The field is freshly raked, the sun is blaring in, the game is beginning, but before she is ready, the ball is hit. With the spot light on her, she quickly stumbles over her feet and misses the ball. “Stupid rock” she mumbles under her breath. Her parents protect her with words like “good job” then she proceeds to smile. Ignorance is bliss, for some.
Oedipus, a famous Theban King, refuses to believe that he has murdered his own father and married his own mother despite hearing the news from a reliable source. In fact, Oedipus threatens Tiresias, a well-respected prophet, accuses him of a conspiracy, and insults him when he exclaims, “You have no power or truth. Your are blind, your ears and mind as well as eyes” (Sophocles 23). Although Tiresias is physically blind, it is Oedipus who is metaphorically blind to the truth.
It is very common for myths to have a character who is either blind, mad, or acts impulsively. From some of the most ancient works such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, through Shakespeare, and even the most common fairy tales, these common character types appear. In works such as The Oresteia, “Oedipus the King”, and the Grimm Brother's telling of “Rapunzel”, there is at least one character whose blindness, whether metaphorical or physical leads to the downfall of either themselves, or others. In The Oresteia, more specifically the opening play “Agamemnon”, there are multiple characters who are blind in some way.
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.
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.
From the beginning Oedipus was destined to fulfill a terrible prophecy, but through particular events that follow the steps of the Hero’s Journey, Oedipus becomes a powerful king of Thebes, only to be destroyed by the prophecy that should have ended his life as a child. The Hero’s Journey typically leads to self-confidence and power, however; the Hero’s Journey of Oedipus leads to his tragic demise. The Hero’s Journey lays out the steps of Oedipus’s future actions, which create suspense, fear, pity, and other emotions that captivates the audience. Similar to many famous stories, Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles in 430 B.C., follows the Hero’s Journey path, which is evident in Oedipus’s departure, initiation, and return.
In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, the concept of sight and blindness is shown countless times throughout the play. In Oedipus Rex there is both literal blindness and figurative blindness. This play has a character who is blind, which is an example of literal blindness and a character who can see visually but unable to perceive the truth. The concepts of sight and blindness has a major role in Oedipus Rex. It lets the reader know that sight is not only based on what you see, but also based on one’s perspective, that the blind may see more than someone who is not blind, and that sometimes being able to see may not be a blessing but a curse. These are some of the roles of sight within Oedipus Rex.
When he does not believe the truth, the consequence later in the play is that he punishes himself as he promised the townspeople. He promises everyone that he will punish the murderer so he can save the town. They will also wear “the badge of shame, the brand of infamy on the very skin” (Episode 1). This is another way that Oedipus promises to punish the killer (himself) and he did this by blinding himself before going to the mountains to punish himself.
Blindness and sight can have many different meanings, one of which is being naive and wandering. Julius Caesar is a good example of being blind. He is unaware of his surroundings and does not know what is going on in the story and because of it in the end he gets killed and his kingdom taken. Odysseus is the opposite, in the story The Odyssey, Odysseus needs to fight for his kingdom back, he knows what's going on and was not blind and naive, and was able to conquer. Julius caesar was blind and was naive to the situation and lost his life and his kingdom, whereas odysseus could see and was able to asses the situation and conquer to get his kingdom back.
He discovers he is he killer he has been searching for and has married the woman that has given birth to him. Caught up in pride and continuing down the path of bad judgement, Oedipus blinds himself because he cannot bear to look at himself nor does he desire to see what others are seeing in him. Oedipus has chosen to live out the rest of his days blind so he does have to face the harsh reality that he has caused hoping it will soon vanish from his memory. Although Oedipus didn’t intend to cause any harm, his actions brought suffering to himself and those around him. His character flaws an strengths of determination, pride , and error in judgement led to his dreadful discovery and resulted in him losing everything he once
Throughout both plays, dramatic irony is used to portray the protagonists as tragic heroes and deliver their meanings as a whole. The heroes are not necasarilly aware of these events of dramatic irony, but they are apparent to the audience. One example is when Oedipus refused to believe Teiresias the blind prophet about the truth of his actions and the prophecy. Oedipus called him a “… sightless, witless, senseless, mad old man,” when ironically Oedipus , “with both [his] eyes”, was the one blind to the prophecy and the severity of his actions (Act1.
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.
Intelligence Breeds Overconfidence Intelligence is commonly seen as a gift, a perfection or a survival instinct, but many don’t realize that intelligence can undermine a person’s life. In Oedipus Rex, a theatrical play by Sophocles, displays the idea that human flaws such as intellect can flourish overconfidence which may become a downfall. The play revolves around the king Oedipus, in a burdensome experience to find out what who is the murderer of the previous king. He is confident that with his intelligence he will restore Thebes and go against the word of the gods, to later realize that his intelligence is not a gift but a destruction. As previously stated Oedipus tries to use his intelligence to stop the curse of Thebes.
Oedipus Rex 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.
In the beginning Oedipus know very little, he came from corinth to thebes like a stranger he doesn't know the mess he is in and the mess about to occur. Other people know, and hide the truth from oedipus. Oedipus has killed his father, saved thebes from the sphinx and its riddle, and become king. The citizens believe that solving the Sphinx’s riddle makes Oedipus wise.
