His next clue was from Terrains, who claimed that he was the murderer of the former king CLC yet that was still not enough. Next was the prediction from Phoebes, ho said that he was “fated to lie with his mother and doomed to be the murderer of his father. Oedipus first hint was when a drunken man accused him of being a bastard child. He was given hints by numerous people, yet was still oblivious to the reality. The next way that the theme of blindness is shown is through Oedipus blindness in realizing the truth of his life. This comment is quite humorous to the audience because it does not truly describe Terrains, but Oedipus instead. This enrages Oedipus, who becomes angry with Terrains and begins to criticize him for his blindness saying “0 you are blind in mind and ears as well as in your eyes. He eventually gives in, and explains that it is Oedipus who is the murderer of Alias.
Oedipus asks Terrains to speak what he knows, and at first he is hesitant. He is called to the city of Thebes by Oedipus in hope that he can provide some information about the murder of the previous king, Alias. The first way that blindness is portrayed in this play is through Terrains, who is a blind prophet. The theme of blindness is shown through the blind prophet, through Oedipus blindness in realizing the truth, and finally through Oedipus stabbing his own eyes to the point Of blindness.
617-658.After reading or viewing this play, it is apparent that there are a few different themes, though the one which will be discussed in this essay is the theme of linden’s. The Norton Anthrology of World Literature. The play Oedipus Rex shows the relationship between literal and metaphorical definitions of blindness, giving the phrase “seeing the truth” a deeper meaning. The truth in this case resides with a blind person and can not be perceived by a man who can see. He therefore has the ability to speak the truth and is believed by many. There is irony in the text when the blind prophet happens to be the one who sees the truth better than those who can literaly see. He would rather live behind the darkness of blindness than see the horror in the eyes of the children he sired with his own mother.
This is what eventually leads oedipus to pierce his eyes with pins so that he can be “…blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind from this hour on! Blind in the darkness – blind!” (Sophocles 651). The reality is too painful that it is preferable to be physically blind than confront it. This is why he says, “How terrible – to see the truth when the truth is only pain to him who sees!” (Sophocles 626). The truth about Oedipus is so sickening that Tiresias preffers it should never be known to Oedipus. He knows that Oedipus is indeed the killer of Laius therefore the cause of the plague. Tiresias is physically blind but in his other uniquely higher vision, he is able to see all the truth about Oedipus. She was found “…hanging by the neck, cradled high in a woven noose, spinning, swinging back and forth” (Sophocles 651). When the truth finally dawns on her, she finds it so horrifying that she can not accept it. She does not see the true identity of Oedipus. Jocasta is also another character who, although physically sighted, she has been blind to the fact that her husband has all along been the son she gave away to be murdered. In his blindness, he does not realize that he is in fact cursing himself.
#The blind prophet in oedipus full#
He is so blind to the fact that he is the murderer that he curses himself should the murderer be a member of his household: “I curse myself as well …if by any chance he proves to be an intimate of our house, here at my hearth, with my full knowledge, may the curse I just called down on him strike me!” (Sophocles 624). The first one is his inability to realize that he is indeed the murderer of Laius. His blindness to the truth is exemplified by several factors. Oedipus is not literally blind but he is unable to see the truth that is obvious to him because he lacks both wisdom and inner vision.
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