Preview

Theme Of Blindness In Oedipus The King

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
333 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Theme Of Blindness In Oedipus The King
In the play, Oedipus the King and book, HTRLLAP, both resources share the same ideas and thoughts because of the clear denial there is between the king and the profit which lead to further acknowledgment of the truth.
In He's Blind for a Reason, you know, it's known that physical blindness isn't just about sight, but it's concerning the mind, honesty, and intellectuality. Using this, an example is the neglect of Oedipus murdering his own father, possibly to avoid any negative impulse towards him from the people of Thebes. His mind can think he wasn't responsible for his actions but his heart knows it could be him. He's also showing intelligence in backing up the arguments he has with Teiresias showing who's in charge, for example in line
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Oedipus Rex Critical Lens Essay
    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Oedipus Rex Critical Lens Essay

    The ability to see is a much more complex ability than just the physical attribute. Most individuals have the ability to see physically but are blind to the reality of certain circumstances. In the play, “Oedipus the King” by Plato, Oedipus, the tragic hero, is not a blind man but cannot see the reality in the outcome of trying to escape his given fate.…

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Figurative Blindness In Sophocles Oedipus The King
    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Figurative Blindness In Sophocles Oedipus The King

    Every human is susceptible to flaws, including myself. In literary works, the flaws and figurative blindness of the protagonist creates conflict within the plot. As in Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, I have been figuratively blinded by an aspect of my personality. My anger towards a family member has caused me to fail to the reality that they are still present in the lives of my other relatives. When I was a young child, circumstances occurred that left many of my family members not speaking to my uncle. While there are a select few who continue to maintain a relationship with him, I was raised to not interact with him. Even though there was no harm personally inflicted upon me, my hatred toward him has left me blinded. Similarly to…

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Blindness In Oedipus Rex
    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Blindness In Oedipus Rex

    In literature, blindness has come to be associated with insight and highly sensitive perception. While Oedipus gains awareness to the truth, no longer blind to his past, before blinding himself, he gains a more spiritual sight after blinding himself. Amidst the terror that strikes in the last few scenes of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is finally able to take control of his fate by stabbing brooches in his eyes and therefore is able to master the goal of deciding his destiny he had been trying to achieve in his life. It’s this blindness that allows him to live spiritually uplifted and no longer concern…

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How To Read Literature Like A Professor Thomas Foster Summary
    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How To Read Literature Like A Professor Thomas Foster Summary

    One of the main points Foster talks about is sacrifice. Sacrifice means blinding himself or herself for a higher purpose. Characters, when blind, can see the reality behind their wrongdoing, gain infinite knowledge of the world, or even gain special abilities. Characters can also have their other senses enhanced not being able to see. In Sophocles’s play, Oedipus Rex, a blind, theban, seer named Tiresias knows the painful truth in king Oedipus’s life. In a moment of anger, Tiresias blurts out those hurtful details. Oedipus remains blind to the fact that his children are his siblings, his wife-mother was driven to suicide, and he has a curse on himself and his family. Many years after, Oedipus blinded himself to gain peace at mind and…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Universal Character Traits In Sophocles 'Oedipus The King'
    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Universal Character Traits In Sophocles 'Oedipus The King'

    Ironically, it is his intelligence that causes him to (literally) blind himself. Oedipus is a…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Does Oedipus Cause His Own Downfall
    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages

    How Does Oedipus Cause His Own Downfall

    Teiresias says “But I say that you, with both your eyes, are blind” to Oedipus that even though he has sight, he is blinded by the truth of his life and Teiresias has sight of Oedipus life through his blind eyes. Teiresias can see the “wretchedness” of Oedipus’ life even though he is completely blind physically. Similarly, the fate and his blindness of Oedipus come true at his breakdown. Oedipus’ blindness of not knowing the truth about his life causes his fate to come true at his breakdown. Teiresias, who is physically blind uses his mental vision to see the truth and fate of Oedipus. Oedipus is not using his mental vision to seek the truth of his life and when he does seek the truth he blinds himself physically to not endure the pain of fate. Oedipus states this while he blinds himself with his wife’s…

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Does Oedipus Show Blindness
    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How Does Oedipus Show Blindness

    Oedipus’s is so blind that he doesn't see clearly till the end when it's all laid out to him.…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus The King Research Paper
    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Oedipus The King Research Paper

    Oedipus lived his life in blindness. His eyes may have been capable of seeing, but he lived in a state of blindness until he came to the harsh realization that he murdered his father, Laios, married his mother, Jokasta, and ultimately caused the plague that threatened the lives…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus The King: A Tragic Analysis
    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Oedipus The King: A Tragic Analysis

    A tragic hero is defined as “a [great] man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake” (“Aristotle”, n.d.). Therefore, a tragic hero has some sort of tragedy that surrounds their life. A tragic hero also makes dramas more interesting and makes readers think. Dramas sometimes either exemplify or refute Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. Oedipus by Sophocles exemplifies Aristotle’s definition in four different aspects. The first aspect involves both Oedipus’ ignorance and knowledge of his life situations, the second involves his hamartia, the third involves the actual plot itself, and the fourth involves the characterization of…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Tragedy In Oedipus The King
    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Tragedy In Oedipus The King

    Sophocles portrays Oedipus as a standard man with a desire for knowledge. As Oedipus quests for truth the audience sees himself/herself as Oedipus; the relationship sets up for the catharsis soon to come. After ascending…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Truth In Oedipus The King
    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Truth In Oedipus The King

    Once the truth is uncovered that Oedipus is in fact the murder of his father and married to his mother, his mother kills herself. In seeing this, Oedipus makes the decision to blind himself physically in order to not have to see the results of his sins. "A brothers hands which turned your father's eyes, those bright eyes you knew once, to what you see, a father seeing nothing, knowing nothing, be getting you from his our source of life" (1670- 16730). Oedipus' words are to his daughters once he has blinded himself and wished to be banished. Oedipus himself points out that in fact he is their brother and father. Also that in that realization he blinded himself with his hands in order to "see nothing" and "know nothing". In having the metaphoric blindness removed from Oedipus in him knowing the truth, he physically takes it upon himself to put the blindness back by stabbing his eyes. Oedipus believes that if he is incapable of seeing anything, then in fact that truth which he knows to be true does not exist. The idea that the truth is too overwhelming for him to handle, "to this guilt I bore witness against myself with what eyes shall I look upon my people" (1560). Therefore, not having eyes makes it impossible for him to witness the reactions of the people he governs, once they know the truth. Keeping himself ignorant not only to what he has done, but to…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Self-Binding In Oedipus The King
    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Self-Binding In Oedipus The King

    Originally, this is introduced in the conversation with Tiresias where Oedipus, having no idea that he is the center of all this disarray, believes that he is just a king that simply wants to avenge the previous king. Tiresias begins by refusing to “reveal my dreadful secrets, or rather, yours” (21) and goes on to the point of depleting the patience of Oedipus. This leads to Oedipus beginning to suspect whether or not his life was a complete lie. In the beginning, Oedipus claims that he is the one who can see while all others are blind. However, after one defining moment, it dawns on Oedipus that he himself was blind the entire time and that he is not who he thinks he is. Wanting to free himself from this blindness, Oedipus searches only to find the horrifying truth - the prophecy already occurred. In shock, Oedipus reveals to all that he was “born in shame, married in shame, and an unnatural murderer.” (89). Realizing that everything actually revolved around him, he exiles himself in “honor” of the curse he put up on the murderer saying to Creon to “take me away from here at once” (107). If Oedipus was not genuine, then he could have easily disregarded the curse he put up and continued to rule as king. Instead, Oedipus lives up to his code and accepts his…

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus the King
    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Oedipus the King

    In this play, Oedipus the King, there are any references to eyes, sight, and the lacks thereof are made throughout Oedipus the King. There are parts where characters have limited physical sight, such as Teiresias's blindness, and there are also parts where their sight, in the form of perception, is limited. Most importantly, sight is used in the play as a symbol for knowledge, such as the how the oracles and the "seer" (16), Teiresias, can 'see' the truth. The play is about Oedipus's quest for knowledge and his attempts to avoid his fate. The underlying question of Oedipus the King is if one can escape their fate. Sophocles presents this question by using sight as a symbol for knowledge, and then leaves guidance for answering the question by showing that being sighted or blind can determine if one can control their fate.…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus the King Essay
    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Oedipus the King Essay

    Oedipus first shows the indirect side of blindness as to being oblivious. Oedipus shows this depiction of blindness through what he states when he talks to Jocasta about the possible misfortunate events in his life. Oedipus says, in an all-knowing tone, to Jocasta, “You have nothing to be afraid of. Even if my mother turns out to be a slave, and I a slave for three generations back, your noble birth will not be called in question.” Even though Oedipus truly believes that he knows everything, even more than the gods and the oracles, he really is in a state of total oblivion regarding whether or not Jocasta is his real mom. Oedipus’ oblivion leads to an abrupt realization that sends his world spiraling.…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sight and Blindness in Oedipus Rex
    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Sight and Blindness in Oedipus Rex

    In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, the themes of sight and blindness are developed in a way to communicate to the reader that it is not eyesight itself, but insight that holds the key to truth and, without it, no amount of knowledge can help uncover that truth. Some may define insight as the ability to intuitively know what is going to happen, or simply as the capacity to understand the true nature of a situation. Both definitions hold a significant role in the play, not only for more obvious characters such as Oedipus and Teiresias, but also for Iocaste, whose true character is rather questionable considering her reactions to the events of the play, however, one can only speculate. With these themes in mind, one can see how Sophocles portrays each character to suit these themes and communicate his own definition of the term "sight."…

    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More