Oedipus The King Nature Essay, Research Paper

The Blind nature of Oedipus One of the main themes in Oedipus the King is

blindness. Not just physical blindness, but intellectual blindness as well. This

issue is an effective contrasting method for Oedipus at different points in the

play. By saying "blindness", however, is a little misleading. It can

be broken down into two sections: Oedipus’s ability to "see", and his

willingness to "see". The word "see" can be used in both

contexts. Throughout the play, these two details are always at the center of the

play. In the beginning of the play, Oedipus has perfect sight or vision.

However, he is blind and ignorant to the truth about himself and his past, which

relates to the idea of "truth v.s. appearance". He desperately wants

to know, and to understand, but he cannot. At this point, it is obvious what

Oedipus’s action must be to overcome the blindness. Ironically, into the play is

introduced a prophet, Teiresias, who is physically blind, but who has great

mental power. This justifies Oedipus as a man ignorant to the true appearance of

things – this blind man can "see" the truth about Oedipus, yet

Oedipus, in all of his physical perfection, cannot. Brocco 2 Oedipus does have

tragic flaws, which are standard in the Greek tragedies. Oedipus has a tragic

flaw, which brings him to his end. Although it cannot be summed up into one

word, there is evidence that his flaw may be ignorance or blindness to his own

fate. This is true because we see Oedipus trying to avoid his fate, which was

that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother, but he ran away from

his homeland. Only if he had stayed then he may have been able to try to take

his fate into his own hands, but instead he fulfilled the prophecy. Oedipus had

changed dramatically throughout the end of the play. After realizing his flaw of

fleeing his fate and actually killing his father, he was desperate to find the

truth. In his case though, he wanted to see the truth and he finally got that

chance. After marrying his mother and becoming aware of all that had happened he

went into despair. After knowing that he couldn’t see the truth and wasn’t aware

to understand what happened, he made himself blind. He didn’t want to see the

truth and he wanted to run away after all that has happened in his life.

Tiresias told Oedipus his fate and predicted his physical blindness would soon

come forth, "You are a poor wretch to taunt me with the very insults which

everyone soon will heap upon yourself" (lines 408 – 410). He said this

because of Oedipus’ attitude towards it. This was when he didn’t want to believe

a blind man, a man that couldn’t see what he could see and he thought Tiresias

wouldn’t be able to understand everything that was going on. Unfortunately for

Oedipus he was completely wrong. This is where the roles are reversed and he

becomes the blind man who has seen more than he wanted to. Brocco 3 It is

evident that he is more reluctant to accept his fate than in the beginning of

the play. This goes along with the fact that him blinding himself is

dramatically appropriate. This was due to the fact that he didn’t want to know

the truth anymore and wanted to get away in a sense. Oedipus the King was

Sophocles’ attempt to show the Greek God’s that they could not avoid the

dealings of the gods, or they may be forced to have a plot against the people he

should love the most. Jocasta, his mother/wife, was in this way, a victim. Even

though she brought it upon herself, by not telling Oedipus that she knew of his

fate, it was at this moment when she became aware of her punishment. In

desperation at this point, she kills herself. Oedipus the King is a true tragedy

in the sense that fate and Oedipus’ own tragic flaw combined through the play to

bring about his downfall. What makes it much more tragic though is that the

events were, for the most part, out of Oedipus’ control. When Oedipus speaks to

Jocasta, it is very clear that she knows about his fate and what just might

happen if he finds out. He basically says to her, How can you say that, when the

clues to my birth are in my hands? The only thing she will reply with is, For

God’s love, let us have no more questioning! Is your life nothing to you? My own

pain is enough for me to bear. This just shows how much pain his fate is

bringing to everyone. For him not to know about his real parents in the

beginning of the play and then to find out in the end that he did in fact kill

his father and marry his mother, would destroy any courage and great honor he

would have for himself. The differences he sees in himself from the beginning of

the play to the end are dramatic. Brocco 4 Toward the end of the play, it is

shown how Oedipus learns the true nature of things – his past is revealed to him

and he learns that the prophecy was correct. Now Oedipus has gone through it

all. He can see all to clearly what the truth is, but he desperately does not

want to accept his fate. So, he reacts by, committing an act of escape; he

blinds himself so that he may not see. Unfortunately, this does not help his

problem. This writer thinks it was an act of cowardice because he didn’t want to

accept the situation the way he "saw" it, and decided instead not to

see it at all.

Kitto, Humphrey D. Greek Tragedy : A Literary Study. London: Harper & Row

Publishers, Inc. 1978 Myatt, D.W. A Translation of Oedipus the King N. p., 1990.

1994.

An exploration of Oedipus, Oedipus online resources – Ancient/classical history.

26April 2000