Theme Of Eyes In Oedipus

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There is an old proverb that goes, “the eyes are the window to the soul”. Throughout both Oedipus and Incendies, the eyes are strongly symbolic in the audiences’ understanding the experiences and emotions of the main characters and the structure of the plot. Specifically, the eyes are reference to the individual’s perspective on each experience and how it influences their future. In Oedipus, Oedipus eventually blinds himself after discovering his own past and the parricide and incest he unconsciously committed. In other words, Oedipus’s past seals by his future and he cannot escape this doom.
At the same time, in Incendies, it is primarily through Mawal’s flashbacks that the plot is visually illustrated and through learning the personal recounts of others that Nawal, Nihab, Jeanne and Simon cannot escape the truth of their own family’s history. Similarly, the audience’s perspective of the characters in both narratives highly influence by the character’s response towards prominent trials.

In both narratives, the characters are forced by an external event to seek out their pasts. In ...

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