Blindness and Ignorance in Greek Literature

In Euripides’ Medea and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King both Medea and Oedipus are both very determined people. This great trait that both characters have ultimately ruins them both. Medea’s determination mutates her into a vengeful sociopath, and Oedipus a self-loathing blind man. These two stories show us that in Greek literature ignorance is almost always linked to blindness in one way or another. In Oedipus’ case literally and Medea’s case figuratively.
In the beginning of Medea, she is madly in love with Jason. She helps him obtain the Golden Fleece and kills her own brother to distract pursuers. Blinded by her love for Jason she commits these atrocious crimes of killing her brother, and betraying her own country. Oedipus on the other hand is a complete douche, figuratively speaking. He is simply a king trying to help his people. He finds out from Kreon about the source of the plague. “Well, Laios was murdered. Now god tells you plainly: with your own hands punish the very men whos hands killed Laios.” Not realizing Kreon was talking about him Oedipus becomes blinded by his sense to help his people and begins a manhunt, for himself.
One could say that at this point in the story, Oedipus is just being retarded. How could he kill someone and not even know the name of the person he killed?
Medea has been cheated on at this point in her story, all she does is cry. “Friends talk to her, try to give her good advice; she listens the way a rock does, or an ocean wave.” Ignorantly ignoring her friends, she comes to the realization that she doesn’t like her children and that leaving her homeland was a bad idea in the first place. Although she is no longer blindly in love with Jason, she has just become blinded by the rage that has buil...

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...with her on the magic chariot.
Oedipus finds the herdsman and finally finds out the truth. “All! All It all happened! It was true. O light! Let this be the last time I look on you. You see now what I am—the child who must not be born! I loved where I must not love! I killed where I must not kill!” He then starts to suffer, finding that his mom/wife Jocasta has killed herself. He stabs himself with her dress pin and becomes blind. This time literally.
In conclusion Greek literature and writers put a lot of effort to show that there are many types of blindness, but they are all linked to ignorance and vice versa. As shown in The Odyssey, Medea, and Oedipus the king. If the characters from each story would have paid a little more attention, and not be ignorant to what they were doing they would not have had to go through what they had, and would be a lot better off.