Oedipus the King Blindness Essay

The Tragic Hero Oedipus The King, a play written by Sophocles, features Oedipus, a tragic hero incorporated in a tragic play. Oedipus, biological son of the king and queen of Thebes, is unknowingly adopted and raised by King Polybus and Queen Merope after his biological parents decide to abandon him due to a curse lashed upon the city of Thebes long ago. Nonetheless, Oedipus, like all other tragic heroes, is raised in nobility and lives in prosperous circumstances. However, it is not only his

Strain P4 3/2/2015 Oedipus the King Paradox Paper Some people can be ‘blind’ to the truth, yet others can actually have no sight and still ‘see’ the truths of the world. In the play, Oedipus the King, Sophocles gives us a taste of this paradox. A paradox is a statement that seems logically contradictory, but upon interpretation actually makes good sense. The paradox of sight in blindness and blindness in sight used in Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King” makes logical sense in that Oedipus is blind to the

The life of Oedipus In the play Oedipus The King written by Sophocles, it is the blind man who can see the truth of Oedipus and Jocasta’s relationship and it is those that see, Oedipus and Jocasta, who are blind to the truth. When Oedipus finally sees the truth of his actions, he blinds himself in horror. The irony here is that only the blind see things clearly, while the seeing blind themselves to the reality in front of them. While believing himself to be living

Images of Light and Dark in Oedipus the king Blindness and sight can be interpreted in many different ways such as the light and darkness representation of the characters ability to see beyond the surface of things and truly understand them. For Oedipus in Oedipus the king his blindness is in his actions, and his sight was in darkness. How and why blindness in actions but not in his fate? Even choragus knows Oedipus fulfills his own fate “your fate is clear, you are not blind to that” (Exodos line

granted by Oedipus. While he has literal sight Oedipus lacks the enlightenment of metaphorical sight; when he blinds himself Oedipus gains the painful yet real sight of the truth. Having blindness or sight is wholly dependent on what it is wanting to be seen. In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King the contrasting yet connected motif of blindness and sight reveals the universal theme of enlightenment leading to pain. The irony of having sight is that, in Oedipus’s case, it required blindness. One must not

September 2014 Oedipus the King In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, disastrous situational irony, visual verbal irony, and poignantly repetitive dramatic irony play the most important stylistic roles. Through the use of tragic motifs such as sight and blindness along with light and darkness, Sophocles conveys that even though arrogance and fate can turn a hero into a tragedy, decision making helps reveal leadership and a true inner self. Sophocles utilizes a dramatic motif, sight and blindness, throughout

In the tragedy Oedipus Rex written by Sophocles, King Oedipus was destined to a tragic fate. He was prophesied to kill his father, King Laius and marry his mother, Jocasta. Throughout the story, many symbols reveal hidden meanings related to the ignorance Oedipus displays towards his fate. Sophocles uses Oedipus Rex to convey that ignorance cannot alter fate. The symbols of light versus dark and sight versus blindness help to reinforce this theme. Throughout the story, Oedipus’s ignorance entwines

In the tragedy of Oedipus Rex told by Sophocles a man is forced to make choices that will greatly affect him and others around him. He tries to prove a prophecy wrong and in the process loses his family and sight. And at the end Oedipus is banished from Thebes and forced to wander the lands a blind, and marked man. Reason #1 In the beginning of the play oedipus is trying to find a murderer of the former king. The people went to him for help when an oracle told the only way to end the plague was

characters in the Greek play, Oedipus the King were "blind" to the truth, such as Jocasta, Creon, and Oedipus. In many stories of the theme of a tragic hero, it is said that even when exposed to the truth, certain characters still cannot accept what is presented to them, disregarding the obviousness of the facts. Oedipus is a most definitely perfect example of this. His "blindness” played throughout the whole Greek play and that he was "blind" in several ways. Oedipus was "blind" to the truth about

dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity,” said Martin Luther King, Jr, epitomizing that ignorance is the most fatal flaw any person could have. Similarly to this quote, the tragedy of Oedipus the King by Greek playwright Sophocles explains the troubling effects of ignorance as Oedipus, the king, is shown to be truly ignorant to the identity of the murderer inside his kingdom: himself. Oedipus undergoes a path of wisdom through his ignorance, which is shown to redeem his tragic