Figurative Blindness In Oedipus The King

IIn the play, “Oedipus the King” blindness is used throughout the play to symbolize ignorance and knowledge. At the end of the play, after Oedipus realizes what had happened, he cuts his eyes out. Him removing his eyes and losing his sight represents many things including knowledge and ignorance, because he was trying to blind himself from the truth. Blindness also represents ignorance and knowledge when Oedipus was blind to the fact that he had killed his father and married his mother. In this play, blindness is used as a symbol both literally and figuratively.

Sight can also be a physical handicap. For both Oedipus and John, physical sight heeds their discovery of truth as it gives people a false sense of assurance. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus has a lot of hubris in his physical sight, which he heavily depends on. Oedipus criticizes Tiresias as he exclaims, ”But not for you, you purblind man: in ears and mind and vision” (Sophocles 22). Oedipus is putting his confidence in his physical sight and mocking Tiresias’ lack of physical sight. Later on, Oedipus reflects on how he found false assurance in his physical eyes, “To live in blindness? Better live no longer” (Sophocles 74). Oedipus’ healthy physical sight caused the intellectual blindness seen in the two quotes. Additionally, during a scene in Minority Report, John is seen traveling through a dark alley to meet a blind drug dealer named Lycon. As John approaches, Lycon asks what drug John would like, to which John responds, “I just need a little clarity” (Spielberg). John’s strong physical sight prohibits his intellectual sight, while on the other hand, Lycon’s blind nature assists

What does blindness exactly mean? If we speak literally, it means to be unable to see because of injury, disease, or a congenital condition. If the term is to be used in a figurative way, its means to have a lack of perception, awareness, or judgment to a situation. Unfortunately for the main character, Oedipus, in the tragedy Oedipus the King by Sophocles, he had fallen under the two categories of blindness. From the moment Oedipus takes the throne at Thebes, he wants to figure out how to end the plague there to which it is announced that the only way to end the plague at Thebes is to find and punish the murderer of King Laius, Thebes’ former king. The problem is King Laius is also Oedipus’s biological father whom he had unknowingly killed on the crossroads on his way to Thebes. Although Oedipus was completely oblivious to it, the motif of blindness in Oedipus the King is used to reveal his stubbornness, how it enhances the main conflict of Oedipus’ ignorance to his current situation, and expresses how Sophocles views fate as a crucial and unchangeable part in a person’s life.

The act of deliberately blinding himself allows him to transcend the worldliness of men and gain an internal sight that allows him to see more than he did with his own physical eyes. As a man of sight, Oedipus engages himself with worldly matters: his reputation and title. Oedipus is constantly attempting

In Oedipus Rex many characters are blinded metaphorically. This inhibits them to see the truth and to be able to see what is right in front of them. It can cause them to make unwise decisions. Oedipus was a character that was blindsided the most in the play.

Sophocles: Oedipus the King As human beings, we often become more concerned in the material world, becoming oblivious to and unable to see the truths. In Sophocles play, Oedipus the King, one of the themes used is of sight and blindness which is closely related to darkness and light. Teiresias, an old blind prophet, tells Oedipus and Jocasta the truth of this tragedy. Oedipus was blinded his whole life from the truth.

Tiresias, although being blind, holds the deepest secrets and appalling dire truth and infinite knowledge of what the future beholds and Oedipus who was entirely convinced about his origins in Corinth and who he was; however, the idea of metaphorical blindness develops as the story progresses. Oedipus instinctively associates physical blindness to close-mindedness as the blind cannot see what is ahead of them. He states with ignorance that Tiresias is unknowledgeable to the truth since he is blind, “It does— for any man but you, for you are truly blind, in eyes and ear and mind” (Sophocles 25, line 371-372). After declaring Tiresias is fake since he is blind, Tiresias reveals the future of him being blind, “Once called a ‘foreign resident’ he’ll be revealed a native son of Thebes, but not enjoy the moment. Blind, though born with sight, a beggar, wealthy once, he’ll use a staff, to steer his steps across foreign land” (Sophocles 29-30, line 452-456). Even though Tiresias is blind, he encompasses the complex truth with knowledge of the murderer, while the sightful Oedipus is ignorant of the truth Tiresias brings and refuses to acknowledge

Blindness is the downfall of the hero Oedipus in the play “King Oedipus” by Sophocles. Not only does the blindness appear physically, but also egotistically as he refuses to acknowledge

Blindness is a key form of dramatic irony that Sophocles uses. Though Oedipus has not blinded himself yet, he is more blind when he still has his eyesight. Tiresias, the actual blind man, has better foresight than Oedipus. The recurring theme of blindness shows up throughout the whole play. Oedipus ignores the prophecy that was bestowed upon him before his birth.

The Greek drama Oedipus the King is a play written by Sophocles based on an old Greek legend. The play focuses on many motifs, recurring ideas or themes, that provide some insight into the character of Oedipus. The motifs of sight and blindness reveal character by putting other character against Oedipus’s arrogant and ignorant personality to add a greater effect to the play. Teiresias, the old blind prophet of the city-state of Thebes, was one of the first characters that Sophocles tries to contrast to Oedipus. Teiresias is physically blind but he knows everything that the gods have available.

In the beginning, Oedipus found himself happily married with beautiful children the king of a very successful domain. Little did he know he was married to his mom, and killed his dad all because of a shallow prophecy. In the short story Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus finds himself in a situation paralleling Tiresias’ blindness in both a physical and a mental way. In the beginning, Oedipus can physically see, but he is unaware of the tragedy in his current situation.

The concept of sight is one of the major motifs throughout Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King. The play revolves primarily around series of events caused by many people’s insight or lack there of. Oedipus does not see that he is caught up in a web of cruel destiny that he cannot escape. The gods demonstrate foresight and insight into the play. In addition to this, Tiresias has physical blindness but also has prophetic insight. Finally, both Oedipus and Jocasta portray types of mental blindness and shortsightedness. These are all examples of different uses of sight in the play Oedipus the King.

Blindness is found within various characters in the story of Oedipus Rex. Physical blindness is shown throughout the story and metaphorical blindness is also heavily involved. Oedipus’s blindness isn’t the same as Teiresias blindness. Teiresias’s blindness is physical. Teiresias is made fun of by Oedipus for his blindness but Tiresias foresees that Oedipus will also be blind as well one day. Teiresias predictions later turns out to be true. Oedipus is the prime example of metaphorical blindness. Oedipus is completely

A re-occuring element in this story of Oedipus is the idea of sight vs. blindness. The phrophet, Teiresias, is literally blind, although he can also “see” into the future. There are many more examples of the not-so-literal sight. Oedipus is “blind to the truth” throughout most of the play, despite the fact that he can still see. It is not until after he finds out who he really is that his blindness finally catches up to him.

His nobility deceived him as well as his reflection, since it shows only his perfect, wonderful face and not his inner world, his pain, his history (Miller 66). When he relies on his status, he is blind, not physically, but emotionally. He is blind in his actions; therefore he does not see that the questioning would bring him only misery. Later, after his self-inflicted blinding, Oedipus sees his actions as wrongdoing when he says "What use are my eyes to me, who could never - See anything pleasant again?" (Sophocles line 1293) and that blindness does not necessarily have to be physical as we can se when he says, "If I had sight, I know not with what eyes I would have looked" (Sophocles line 1325). In the play Oedipus Rex, Sophocles portrays the main character, Oedipus, as a good-natured person who has bad judgment and is frail. Oedipus makes a few fatal decisions and is condemned to profound suffering because of them. I agree with Aristotle that Oedipus' misfortune happens because of his tragic flaw. If he hadn't been so judgmental or narcissistic, as Miller would characterize a personality like Oedipus, he would never have killed King Laius and called Teiresias a liar. In the beginning, Teiresias is simply trying to ease him slowly into the truth; but Oedipus is too proud to see any truths, and he refuses to believe that he could have been responsible for such a horrible crime. He learns a lesson about life and how there is more to it than just one