Theme Of Ignorance In Oedipus

To support this, Oedipus is stunned when Tiresias, one of his loyal subjects, refuses to tell him what happened so many years ago. “What? You know and you won’t tell? You’re bent on betraying us, destroying Thebes?” (Sophocles, line 377). Automatically, Oedipus assumes the worst of Tiresias. He believes this man is trying to betray him and his city. This quick to anger moment shows just how Oedipus thinks if someone doesn’t give him what he wants. Enraged when he hears the truth, Oedipus lashes out “You, you scum of the earth!” (Sophocles, line 381). This quote just shows how butt hurt Oedipus is when he learns about his faults. When hie ego is damaged in the slightest way, he becomes temperamental and hot headed. “No, I can’t say I grasped your meaning. Out with it, again!” 411. When Oedipus hears the truth, he lashes out, not wanting to believe in such accusations. This just shows that Oedipus can't bear the truth. “You're blind to the corruption of your life!” (Sophocles, line 471). Tiresias lashes out at Oedipus with this statement. This evidence shows just how childish Oedipus is. He doesn't think about his own faults or what he has done in the past.

Pride comes in many forms, and when it grows, people get carried away and forget who they are. Supreme pride is just one trait that ties three tragic heroes together, and which it destroys their lives. Creon struggles with his own within the play Antigone by Sophocles; which is shown when he is not capable of creating an atmosphere of respect as king, without putting himself on a holy pedestal. Then Oedipus from Oedipus the King, also by Sophocles, shows his pride in a much different manner. Oedipus tries to go against his own fate that the Gods have already laid out for him.

Also, when Creon asks Oedipus the possibility that he is wrong when accusing Tiresias and himself, Oedipus disregards the needs and rights of other people in order to avoid the truth of the suffering that Tiresias has bestowed upon him: “‘What if you’re wholly wrong?’ ‘No matter-I must rule’”. Oedipus became rash and selfish when faced with suffering when he threw away the rights of the citizens for his own self pleasure despite the lack of evidence and reason to do so. Therefore, when Oedipus is faced with suffering, he blames others for his own fate to avoid the truth until it is right in front of him. Therefore, unlike Tiresias and King Laius, Oedipus is more hasty and selfish when faced with suffering.

Thebes is being punished by the gods for its ignorance. However, during the journey itself there are several indications that certain types of knowledge are better if they are ignored. In fact, Oedipus is warned more than once to put an end to his search but he chooses to ignore this. He is ignorant of the consequence of knowledge and can not see any harm in pursuing his journey.

Oedipus may be a foul mouthed character, but Tiresias is just as absurd. Oedipus’ short temper and stubbornness is exploited when he talks to Tiresias. Another trait that is revealed is impatience. When Oedipus insulted Tiresias in public, questioned his power to foresee, and accused him of lying to his fellow citizens, he replied back promptly and accused Oedipus of “scourging his own flesh and blood”(474), and said he will be “rooted from the earth brutally.” (489). Oedipus does not take this in well and kicks Tiresias out of his castle. Even though Tiresias wasn’t trying to accuse Oedipus of murder, Oedipus insulted

Oedipus’s ignorance led him to believe the prophecy wasn’t. He bad mouthed the gods because he was the one to defeat the sphinx and not one of them. He believed that since he achieved said victory that nothing bad will happen to him, which invoked his inner blindness, ultimately causing his downfall. His anger was a flaw.

In this excerpt of “Oedipus the King”, Oedipus continues struggles with his miserable fate, but fate has marked him as well as the scars on his ankles since his birth. It is cleared to me that the theme of knowledge and ignorance is highlighted in this play. If one is being told that truth is painful, but ignorance is bliss, which is the wiser choice? Chances for Oedipus to avoid his fate appeared multiple times before the final downfall of the play; however, it apparent that he make wrong decision at each time. In the previous scene, Oedipus insists in finding out the truth despite Tiresias warning him that truth will devastate him and others.

Oedipus the King is a story about the king of Thebes, Oedipus. When he was young his parents were given an awful fate that Oedipus would bed his mother and kill his father. Oedipus was meant to be killed but given mercy and was able to leave. He grew with adopted parents and saved the city of Thebes. Only find out that his fate was sealed and that the horrible destiny had come true.

If there ever was a situation that absolutely required personal bias, it would be this one: blissful ignorance versus potential painful truth. In my experience, the truth can wound just as easily as a sword. Oedipus is just one such example. The truth is painful, affects more than just the person seeking the truth, and occasionally ruins lives. Based on the fate of Oedipus, it seems that blissful ignorance is definitely the way to live one’s life.

At the beginning, Oedipus is ignorant and is constantly avoids and ignores the truth in order to protect his reputation. Oedipus’ unwillingness to open his ears to the truth develops when Tiresias reveals that he killed Laius and one of his responses is, “Your words are nothing-- / futile” (416-417). Although Oedipus begged to hear Tiresias’ words, he was not willing to pay attention or open his eyes to the unfortunate idea. Oedipus pushes aside the words Tiresias says, refusing to believe that he could be the one who killed Laius, the one who must be cursed. Later, Tiresias brings up Oedipus’ ignorance saying “you’re blind to the corruption of your life” (471), and telling him a few lines later that “No man will ever / be rooted from the earth as brutally as you” (488-489). Oedipus was put in his place and blatantly told that he is ignorant but his rise to knowledge will also bring his demise. Sophocles foreshadowed using Tiresias in that way, but Oedipus was so into avoiding any confrontation with the truth at the beginning that he would respond calling Tiresias’ visions “absurdities” (494). Therefore, even though the truth has been revealed to him, Oedipus still chooses to remain blind to the truth in order to remain good in the eyes of his people.

The Greek drama Oedipus Rex by Sophocles is a play about the king of Thebes who eventually falls from his pedestal after unconsciously destroying his own reputation. Oedipus was a powerful man who was envied by many people. However, they did not know of his personal situations and problems yet glorified him anyway. But after all was revealed, the townspeople realized that “The greatest grieves are those we cause ourselves.” Many obstacles we face in our lives are because of our own doing. Oedipus is a good example of this because the actions he takes in the play bring about his own downfall.

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.

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.

Oedipus attempts to seek the truth in many ways. In the beginning of the play, when the city is plagued because of King Laius’s murderer, Oedipus tells Creon, “Let the people of Cadmus meet and know that I’ll do everything” (Oedipus the King 144-145). Right at the start of the problem Oedipus is willing to seek the truth and find the man who killed Laius and ultimately save the city. It is only as the play goes on that he becomes blind to reality, yet throughout the play he uses questions in his attempt to seek the truth. When Tiresias refuses to reveal his insight about who murdered Laius, Oedipus does not give up and continues to question Tiresias, “Tell us, you villain, tell us” (Oedipus the King 334-335). He is persistent to find the truth and in the beginning, it seems that nothing will stop him. Yet, when Tiresias tells him bluntly, “you are the land’s pollution” (Oedipus the King 352), he rejects it and then again