Truth In Oedipus The King

In the beginning of the story, Oedipus came across as a selfish and arrogant man. It appeared that he only wanted to find Laius' killer for his own gains. For bragging rights. But, at the end, he is a broken man. He has learned he killed his father, slept with his mother and found his wife's (his mother's) dead body. His mistakes had caused her pain as well and his entire life was a lie. He was ashamed and blinded himself to add to his troubles. And, the left his children in shame. I felt sorry for him at the end. He could not escape his destiny and his life and his family's lives were all ruined.

“Think: all men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.” As a writer, Sophocles examined the interactions between truth and ignorance. He wrote plays in which the hero has a tragic flaw, many times that being the lack of wisdom caused by many different character flaws. In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Antigone, pride and stubbornness obstruct the senses of Oedipus and Creon in a classic play about seeing the truth. Sophocles delves into the meaning of seeing, in a conventional way, and also in terms of insight.

People may be blinded to truth, and may not realize what truth is, even if truth is standing in front of them. They will never see truth becase they are blind to it. In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles it is easy to see how blindness affects the transition of the story. It is said that blind people see “in a different manner” because they sense the world in a totally diferent way, such as Teiresias in the play. Oedipus Rex is a tragedy due to the content the Sophocles, the playwright, decided to include, first, murdering his father, king Laius, then marrying his mother, Jocasta, and ending by blinding himself. Oedipus has been blinded to the truth all his life. Eventually, when he seeks the truth he intentionally loses his physical vision, and

An example of Oedipus’s firm decision to find the truth can be seen when he chose to ignore

Charles could see Erik giving up as sharply as he felt it, the small spark that he’d come to label in his own mind as ‘life force’ dwindling to an ember and extinguishing. He was stepping forward before he could stop himself, blooding rushing in his ears against time as he spoke. “Dēsístite!“

The theme of sight and blindness is undoubtedly important to notice while reading Oedipus the King. The number of times the words “see” or “blind” are in the play make it make it undeniably obvious that they are significant. The theme is developed throughout the dialogue, through characters such as Tiresias and Oedipus, and also directly in the irony of the play. It is important in a play about the truth because almost every character was “blind” to the truth. All of the characters, except one, can physically see, but mentally cannot see the truth.

Sophocles’ tragedy, Oedipus the King, stresses the idea of who is blind and who can see by demonstrating that one cannot simply just run away from their mistakes and issues. As the story unfolds, each character makes several attempts to hide from the truth. Though the foul truths may seem to be masked within the darkness, they are eventually brought into the light, shining over the devious lies placed before it. Nevertheless, the real question lies within whether or not the person receiving the truth can endure it. By coping with the truth, one sees, but by denying it, one stays blind. One way or another, however, problems arise, secrets come out, and chaos ensues because one cannot stay blinded from the truth forever.

One common characteristic of humans throughout history is to fear the truth as most people would rather support a lie even when the truth is right in front of them. While most people believe that the truth will set one free, it can simultaneously destroy one’s life and act as a weapon of destruction. Oedipus Rex, a greek tragedy written by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, follows the story of Oedipus, King of Thebes, who upon hearing about the death of his predecessor, Laios, begins a search to discover the murderer, which ultimately leads to his downfall. In the play Oedipus Rex, Sophocles uses a justice motif to prove that some truths are better left unknown as it do not always lead to happiness.

The Ancient Greeks had a precise definition of what they believe makes a perfect ruler. According to the Greeks, the ideal Athenian ruler has five main characteristics. The ruler should takes care of his/her people like a parent cares for a child. The ruler respects the elderly. The ruler suffers or fights along with his people in a time of crisis.

At the end of Act 2, Oedipus starts to uncover the truth about where he came from with the help from the messenger. As the suspense grows to know what will happen after Oedipus comes out of the palace. As the scene closes and Act 3 starts, a messenger came from within the palace to tell the chorus what he saw.

“All worthy work is open to interpretations the author did not intend. Art isn't your pet -- it's your kid. It grows up and talks back to you.”

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.

Many characters in stories can be "blinded” by the truth. The answer to their questions may have been clear to us, the audience, but not to the characters themselves. Most of the characters in the Greek play, Oedipus the King were "blind" to the truth, such as Jocasta, Creon, and Oedipus.

In Siddhartha, Siddhartha himself states that, " any truth can only be expressed and put into words when it is one-sided."(Hesse, 129). meaning that truth can only be found on your side, because the truth could be interpreted multiple different ways depending on your perspective. That point is further enforced within Zen, as Phaedrus ponders existence. " But no one is willing to give up the truth as he sees it,..."(Pirsig, 74). As for Oedipus, there is no exact quote available to support the ideas of truth and meaning, however the development of his learning throughout the story, and the moral of the story to be learned provide the evidence to support the existence of truth and meaning within the story. Oedipus learns what he desires to know about Thebes and why it was crumbling only by discovering his own history. And through that he learned why they must endure the trials and tribulations that were brought about by the gods. So while these characters developed how to come up with the truth, they still did not know how to apply it, which leads to the battle between knowledge and wisdom.

Sophocles indicates that the instinct to know ourselves makes up our decisions. A powerful man worries about what he does not know. Making it a struggle to break away from the unawareness of the situation. In the play Oedipus deals with this as he states, “I will speak out now as a stranger to the story,/ a stranger to the crime./ If one of you knows who murdered Laius,/ I order him to reveal/ the whole truth to me(Sophocles 247-261).” He must get the truth to stop the plague in Thebes and to save himself. Actions inevitably bring to light his fate after he “awakens” to the destruction. The image of blindness in the play is brought up later. The blind prophet Tiresias described blindness as an inability to see the truth. The king can not see and does not even know himself but still wants the truth. Tiresias implies that Oedipus is, “blind to the corruption of your life,/to the house you live in, those you live with(471-474).” Tiresias proves he is blind to his fate full of disaster. Warning him about the corrupt details of his life. It is because Oedipus lack of the knowledge of his fate limits him. He created his own path through searching and comes to realize this. His never ending search for truth is his destruction. Jocasta realizes this saying, “You’re doomedㅡ/ may you never fathom who you are(1172-73)!” Oedipus own wife knows his fate but he's still unaware. His self-recognition ruins his life. It