Ignorance In Oedipus The King

The word “blindness” can be used thematically and literally; thematically being someone can be ignorant or oblivious to see the truth or world around them, and in a literal sense it means that a person is physically blind. In Oedipus the King by Sophocles the role of “blindness” literally and thematically is used to show how the character Oedipus is oblivious to see the “truth” in his life is like Donald Trump, America’s forty-fifth president, on his views of climate change. Donald Trump is “blinded” by the fact that climate change is a real problem and in his mind the crazy weather is just the weather itself acting up.

The British classical scholar and lecturer in ancient Greek and Greek history A. W Gomme said, “the gods know the future, but they do not order it”. Gomme is implying that the gods are able to know what will happen, but they cannot enforce it. Oedipus Rex is a play that is filled with a lot of controversy and an origin for many arguments. One of which being if Oedipus’ fate is one of free will or determinism. In “On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex” author E.R Dodds refutes the over powering belief that Oedipus Rex is a play that follows a path of determinism. E.R. Dodds does not believe Oedipus’ fate was controlled; therefore, in his text he supports his strong belief that Oedipus is in charge of his own fate.

The first incidents of Oedipus’ arrogance and pride were when he went to the Oracle of Delphi about his lineage. Even though the Oracle did not answer the question about his lineage, the Oracle did give him a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Thinking that he was doing the right thing by putting as much distance between his parents and himself, it was arrogance and pride that ruled him. He believed that he could out run the gods and defy prophecy. Another example of Oedipus’ arrogance was when he was forced off the road by another chariot; he lost his temper when the old man angered him causing the death of the old man and his aides. Because of his intelligence and his keen sense being able to solve riddles; again, his arrogance was when he solved the riddle of the Sphinx. The Sphinx was so distraught that

Although Oedipus is an ideal leader who once saved the city of Thebes from the monstrous Sphinx, his fatal flaws of anger and pride ultimately lead to his tragic downfall. Oedipus’s harsh temper leads him to make rash decisions and often causes him to show disrespect to people. For example, Oedipus displays his quick temper when the blind prophet, Tiresias, accuses him of murdering Laius, the former king of Thebes. Although Tiresias is physically blind, he sees the truth, while Oedipus sees but is blind to the truth. Oedipus becomes furious with the old man and begins to yell at him for this ghastly accusation. “You miserable old man! You’d drive a stone to fury,” Oedipus screams violently. He even goes as far as to describe Tiresias as a “night-hatched thing.” Oedipus truly is an ideal leader; however, this flaw aids in his

Celebrated writer and dramatist, Sophocles, in his drama, Oedipus the King, illustrates the theme of ignorance. Ignorance is seen throughout the entire drama and controls many of Oedipus’ decisions leading to his final fate. His purpose is to convey the idea that pride and self-assuredness is not better than knowledge. Sophocles adopts a foreboding tone in order to convey to his readers that ignorance is not always bliss.

Blindness plays a two-fold part in Sophocles’ tragedy “Oedipus the King.'; First, Sophocles presents blindness as a physical disability affecting the auger Teiresias, and later Oedipus; but later, blindness comes to mean an inability to see the evil in one’s actions and the consequences that ensue. The irony in this lies in the fact that Oedipus, while gifted with sight, is blind to himself, in contrast to Teiresias, blind physically, but able to see the evil to which Oedipus has fallen prey to. Tragically, as Oedipus gains the internal gift of sight, he discards his outward gift of sight. Sight, therefore, seems to be like good and evil, a person may only choose one.

Because he had deciphered the Sphinx’s riddle, the intelligent Oedipus was classified as “the best at guessing riddles,” yet he could not see the truth that was staring him in the face (Sophocles 30). He had killed the previous king. Although Tiresias had told him plainly that he was the murderer, Oedipus did not believe him and went even further to blame Creon for the murder. How could he have been so blind? When the king began to finally realize his misconception, he exclaimed, “Oh God! I think I have just called down on myself a dreadful curse-not knowing what I did” (Sophocles 53). The ruler of Thebes enjoyed an abundance of knowledge; however he experienced a severe deficit in his ability to understand the reality right in front of

All throughout Oedipus the King, Sophocles has Oedipus on an unknown journey from ignorance to knowledge. Oedipus believes that he has nothing to do with the murder of King Laius even though the truth is laid out in front of him multiple times. As the story goes on, Oedipus begins to become more open-minded to new information that has an unknown cost. Therefore, through the journey to recognition, the once great and powerful Oedipus, can cause his own demise. Sophocles demonstrates that ignorance will blind one from the truth and knowledge will open one's eyes.

Oedipus Rex is a story that can be interpreted on many different levels of thinking. The ancient tale has existed for centuries and has been subjected to countless forms of analysis. What is it that makes Oedipus the King such a fascinating story? Is it the suspense of a developing mystery that captivates the audience? Or perhaps the wonderful feeling the readers get after vicariously experiencing the horror Oedipus feels? And if not that, could it be that the reader is intrigued at Sophocles' description of one man's disbelief in the gods? Whichever way one looks at it, Oedipus Tyrannus was, and remains, one of the "most highly admired plays of all time" (Wood, et al, 163).

Ignorance may be bliss, but people cannot choose to unlearn a piece of knowledge. Throughout Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, many references are made to who is blind and who can see. Oedipus himself suffers through being ‘blind’ in the sense of always being the last one to accept his fate. He is in a state of ignorance throughout most of the tragedy, which leads to his demise. Accordingly, in the greek tragedy Oedipus the King, Sophocles informs the readers that those who cannot see are gifted with sight in some instances, and those who see possess a burden that cannot be carried by just anyone.

Along with this pride, Oedipus is a seeker of truth. He shows himself to be a thinker, a man good at unraveling mysteries. This is the same characteristic that brought him to Thebes; he was the only man capable of solving the Sphinx's riddle. His intelligence is what makes him great, yet also contributes to making him tragic. His problem solver's mind leads him

The most famous scene in Sophocles’, Oedipus Rex, is when Oedipus gouges out his eyes. But, that’s not the only example of sight and blindness in this play. In Sophocles ' plays there was always extensive content where he paid considerable attention to the element of “spectacle” in his plays. When observing the theme of vision, it invites the audience to look at the action with a double perspective, through their own eyes and through the eyes of those on stage. Within this play, sight and blindness are the underlying themes. Sight is commonly associated with light or positive overtones, and blindness is attached to darkness or negative undertones. The approach to describing blindness deals with not only physical blindness but also metaphorical blindness. Oedipus ' blindness changes from bad to worse at different scenes of the play. Although the word "blindness" seems quite simple, it can be very debatable. Blindness or the inability to “see” consist of two elements; Oedipus 's ability to see vs his desire to see. Throughout many scenes, the two elements are used in pattern form. Some scholars mention the two aspects of the play in addition to discussing the theme of knowledge. Lazlo Versenyi, Thomas Hoey, Marjorie Champlain, analyze the play from different perspectives. Versenyi says the play was “a tragedy of self- knowledge”, with the use of terms

Ignorance can blind an individual from the truth. Plays were of great importance in early Greek culture. Plays were the main source of entertainment, and one of the most exceptional examples is Oedipus the King written by Sophocles. The drama is tremendously uplifted by the character development and the excellent structure Sophocles has put forward. Interactions between characters and each character’s motivations generate brilliant themes throughout the play. Sophocles uses a technique called recognition, which illustrates a character’s turn from ignorance to the truth. The play is about the city of Thebes which is racked by a plague and a crisis that is quickly wiping humans from the earth. The great king of Thebes is Oedipus who must dispose of the problem very quickly. He welcomes information from the god Apollo, who says Oedipus must punish the killer of the former king, Laius. In one of the instances where Oedipus tries to find the killer, he encounters Tiresias, who is a physically blind man but can see everything because he is a prophet of Apollo. Tiresias possesses the information but declines to cooperate with Oedipus. After a series of verbal insults, the audience is left in awe when Tiresias puts the blame on Oedipus. Similarly to Oedipus the King, dialogue “Allegory of the Cave” written by Plato also in the early Greek times, shows that ignorance can lead an individual to be blind from the truth. Sophocles magnificently develops a question of “Who sees and who is blind”. Also in Oedipus the King, Sophocles exhibits how selflessness and ignorance can blind a person from the truth, but eventually has to go through recognition which can cause great agony.

is a trait viewed as being favorable to a character at first, but it leads to their later downfall. It was often used in ancient Greek tragedies to show that mankind was susceptible to flaw. This was present in Sophocles 's tragedy, Oedipus the King. The protagonist of the tragedy,Oedipus, was not exempt from his own flaws. Oedipus’s traits of excessive pride and desire for knowing the truth were advantageous to him in the beginning, yet were the very things that contributed to his tragic downfall.

In Oedipus The King, Sophocles greatly stresses the point of ignorance versus knowledge through the tragedy of his main character, Oedipus. In his case, ignorance was blissful and brought prosperity, power, followers, and riches. However, when Oedipus was brought into knowledge, his entire world collapsed around him, and though he was brought into spiritual sight, he was pitched into physical darkness due to the grief that pushed him to destroy his own eyes. This begs the question, is the knowledge of truth worth the pain it may bring? In Oedipus’ case, it would seem that ignorance provided him a much better life. However, Sophocles uses Oedipus’ downfall to convey that to live in spiritual truth than to dwell in spiritual ignorance. It is better to live in truth and to have spiritual sight, than to live in spiritual darkness and ignorance, because while ignorance can be temporarily bliss it will ultimately bring about one’s downfall.