Sight & Blindness Imagery In Oedipus Rex Essay, Research Paper

Sight and blindness Imagery in ?Oedipus Rex?

In this play written by Sophocles called Oedipus Rex, sight/blindness imagery is used as a form of ignorance. In this play, there is allot of ignorance. Some examples of this are when Oedipus talks with Tiresias about who had killed Laius, and when he discovers the truth about his love and about his parents. These two examples happen in two different times in the play, when he doesn?t know the truth and when he finally knows everything. Sophocles chooses to use this kind of imagery to illustrate his point of ignorance in the play.

One example that proves that the general theme of this imagery is ignorance is that when Tiresias says, ? I say you see and still are blind.? Here, this example shows Oedipus is ?blind? to the truth because he doesn?t want to believe. This quote is said when Creon calls on Tiresias, an oracle of Apollo, to go see Oedipus and tell him who is the one who killed Laius. There, since Tiresias says that he won?t say anything, Oedipus insults him until he speaks and says that it was Oedipus the one who killed Laius. The truth is that Oedipus has killed Laius and that he is married to his mother, but he doesn?t know it. Tiresias, as a wise man, realizes that Oedipus is now blind in the inside, he is looking from knowledge, but he is not going to find it because he is ?blind?. At that moment, Oedipus is an ignorant to the truth and Sophocles illustrates that by putting an imagery This is an example that shows that sight imagery illustrates ignorance.

Another example that proves that the general theme of this imagery is ignorance is when Oedipus says, ?I pierced my eyes, my useless eyes…? Here Oedipus has already discovered the truth about his mother and father and is now blind, not only physically but in the inside as well.. He wants to go back to ignorance so he takes out his greatest way for him to learn things, his eyes. And so he does. In this example, Sophocles is trying to say that Oedipus has been ignorant for so long, not knowing about his past and about the real truth, and yet, so happy, with a wife and kids, that he still wants to be that way. Oedipus wants to stay ignorant because knowledge has caused him his family, his father and her mother. Sophocles illustrates that by putting a sight/blindness imagery quote to represent ignorance. This is another example that shows that sight and blindness imagery can represent ignorance.

The last but not the least example that proves that Sophocles uses sight/blindness imagery to show ignorance is when the Chorus tells Oedipus, ?To live in blindness? Better live no longer.? Here, the chorus asking Oedipus why he blinded himself. Oedipus is saying that he has done it correctly, that what he did was what he was supposed to do. The Chorus doesn?t understand that what Oedipus wants is to go back to ignorance, where he lived happily and better. The chorus represent the people, and what Sophocles is saying here is that the people didn?t believe that Oedipus did the right thing by blinding himself. And what does Sophocles do? He illustrates this situation of ignorance of the people to what Oedipus is doing, and the wish of Oedipus of going back to ignorance. This is the last example that shows that Sophocles used this imagery to illustrate ignorance.

In this play, Sophocles uses sight/blindness imagery to represent a very important part of the play, ignorance. He uses clear examples such as when Oedipus talks to Tiresias about who killed Laius and like when Oedipus already knows everything and he takes his eyes out. In this play, and in this essay, it is clear how Sophocles has wanted and has used the sight and blindness imagery to express ignorance.