Oedipus the King Blindness Essay

The Athenian classic, Oedipus Rex, or known in the modern western world as Oedipus the King, was originally written first around 425 BC by the Greek poet, Sophocles. The version at the focus of this critique is a new translation written in 1978 by Stephen Berg and Diskin Clay. Oedipus is a Greek Tragedy, being that its story is rooted firmly in the human suffering. The play is set in and around the royal palace of Thebes in the mythic past of ancient Greece. The overarching theme of this work seems

Blindness is a theme that is very prominent in both plays as both of the kings suffer from some sort of mental blindness. King Lear is blind to the truth and he lets flattery get to his head when he says: “Tell me, my daughters / …which of you shall we say doth love us most” (Shakespeare. I.1.5-56). Although it is obvious that Cordelia loves her father the most and is the most honest out of the three daughters, Lear is oblivious to her love as he is blinded by his own arrogance; his blindness causes

IIn the play, “Oedipus the King” blindness is used throughout the play to symbolize ignorance and knowledge. At the end of the play, after Oedipus realizes what had happened, he cuts his eyes out. Him removing his eyes and losing his sight represents many things including knowledge and ignorance, because he was trying to blind himself from the truth. Blindness also represents ignorance and knowledge when Oedipus was blind to the fact that he had killed his father and married his mother. In this play

depicted as blindness of the mind. In the Greek philosopher Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, Oedipus’ family and friends share their blindness in the fact that they love Oedipus and don’t have a desire to know the truth of his ruined past. They keep things from Oedipus and end up withholding the actualities of life from themselves in the process. Sophocles urges the reader that the love people clutch to can cause people to lose sight of the truth. He then expands on the blindness, demonstrating

Blindness was used both literally and figuratively in Oedipus the King to symbolize Oedipus's denial, guilt and the lack of perception Oedipus's faults which lead to Oedipus's ultimate fall, which connects to. Oedipus was in denial of the truth. He was so blind that when confronted by Tiresias with the truth of his crimes he quickly denied that he could have had anything to do with the death of Laius. When the blame was pointed at him by Tiresias, Oedipus went as far to question Tiresias abilities

The symbol of blindness is something that occurs throughout the play to strengthen the idea of power and powerlessness. At the beginning of the play when Teiresias speaks to Oedipus and says, “You mock my blindness, do you? But I saw that you, with both your eyes, are blind” (p. 22). With this statement, Teiresias reveals the irony of the two men: although Teiresias cannot see the physical world, he has knowledge of Oedipus’s tragic fate and the wretchedness that envelops his life. On the other hand

Humans retain the ability to know the truth, but ignore it as though they are clueless. In Oedipus Rex, composed by Sophocles, the protagonist blatantly ignores his set-in-stone fate. The character’s self-confidence causes this apparent blindness. Oedipus Rex’s character is used to show how hubris blinds people from the truth, resulting in tragedy. Oedipus believes he belongs intellectually above his subjects, referring to them as “children,” and announcing that he is “known far and wide by name

Dark to Light and Back Again Oedipus the King is the complex and twisted story of a man who flees his homeland with hopes of escaping the fulfillment of a prophecy. However, in the action of fleeing he actually collides with his fate. The images of sight and blindness are woven throughout this drama of Oedipus’ search for the truth; Sophocles repeatedly uses these two opposite ideas to expose the condition which is so often shared by a large portion of humanity. Blindness and sight are depicted both

Oedipus the Blind Blindness in Oedipus the King was used as a symbol of the characters oblivion and naivety to the truth and to Oedipus’s fate. Teiresias was literally blind, but figurately speaking he was the least blind of all. He had the most knowledge and wisdom out of all the characters. Teiresias was a seer meaning he is a knower of all things. He knew of Oedipus’s wrong doing and his ultimate fate. Since he is knower of all he knew the ultimate effects of revealing the truth to Oedipus

motive to live can tolerate almost anything in his way.” (Heller). In the Greek tragedy “Oedipus the King “, written by Sophocles and translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. Oedipus is abandoned by his parents due to prophecy. He lives his entire young life blindly, without knowing his true identity, until he kills his father, marries his mother, and is finally exposed to the truth. (Sophocles 1208). Oedipus has lived his whole life blindly, abusing his power and those around him. Russian writer