Oedipus: Blindness From Truth

A detailed Summary of Oedipus: Blindness From Truth


An Analysis of the play Oedipus the King

There have been many tragedies written throughout history. Some of these tragedies depict a person avoiding an obvious truth in order to save themselves. This avoiding of the truth often leads to the person's demise. One way a person attempts to avoid these truths are by blinding themselves, mentally. This mental blinding of oneself is shown in the play Oedipus the King, by Sophocles. In this play, Oedipus seeks the killer of the former king of his land only to discover that he is the doer of this terrible deed. Throughout the play, Oedipus blinds himself from the truths that he cannot accept, until he is forced to see and so physically makes himself blind.

Oedipus blinds himself from the fact that he killed a man on the road as he was traveling to Thebes. He does not want to remember this incident, because he sees it may be connected with the murder of Laius. After sending for


the one survivor of Laius' murder, Oedipus says to Jocasta, " If I find his story the same as yours, I at least will be clear of this guilt." Jocasta has told him that "robbers" had killed Laius and Oedipus is one man. He is blinding himself from the obvious truth of what he has done by holding on to this glimmer of hope. Oedipus sees that he most definitely killed Laius but cannot handle this truth so he 'shuts his eyes' to the truth and creates for himself a story that he can accept. Oedipus is causing his own blindness in order to save himself.

In conclusion, Oedipus is the cause for his own blindness. Even when the facts presented to him create a clear cut picture for him, he still hides his eyes from the truth. He hides from the fact that he killed Laius, he hides from the fact that he married his mother, and he finally takes his physically sight when he is forced to see the truth. Oedipus makes himself blind because he cannot accept the t

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 643
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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