The Portrayal of Blindness in The Outsider and Oedipus the King

The Portrayal of Blindness in The Outsider and Oedipus the King

A primitive motif in Oedipus the King by Sophocles and The Outsider by

Albert Camus is blindness. The protagonists in the novels are blinded

to a personal truth, and are physically blinded as well. In The

Outsider, Meursault’s blindness is metaphorical, as he is negligent to

his own absurdity, which he later becomes categorized as. On the other

hand, Oedipus’s blindness is literal, as he is ignorant to the truth

of his life; and the fact that he is incapable of escaping the destiny

that the Gods have set out for him, which resulted in him gorging his

eyes out. The characters suffer an emotional and physical blindness,

which leads to tragic irony in Oedipus the King and existential irony

in The Outsider. In both the novels, it is only towards the end that

the two protagonists release themselves from their crudeness of the

truth.

The blindness that overcomes Meursault and Oedipus prevents them from

seeing and understanding the lives that they are living. In

Meursault’s case, he oblivious to his own absurdity, as he only comes

to terms with this ideology towards the end of the novel. As a

student, he had ambitions; but as he came towards the end of his

studies, he realized that “none of it really mattered”. At that

instant, his vision became clouded, as he began to realize that he was

not dissatisfied with his life. He is also blind towards the

indifferent universe which he inhabits, which is ironic because he

would eventually become an absurd hero of this society. If the

circumstances were different and Meursault did actually discern the

uncaring universe and its callousness towards his absurdity, he could

perchance foreshadow where his in...

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...while in Oedipus the King

it was a permanent issue and was brought about by Oedipus himself.

However, the metaphorical blindness of both Oedipus and Meursault was

an evolution throughout the novel, as they eventually come to terms

with the philosophies in which Camus and Sophocles had in mind. At the

end of both the novels, the character’s blindness leads them to

finally understand the circumstance in which they are in. When

Meursault finally understands the meaning of his life, he becomes the

absurd hero whereas Oedipus’ outlook becomes more realistic and he

ironically gorges his eyes out. Similar to Meursault, he intends to

prove that he has not advanced to anything from his new found

discoveries.

Bibliography:

Camus,Albert . The Outsider . Great Britain: Hamish Hamilton, 1982

Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Oxford University Press, New York, 1998