving the speech Oedipus says “I pray, too, that, if he should become an honoured guest in my own home and with my knowledge, I may suffer all those things I’ve just called down upon the killers” (Sophocles). Oedipus explains how the suspect will face bad things, and that if the murderer was let into his own house, with his knowledge, he shall be punished for it. The reader can infer that Oedipus may be the culprit considering he may ironically be the “honored guest in his own home.” This can seem like a reasonable outcome considering the reader knows that the position of a king is honorable.

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.

Jocasta exclaims, “You now, free yourself from these matters…” She was telling Oedipus that his curiosity was going to cause a mess. Tragic heroes always have a tragic flaw. So, Oedipus is a tragic hero because of his tragic flaw: curiosity. The interactions between Oedipus, Creon, and Jocasta advanced the story significantly.

When Teiresias accuses Oedipus of being the defiler of the land he forgets the problems of the people and is encased in anger making him accuse Creon of bribing Teiresias. When he is speaking to his wife, Jocasta, he can only concentrate on one thing at a time and forgets the mention of Laius having a child and also forgets the problem concerning his birth. Finally with the message from Corinth he starts to realize how everything ties together. Bloom states that “we learn that the best sort of tragic hero is a man highly esteemed and prosperous who falls into misfortune because of some serious (mega√lh) aÓmarti√a:examples, Oedipus and Thyestes.”(18).

Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, is really a story about the necessity of placing more faith in others and their counsel than in oneself and one’s own beliefs. Repeatedly the titular character is pleaded with to listen to and accept the advice of those around him and each time he refuses to obey. Ultimately, Oedipus’ tendency to do perform the actions he would prefer to do rather than to allow his family to help guide him leads to his downfall and loss of the throne. A common characteristic of Greek tragedy is the “fatal flaw” of the main character and how this flaw leads to the character’s misfortune.

Master of Tragedies Neil Gaiman once said, “There’s none so blind as those who will not listen.” This quote relates to the theme of sight and blindness in “The Tragedy of Oedipus Rex”. King Oedipus was a man who would not accept the truth about himself. Physically he was not blind but in truth he was. There are three examples of Oedipus’s metaphysical condition of blindness which will be listed as follows.

This personal tragedy for Oedipus was discovering the truth and becoming blind because of it. It completed the prophecy that Oedipus had received from Tiresias, the blind prophet. Tiresias told Oedipus that he had come into Thebes with his sight but would leave Thebes without it. The physical blindness that Oedipus had also left him with wrongs of his life, with nothing to look at Oedipus was forced to think about his life, wrongdoings, and what had happened. Essentially he was forced to deal with it.

As more information is uncovered, Oedipus’ legacy is exponentially diminished as a childhood prophecy revolving around Oedipus, murdering his father and marrying his mother, is brought to light. Knowledge possesses the power to catalyse devastation in stages as demonstrated through Oedipus’ ignorance, his overwhelming curiosity, and his psychological anguish. From the beginning, Oedipus was raised in a legion of lies, believing Merope and Polybus to be his true parents. This cloak of ignorance not only shielded Oedipus from the knowledge of his biological parents, but allowed the prophecy to act as a catalyst for his fleeing of Corinth.

Oedipus Rex essay Final draft Oedipus certainly deserved his fate. Oedipus and his actions are clearly disrespect to the gods , he faces the fate he deserves. He was doing things that would eventually lead up to the unfortunate event of his death , he was even warned by the great and wise Teiresias , but he being himself was to stubborn and did not listen. All the things Teiresias said would happen became the truth. He killed his father, married his mother, yet he tempted his fate , he deserved everything that came his way .

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

P.13 Oedipus questions Teiresias, curious to know what he knows. “Oh gruesomely clear it has all unraveled… I was bonded with the people I should have never killed.” P.40 Oedipus sees what he has done wrong and feels vulnerable and horror. The audience clearly sees that heroes are very human and how real their limitations. Most people would have felt that same vulnerability if the gods had made us their plaything and tormented us, writing a prophecy of our doom.

It's great ignorance to have physical sight when you are ultimately blinded by the truth that you cannot see as in the case of Oedipus. The king makes ironical statement to Teiresias of how he cannot be hurt by Teiresias (Calame, 1996). This later turn to Oedipus equating physical blinded to ignorance as he removes his eyes so as not to see his terrible actions. The play displays Oedipus two encounters of blindness.

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