If one does not have knowledge on a certain subject or on a topic, that person is ignorant to the fact of opening up to obtaining knowledge. When obtaining knowledge, this can be a good experience, which to most people is true. The imagery of light is believed not to be frightening or devastating; it is rather something that is perceived to be comfortable and calming. But the opposite of light is darkness. The image of darkness is indeed frightening and is associated with evil. It can be said that darkness represents ignorance to knowledge. So it is fair to say that in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, light and dark imagery is used to symbolize the contrast between knowledge and ignorance. Oedipus and Teiresias are characters in the play that represent …show more content…
Teiresias is a blind prophet that is summoned by Oedipus to help find the murderer. When Teiresias arrives, he exclaims that he knows the truth to what happened and tells Oedipus that the “truth lives in [him], and the truth is strong.” (486). This angers Oedipus because Teiresias knows the truth and he will not tell him. After Oedipus insults the blind prophet, Teiresias says that he pities Oedipus “for mocking [his] blindness.” (509) and continues to say that “Thebes will mock” (510) Oedipus. Teiresias knows the truth, which by definition means that he has knowledge upon the situation and knowledge is represented by light in this play. It is ironic that the Teiresias is blind but can still get the truth. When obtaining knowledge there is no impact whether or not a person has lost a sense because when one sense is lost, another one is heightened. This means that the character of Teiresias is altogether an image of light representing knowledge, but the blind prophet can still be seen as a dark character as well. The dark imagery that Teiresias display in the play is that he is a blind prophet. With Teiresias being blind it causes havoc within the city because Oedipus is freaking out at him. Oedipus tells Teiresias that he is “blind in [his] eyes. Blind in [his] ears [and in his] mind.” (507-508). Oedipus freaks out on him because he is blind. If he was not blind, Oedipus …show more content…
At the beginning of the play, the city is perceived as dark and gloomy because anybody knows the truth about what happen to the former King. When Oedipus first arrives in Thebes, Kreon tells Oedipus that he must “cleanse the city of Thebes, cleanse the plague.” (115). This plague being how the King was killed suddenly without warning. The city is describe as a “black stain” (116) that is “poisoning the earth” (117) and “sickening the hearts of the people” (118) who live in the city. The reason for everyone being so confused is because they have no knowledge of what happened. Nobody actually knows what could have caused this and who did it. Everyone is affected by what happened and distraught. In order for the city to be lifted from this plague is by finding out who killed the Laios. This is dark imagery that represents ignorance because everyone has a lack of knowledge of what happened. Until they solve the mystery that spread over the city, the lives of the people will be painful and restless as none of them know or have the power to figure it out. When the city finds out what happened to Laios, is when the city’s plague lifted and the people could actually get rest. When Oedipus finds out that he was the cause of the death of the King, he calls out and demands to be “lead away from Thebes” (1747) and says that he was the “destroyer and [then] destroyed” (1748). It is at this moment when the
Conversely, the soothsayer Teiresias is blind from the beginning of the story, but has full use of his prophetic vision. He knows the truth of Oedipus and his family, but at first doesn’t want to tell him, as he knows what it will mean for Oedipus and the kingdom. When he does explain his knowledge, Oedipus doesn’t believe any of it, due to his own over confidence. Teirseias says “You have your eyes but see not where you are in sin, nor where you live, nor whom you live with.” He is telling Oedipus the truth, but Oedipus refuses acknowledge that he may, in fact, be living in darkness.
This shows that once again the withholding of knowledge has led to Oedipus not being able to know the truth and avoid his fate rather if Oedipus had known this from the start he may never have left Corinth.
Within these two passages, Teiresias is explaining to Oedipus that the Prophecy admitted he killed his father. Oedipus is denying the fact that he killed his father and looking passed the problem. In the play Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, Sophocles uses rhetorical devices to explain to the readers that Teiresias may be blind, but is seeing through the lie that Oedipus is living, while striking him the truth; this is explained through imagery, metaphors, an allusion, and ethos appeal.
In the play “Oedipus Rex by Sophocles” the themes of sight and blindness are produced to develop in the readers mind that it is not the eyesight, but insight that holds the key to truth and without It no amount of knowledge can help uncover the truth. Insight can be described as the ability to see what is going to happen. Characters like Oedipus and Teiresias hold a significant role in the play and other characters like Iocaste are also important in the play.
In the beginning of the text, an explanation is presented of how Thebes must “drive out a killer” in order to purge the city of the plague (99). Oedipus sets on a quest that includes Tiresias’s baffling words. Tiresias confronts Oedipus with [Oedipus’s] truth by revealing he is the murderer of Laius and “pollutes the land” (352). Oedipus is also bound by Apollo’s prophecy; his [Oedipus] fate is sealed (377). Oedipus displays his denial by refusing that he is the murderer and placing the blame on Creon.
The beginning of the play opens up with the dilemma of the plague as explained before. Creon, Oedipus's brother in-law (which turns out to be his uncle), comes from the oracle with the advice to end the plague. He explains the previous leader, Laius, had been murdered, and they haven't found the murderer. More importantly, was the way Oedipus handled the situation. He
The play "Oedipus Rex" is a very full and lively one to say the least. Everything a reader could ask for is included in this play. There is excitement, suspense, happiness, sorrow, and much more. Truth is the main theme of the play. Oedipus cannot accept the truth as it comes to him or even where it comes from. He is blinded in his own life, trying to ignore the truth of his life. Oedipus will find out that truth is rock solid. The story is mainly about a young man named Oedipus who is trying to find out more knowledge than he can handle. The story starts off by telling us that Oedipus has seen his moira, his fate, and finds out that in the future he will end up killing his father and marrying his mother. Thinking that his mother and father were Polybos and Merope, the only parents he knew, he ran away from home and went far away so he could change his fate and not end up harming his family. Oedipus will later find out that he cannot change fate because he has no control over it, only the God's can control what happens. Oedipus is a very healthy person with a strong willed mind who will never give up until he gets what he wants. Unfortunately, in this story these will not be good trait to have.
My disappointment in the lack of mystery in the plot of the play was evoked by the continual clues appearing throughout the play. For example, in Oedipus's first speech to the people of Thebes, he condemns the murderer of the previous king, stating that "he will suffer no unbearable punishment, nothing worse than exile" (261-62). This is the first of a multitude of clues about the outcome of the play.
Throughout Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, there are many references to sight, blindness, and seeing the truth. Characters, such as Tiresias, are able to accurately predict what Oedipus’ fate will be through their power to see the truth in a situation. Oedipus maintains a pompous and arrogant personality throughout the play as he tries to keep control of the city of Thebes and prove the speculations about his fate as falsities. Ironically, although Tiresias is physically blind, he is able to correctly predict how Oedipus’ backstory will unfold, while other characters, such as Jocasta and Oedipus are oblivious to the truth even though they can physically see. Thus, we can conclude that the power of “seeing the truth” deviates greatly from the power of sight in reality and can lead to an expedited fate or a detrimental occurrence.
Sophocles introduces a prophet, a seer, Teiresias, into the play. Teiresias is a wise, old man who has supernatural powers to interpret the past and predict the future. Ironically, Teiresias is physically blind, but can “see” the truth about Oedipus. Oedipus has trouble imagining that his father life was taken at his hands. It signifies that Oedipus as a man is ignorant to the true appearance of things - this blind man can "see" the truth about Oedipus, yet Oedipus, in all of his physical perfection, cannot.
Throughout the play Oedipus continuosly belittles and accused everyone of the crime that he is guilty of. In Act II, Scene II he calls Teiresias a "blind and impious traitor
Not only does ignorance have a negative impact on people, it is also “the root and stem of all evil” (Plato), which can destroy a person. To start off, self-superiority can cloud a person’s judgment; making it evident that intelligence can easily be lost to arrogance. To add on, anger and the human tendency to make rash decisions can also contribute to ignorance, resulting in eventual downfall. Lastly, unconscious attempts to blind yourself from the truth can result in the committing of major sins. Tragedy occurs in “Oedipus the King” when ignorance causes disastrous events, proving that lack of knowledge can result in their misfortune.
Plagues were destroying the town, the women give birth to stillborn children, this is what sparks Oedipus to journey and find out the cause of these plagues and problems. “Oedipus: No, I’ll start again—I’ll bring it all to light myself! Apollo is right, and so are you, Creon, to turn out attention back to the murdered man. Now you have me to fight for you, you’ll see: I am the land’s avengers by all rights and Apollo’s champion too” (lines 149-155). The example shows that Oedipus desperately wants to save the town and the inhabitants of Thebes. All his work is in vain because he is blind to the fact that he is the cause of everything wrong with
Throughout Oedipus the King, Sophocles employs one continuous metaphor: light vs. darkness, and sight vs. blindness. A reference to this metaphor occurs early in the play, when Oedipus falsely accuses Tiresias and Creon of conspiracy: Creon, the soul of trust, my loyal friend from the start steals against me... so hungry to overthrow me he sets this wizard on me, this scheming quack, this fortune-teller peddling lies, eyes peeled for his own profit—seer blind in his craft!
The priests of Thebes have come to Oedipus to stop the plague that is killing the people of Thebes. They revere him for his knowledge, since he solved the riddle of the Sphix many years before and became the king. As the reader is introduced to Oedipus, they are given many facts about his life so that they become familiar with this man who has done great things. But Oedipus learns from his brother-in-law, Creon who he had sent to Delphi, that Apollo has placed this plague upon Thebes until they "Drive the corruption from the land, don't harbor it any longer, past all cure, don't nurse it in your soil - root it out!" ¹ Oedipus swears an oath before the priests and the chorus (which represents all people of Thebes) that the murderer would be found and driven from the land.