Blindness and Sight in Oedipus the King

In the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Oedipus's sight of mind continues to diminish throughout the play. While he first appears on stage as the all-knowing, honorable king, this image begins to unravel as information about his past and the murder of Laius is revealed. Oedipus loses sight of his purpose, instead choosing to shun the aid of Teiresias the blind prophet and of the gods when he is presented with startling and confusing possibilities. It is not until the entire truth is revealed to him and he gouges out his own eyes with the gold pins of his wife and mother that Oedipus if able to regain full insight and appreciation of the bitter, cursed world.

Oedipus's meeting with the blind prophet Teiresias provides the audience with the first sign that Oedipus has lost sight of his responsibilities as king and limited powers as a human. When Teiresias attempts to convince Oedipus that it would be best to "let me go home. It will be easiest for us both to bear our several destinies to the end if you follow my advice" (23), the king betrays the will of the prophet, quickly becoming angered by the situation and insisting that Teiresias reveal to him the future. Not only has Oedipus lost sight of the prophet's and gods' hierarchy over mere mortals, instead demanding of Teiresias that which he does not wish to do, his quick temper shows that he has lost the insight to ask and infer why Teiresias believes it would be best that he keeps the prophecy to himself, a quality that had originally made him such a gifted and honorable ruler. Even after Teiresias does reveal to Oedipus that he is in fact Laius murderer, Oedipus refuses to believe it, quickly accusing the prophet and Creon of working together to usurp the king's power...

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...n the king, insisting that this and, therefore, all prophecies must be false, because as Teiresias claimed, Lauis was murdered by his own son, and even if Oedipus had murdered Laius in an act of self-defense, he certainly was not the dead king's son. While at the time this did provide evidence that the prophecy may have been incorrect, instead of seeing all the possibilities, Jacosta uses this bit of information and turns it into a conclusion, just as Oedipus did when he insisted that Creon and Teiresias were attempting to remove him from power.

In the end, Oedipus realizes the error of his ways. But it is not until his wife and mother commits suicide and he unburdens himself of his own vision that he does. It is at this point when he is stripped of his crown and banished from the city that he is able to see the piercing and revealing truth about his and all life.