Examples Of Blindness In King Oedipus

Effects of Physical Blindness
People can in fact be blinded to the truth, the solution to their problems may have been completely oblivious, yet somehow still oblivious. We often make assumptions between being blind and enlightened. With Blindness one may not have sight but another type of vision. In king Oedipus, Tiresias, the blind prophet, presents the truth to Oedipus and Jocasta. Oedipus has been blind his whole life, and when faced with the truth, lost his the truth is uncovered she still cannot accept it. Those who are truly blind ultimately have a higher vision.
Oedipus started his life with a prophecy that he would kill his father, and marry his mother. Oedipus had no idea that his real parents were Laius and Jocasta, and he was blind
Jocasta refused to accept the real truth causing her to kill herself. Jocasta’s blindness also played a role in her downfall, she couldn’t handle her blindness. “In God’s name stop, if you have any thought for your own life!” (Sophocles, 1060) This is Jocasta begging Oedipus to stop looking for the truth because she fears it may be true. As figurative blindness can be just as hard as physical. Jocasta’s denial of the truth shows her unfaithfulness to god. “Why should we fear, seeing that man is ruled by chance, and there is room for no clear forethought? No; live at random, live as best one can. (Sophocles, 976) Jocasta is questioning whether we should believe the prophecies and encourages Oedipus to live at random. Her realization of the truth shows that she cannot beat the prophecy either. When she hangs herself with bed sheets, it is symbolic of her despair over her incestuous actions. Interestingly, Jocasta plays both a spousal and maternal role to Oedipus. She loves Oedipus romantically, but like a parent, she wishes to protect Oedipus's innocence from the knowledge of their