Sight And Blindness In Sophocles Oedipus The King

As Thomas C. Foster stated in his book How To Read Literature Like a Professor, "...as soon as we notice blindness and sight as thematic components of a work, more and more related images and phrases emerge in the text." He notes that writers choose to blind their characters for more than the simple reason of putting emphasis on levels beyond the physical. The complexity of the character requires a shift in outlook of his or her actions, but also the action of others. In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles repeatedly uses the ideas of sight and blindness metaphorically to display the correlations of knowledge and ignorance. In the play, Oedipus could not see the truth, but the blind prophet, Teiresias, "saw" it clearly. Sophocles reveals there is more than what meets the eye through the motif of sight versus blindness and knowledge versus
Oedipus’ brother-in-law, Creon advises him that the curse on the land of Thebes will be lifted if the killer of the former king is prosecuted. Oedipus seeks Teiresias to reveal not only the truth of King Laius’s death, but also his identity; “I say that you [Oedipus] are Laius’ murder- He whom you seek” (Sophocles 14). The information given by Teiresias distresses Oedipus and he accuses Creon and him of conspiring of his life angrily. The utilization of irony in the two characters creates the connection of blindness and sight. The main character is ignorant and “blind” towards the actual blind prophet. In addition, Jocasta is skeptical of prophecy, but ironically followed a prophet when her son was born; “To Laius once There came an oracle… That so it should befall, that he should die By a son’s hands, who he should have by me” (Sophocles 26). Jocasta’s ignorance brought the tragedy to herself. Although Oedipus and Jocasta both have their sight, they did not possess “blindness” to see what occurs in the