Misconceptions In Oedipus The King

Man is an imperfect creation. Even in fictional worlds, characters are developed with fatal flaws to further the plot. Within every person there is an element of pride, which can blind the eyes to a truth, often resulting in falsified ideas. In the play, Oedipus the King, Sophocles uses the realization and destruction of misconceptions to contribute to the reoccurring motif of sight. In the beginning of the plot, Oedipus is overcome with excessive pride as a result of his reign as king over Thebes. This hubris becomes Oedipus’s fatal flaw as it causes him to constantly have false views, particularly when it concerns his foretold prophecy-- that Oedipus would murder his father and marry his mother (Apposition). For example, when the prophet,

After calling upon a former servant of Laius, who now works as a shepherd after Laius’s murder, Oedipus is visited by a messenger from his home town of Corinth. From these two men, Oedipus learns that his biological parents are Laius and Jocasta, the man whom Oedipus murdered and the woman whom Oedipus married (Parallelism). No longer under the misconception that his prophecy will not be fulfilled, Oedipus screams in agony: “I stand revealed at last--/ cursed in my birth, cursed in my marriage, /cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands!” (Episode 4, 1308-1310). At this moment in the drama, he discovers that the heinous future Tiresias had foretold has been realized. By murdering Laius, Oedipus has fulfilled the prophecy he has tried to escape from birth. Deceived no longer by his hubris, he is able to see that his own actions were the cause of his downfall (Anastrophe). The destruction of the misconceptions Oedipus had created develops the motif of sight Sophocles uses throughout the plot. Once Oedipus is made aware of the truth, Sophocles uses the motif to portray the blindness Oedipus experienced. In the end of the drama, Oedipus walks into the bedroom to murder Jocasta, to discover she has already committed suicide. Racked with grief, Oedipus removes the brooches from her robes and proceeds to gouge his eyes out with the pins. In the process, he cries, “Too long you looked on