Essay on Blindness and Sight - Lack of Vision in Oedipus...

Blindness in Oedipus The King (Rex) What is sight? Is it just the ability to recognize one’s surroundings or is there more? Is it knowledge? Is it understanding? Can a blind man see? Can the sighted be blind? And beyond, when the truth is too terrible, do we choose not to see? The phrase too see has so very many connotations. One meaning is to know or to understand and the other is based on the physical aspects of things. As humans, we are distracted by the physical world, which causes us to be blinded by the most obvious of truths. Oedipus, the main character in Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex, could not see the truth, but the blind man, Teiresias, saw it plainly. Sophocles’ uses blindness as a motif in the play Oedipus Rex.†¦show more content†¦During his flight, he Oedipus kills a caravan of presumed low-class travelers. Oedipus comes into Thebes a stranger and hero who solved the riddle of the sphinx. Believing that he is blessed with great luck, Oedipus marries the recently widowed Iokast e and becomes King of Thebes. After many years, a plague vexes the city and Kreon, brother of Iokaste, comes to Oedipus with news from the oracle. He states that the plague will be lifted when the murder of Laios is avenged. Oedipus claims that he sees and understands the terrible fate of Thebes and vows to find the murderer. Since the criminal is said to still be in Thebes, Oedipus believes that a man of his intelligence should have no difficulty in finding the perpetrator. When Oedipus is confronted by Teiresias with truth, perhaps it is Oedipus’ own hubris, which blinds him to the unthinkable truth. Unwillingly, Teiresias the blind seer provides Oedipus with the hurtful truth. Although before the truth is announced, Oedipus describes Teiresias as a seer: student of mysteries. Oedipus looks to Teiresias for help in finding the murderer of the former king. He is trusted and respected by everyone in the city as evidenced by his introduction as the holy prophet In whom, alone of all men, truth was born. Yet, when Teiresias speaks, reluctantly but honestly to Oedipus, he is shunned and his credibility and motives are attacked. OedipusShow MoreRelatedOedipus The King Theme Essay1076 Words   |  5 Pages Oedipus the King: Themes of Blindness and Sight in the Sophocles Oedipus the King What does it mean to truly see? Do those blessed with normal vision really see? Oedipus the King by Sophocles’ is intertwined with many powerful themes and messages, establishing what real vision and real sight are. Sophocles’ play also demonstrates that sometimes in life we have to experience great loss in order to rediscover our true selves. 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In this play the reader finds out that to see the truth one does not have to have eyes but have an open mind. The reader learns this through the quest the main character takes to solve a mystery in his kingdom. The main character, Oedipus is t he king of a Greek city called Thebes who was from CorinthRead More Blindness and Sight - Sight Versus Insight in Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex)1357 Words   |  6 PagesSight Versus Insight in Oedipus the King      Ã‚  Ã‚   Anyone who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eye are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light,which is true of the minds eye, quite as much as the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees anyone whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter life, and is unable