Oedipus Irony Of Sight
Oedipus the King and the Irony of Sight Throughout the play, Oedipus the King, Sophocles refers to site and blindness to relate attitudes and knowledge of the past. The irony of sight in this play can be marked by Oedipus’ inability to realize that which is evident to the reader. His extreme pride is his tragic flaw. It blinds him from the truth. Oedipus blinding himself symbolizes his increase of knowledge, his sensitivity, and gives him the ability to finally "see". He is now able to see the flaws of his hubris attitude, and the consequences of which his pride brought to him. From the very beginning, Oedipus was blinded by pride. With the city of Thebes dying, Creon comes from the god Apollo to tell how to stop the plaque. An example of Oedipus’ hubris is shown when he will not go into the palace to converse with Creon. He insists on talking in front of the crowd of citizens. Creon tells that the only way to stop the plaque is to find the killer of Lauis, the pre!vious king. King Oedipus takes this task lightly, for he is the one who solved the riddle of the Sphinx, he surely could find the killer of royalty. This is another example of his tragic flaws, pride. When Oedipus vows to do everything in his power to find
Laius’ killer, the leader of the chorus advises Oedipus that no one knows the identity of the murderer, and that the god Apollo should name him to the people. Oedipus replies "to force the gods to act against their will- no man has the power."(320) He has called on the blind seer who knows what the god Apollo sees. It is ironic that Tiresias can "see" what Oedipus can not though he suffers of old age and physical blindness. Tiresias, who is able to see the truth of the downfall of Oedipus thorough the oracle’s prophecy even in his own blindness, becomes the comparative image from which Oedipus is judged, both by himself and by others. Throughout the conversation between Oedipus and Tiresias, he will not divulge t! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ing Polybus. He also tells Oedipus that he was given a baby along time ago and that he was that baby. Polybus was not his father and Merope was not his mother. Oedipus may have been told by Apollo that he was going to kill his father and marry his mother, but they were not the ones in danger. The second messenger is the one that was ordered by Lauis to get rid of the child. He gave the boy, with his ankles pinned together to another shepherd, not thinking that he would ever really kill Laius and marry Jocasta. The second messenger is very old. Oedipus is so determined to find his true identity from this man, that he even speaks of torture to get him to talk. From the way the man speaks to the other shepherd, "Damn you, shut your mouth—quite!" (346) You can tell that Oedipus is not going to like what this messenger has to say. He to owns the knowledge that is blinding Oedipus. But he will soon know and the knowledge of himself will set him free, and he will be able to und! not realize that he is the killer. Through out the play, the reader sees that even though Oedipus has physical sight, he is spiritually blinded. Meaning that while Oedipus had the sense of sight, he was blinded by his lack of perception. As for Tiresias, the opposite applies. Even though he suffers from physical blindness, Tiresias has captured spiritual sight. When he is lead to the King, he comments "How terrible to see the truth when the truth is only pain to him who sees." (321) This is an example of how Tiresias does see, yet he is blind. It also s
Some common words found in the essay are:
King Oedipus, King Polybus, King Sophocles, King Lauis, Jocasta Tiresias, Tiresias Oedipus’, Oedipus I’m, Meaning Oedipus, Tiresias Oedipus, Oedipus King, god apollo, father marry, marry mother, kill father, physical sight, irony sight, oedipus king, kill father marry, father marry mother, play oedipus king, king oedipus, king lauis, pride oedipus, physical blindness tiresias,
Approximate Word count = 1579
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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