Oedipus-Concepts of Sight

A detailed Summary of Oedipus-Concepts of Sight

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 can not 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.

Oedipus is a hero, but sometimes he can not see the reality of this. He goes into states where he lacks mental insight, making rash decisions without thinking about the future or consequences. One of his biggest downfalls because of this shortsightedness is that he does not realize that his destiny is solely in the hands of the gods. After Oedipus is told as a young boy about the prophecy of his life, he can not "see" how he is destined to marry his mother and kill his father. Furthermore, because of his lack of insight he truly believes that he can move without the Oracle's prophecy following him. No matter what Oedipus does, h

All these different uses of the concept of sight are found in Sophocles' play Oedipus the King. Oedipus is noble in taking full responsibility for his troubled past, even though his troubles have been caused by Laius' and Jocasta's blind way of handling their problems. With a little help from the gods, who did not hold Oedipus in favor, his blind choices and quick temper lead to his great fall. Even though Oedipus is not physically blind like Tiresias, he is blind to the actuality of the actions of his life. Because of this, it is ironic that Oedipus is morally blind when physically he can see. When Oedipus finally sees the truth, he realizes he is morally blind and then physically blinds his eyes. He realizes that his destiny is in the hands of the gods, and there was nothing he could do to change that. These are all different concepts of sight that revolve around the story of Oedipus.

Another ironic concept of sight in the play is found through Tiresias, the blind prophet. This is an oxymoron in itself. Tiresias is a wise old man who exhibits supernatural powers to interpret the past and predict the future. The fact that Tiresias is blind makes his visionary powers appear even more mysterious. This leads Oedipus to doubt Tiresias' ability to see the truth. Had Oedipus not had so much pride, he would have understood the truth of Tiresias. Tiresias uses puzzling predictions to make men ponder about themselves. He does this to Oedipus by asking him to consider himself the murderer of Laios. He describes the murderer of Laios as "blind instead of seeing, beggar instead of rich, he will make his way to foreign soil, feeling his way with a stick" (31). This is great foresight on behalf of Tiresias. All of these things will later come true when Oedipus falls from power and blinds himself. It is Tiresias who is the first person to tell Oedipus that he has killed his own father. He tells Oedipus "You do not see the evil in which you live" (25). It takes a blind prophet to see that it is Oedipus who has murdered Laius. Even so, Oedipus stat

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Approximate Word count = 1397
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English