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Oedipus Rex
Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex is the third play in a trilogy telling the extended story of a Greek ruling family. The ability to see things as they really are is a recurring issue for Oedipus, who eventually becomes King. To emphasize Oedipus' ability to see things only as he wanted to see them, Sophocles used the metaphor of vision vs. blindness throughout the play.
Interpreting the concept of vision literally, those who can see have eyes that function properly and a brain that can accurately interpret the information the person's eyes send to it. People can have a "vision of the future" in the form of either personal goals or grander plans, such as world peace. Likewise, a person can be literally blind, unable to physically see. Blindness can also mean something more psychological, such as in the saying "love is blind," meaning that when we are in love we may tune out serious flaws in the person...
For instance, the soothsayer, who has the ability to see into the future, is physically blind. However, he sees the future clearly when he predicts that Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother. In spite of making real efforts to avoid such a fate, the prediction comes true. Both Oedipus and his wife/mother demonstrate selective blindness even as the audience can see very clearly that the prediction has come true. It could be argued, however, that Jocasta shows more of this self-protecting blindness than Oedipus, because she knows exactly what happened to the son she had given birth to after the terrible prediction was made. Trying to explain away any possible that Oedipus is that child, she says,
"As to the child - his growth had not extended to the third day When we yoked the joints…
Oedipus' act of blinding himself could be seen as an attempt to return to the time when he did not know that the oracle's prediction had come true, but he cannot deny the truth. Neither can Jocasta. Her suicide means that she will no longer have to see what has become of her life.
Source:
Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Translation by D.W. Myatt. Accessed via the Internet 5/27/05.
Ismene would later be pardoned, but Antigone's decision to include her sister in the plot denotes further criminality on Antigone's part. In any case, the crime that Antigone commits is relatively minor: she is not harming anyone and is actually following the law of custom, tradition, and religion, a law which Antigone places before any law of the mundane world. Ironically, her suicide can be interpreted as a further violation
And had Oedipus remained with the parents who raised him, the prophecy would also have been unlikely to come about. On the other hand, one might also argue that Sophocles appears to indicate that, no matter what decisions were made, free will would never have been part of it. Indeed, destiny and prophecy are so overwhelmingly strong that whatever decisions were made would have led to the final and inevitable
Oedipus is one of the most famous names in Greek mythology. His name has become both a psychological complex as well as a familiar joke. His story has come to be a synonym as well for the capriciousness of fate. But a truer picture of the character of Oedipus suggests that, rather than being an unwitting victim, Oedipus a clear hand in his own demise. Despite its reputation, Sophocles' play
Oedipus's Tragic Flaws Oedipus Rex is the classic story of Oedipus, King of Thebes, a tragic hero whose fate was in the hands of supernatural forces and who was doomed to murder his father and marry his mother. In the play, Oedipus has many characteristics that allow him to be labeled a tragic hero. The philosopher Aristotle states that a tragic hero is an influential person that because of an error
Oedipus as Tragic Hero In most dramatic plays, tragedy usually strikes the protagonist of the play and leads him, or her, to experience devastating losses. While tragic instances can be avoided, there are other instances where one's fate and future is out of the protagonist's control. In Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles and first performed around 249 BC, Oedipus cannot escape his destiny and even though he tries to overcome
However, the play goes even further than these hints in demonstrating the irrelevance of any supernatural force to the story's action when Tiresias mocks Oedipus for suggesting that the blind seer is the source of the plague (Sophocles 27). When Oedipus accuses Tiresias of a being "a conspirator" to Laius' murder due to his reluctance to tell what he knows, Tiresias responds by asking "Sooth sayest thou?" (Sophocles 26-27). While