Oedipus Put Out the Lights

Oedipus

Put out the lights

Sophocles' Oedipus Rex is the tragic story of a man search for justice which ends in his own condemnation and destruction. Through-out the telling, as through-out time, light is used as a metaphor (and an antecedent) of perception, and the assumption is made that what one perceives, one knows. Thus, sight stands in for knowledge. Yet mere perception is not the same as knowing the truth. Thus Oedipus, cannot see the truth stand before him and which his eyes light upon daily --he is symbolically blind. He depends overmuch on his physical sight, and in so doing ignores the spiritual sight which should allow him to see the truth beyond appearances. Only Tieresias, the blind prophet, can see the whole truth -- for in losing his physical sight he is made capable of "seeing" that which is invisible truth. In the end, Oedipus blinds himself, still falsely believing that physical vision can do the work of spiritual sight. As he himself discovers in the end, truth is not seen --or obscured-- with the eyes, but with the soul. The story of Oedipus Rex is the story of deep and compelling spiritual truth, and the way in which it inevitably makes itself known to those who seek it, whether or not they are ready. Throughout this story, light is used to seek out truth, but the difference between physical and spiritual vision is made clear, for this truth is one which is neither seen nor obscured with the physical eyes.

The use of lights as a metaphor for truth functions through-out the play. Phrases such as "I cannot fail To bring to light the secret of my birth" are scattered through-out the piece. In the majority of these cases, discovering truth is phrased as the process of bringing some hidden thing out into the light so that it may be seen and perceived clearly. Where one is seeking a truth which is hidden, one needs to either drag it out into the light or shine light upon it. For this reason, Oedipus is told to seek help which can "guide a searcher of this matter to the light." Understanding is very clearly associated with the ability to see a thing, and perception and knowledge are equated as one. Unless a thing has light cast upon it (whether that be physical light or the metaphorical light of knowledge), one cannot see it nor can one know it.

Oedipus makes the mistake of thinking that truth is something tangible, which can be seen with the physical eyes. Hence he says that in the case of Laius' death, "none has seen the man who saw him fall." He never stops to think that such a claim is impossible, for surely this murderer is not invisible! This very example proves that vision and knowledge are distinct, for many have seen the murderer in his life, surely, but none have known him for what he is. Yet Oedipus does not consider this, and he continues to equate knowledge with physical sight, as when he tells Tieresias that the prophet's blindness makes him ignorant, "thou hast no power O'er me or any man who sees the sun."

This work argues that spiritual vision does not see with the light of the sun but with the light of the God. Hence Oedipus is told that a blind man "sees eye-to-eye With our lord Phoebus [the solar diety]." The prophet mocks Oedipus for thinking that physical vision can possibly approximate spiritual vision, saying that though he himself is physically blind, Oedipus is by far more blind. "...thou hast eyes, Yet see'st not in what misery thou art fallen," Tieresias tells him.

Oedipus is warned through-out the story that he ought to discontinue his search. Those who have spiritual eyes to understand and to see what he will find in the end know that it is a thing which is better left unseen. Yet he insists on seeking to shine the light of knowledge upon it and bring it to attention. It is interesting to note that after Oedipus has finally brought his crimes out into the open, and it is known to all what has transpired, Creon orders that the physical evidence of what has passed be removed from public sight out of respect for the sun, saying "revere The Sun whose light beholds and nurtures all. Leave not thus nakedly for all to gaze at A horror neither earth nor rain from heaven Nor light will suffer..." Even when horrid truth is made explicitly clear, those with wisdom prefer that it remain obscured. Oedipus' greatest foolishness consists in attempting to take that which ought to reside in the darkness of spiritual (which is to say unconscious and emotional) knowledge and forcing it out into the light of conscious day. From the moment he brings to light the truth, the remainder of the play is spent in trying to restore the truth to darkness.

In a futile attempt to send this truth back into the darkness from which it came, Oedipus blinds himself. He cries to his own eyes "No more shall ye behold such sights of woe...Henceforward quenched in darkness shall ye see Those ye should ne'er have seen." Oedipus seems to believe that if he blinds himself now, physically, he will somehow be able to restore his ignorance of the evils he has brought out to knowledge and light. Yet in this moment, he makes the same mistake he has made through-out the play: he assumes that by affecting his physical vision he can somehow affect his spiritual knowledge. If anything, those who are blind more clearly "see" that which is spiritual, and no amount of physical blindness can erase a fact from the conscious mind once it has become implanted there. So, in the end, Oedipus fails once more to understand that nature of the world.