... of Tiresias and Oedipus, and to a lesser extent, Jocasta. Tiresias, the blind seer, most clearly illustrates the paradoxical relationship between blindness and sight in the play. As a blind prophet, Tiresias is asked by Oedipus, the king of Thebes, to announce the murderer ... birth father, Laius, and he himself is also the cause of the plague in Thebes. Furthermore, Oedipus also shows an inverse relationship between blindness and sight. Oedipus's dangerous pride and willful blindess justifies his downfall. When first acknowledged about the plague, Oedipus believed that he could handle ...

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... that the prophecy has come true. She knew of the prophecy, but thought that Oedipus was dead. Jocasta had no idea that she had married her son. She receives sign after sign, but chooses to remain blind to the truth and ultimately this seals her fate as well. When she finally does open ... her eyes to the truth, she goes to her room and hangs herself. She does this, not only because she has slept with her own son, but because she realizes the blind way in which she and Laius handled the Oracle's prophecy. They just assumed that Oedipus was dead without seeing it with ... that he is to b...

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• Grade Level: High School

... touch me you pious fraud." (p. 999). Ironically it is Tiresias, the blind prophet, who sees the truth. Oedipus makes no distinction between physical blindness and ignorance. Thus the misguided Oedipus implies that he knows the truth and Tiresias does not, revealing the irony of his statement. Later on in ... joy What love, what call of heart can touch my ears with joy? Nothing, friends." (p. 1024). This passage shows Oedipus relating physical blindness with ignorance, as he removes his eyes in hopes of removing the knowledge of the terrible deeds he has committed. One final episodia in w...

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Certainly blindness and sight" illuminate metaphors throughout Sophocles' masterpiece work Oedipus Rex. Ironically, the blind prophet Teiresias becomes such an exasperation to Oedipus, "I did not know you were about to speak folly; ... for the gods and for anything that attempts to usurp Oedipus' own authority. Teiresias illustrates Oedipus' dire straits because of self-reliance perfectly but still delivers the "truth " of Oedipus' blindness perfectly "No, your doom is not to fall by me. Apollo is enough; his care it is to work that out. " Though many metaphors of ... blindness perceived as...

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... our grace, our love, our benison." (Act I, Sc I, Ln 265-267) Kent, one of Lear's loyal followers was also banished because of Lear's blindness. Kent was able to see Cordelia's true love for her father, and tried to protect her from her blind father's irrational behavior. After Kent was banished, ... see the goodness of Edgar and the evil in Edmund. Although Edgar was the good and loving son, Gloucester all but disowned him. He wanted to kill the son the later would save his life. Gloucester's blindness began when Edmund convinced him by the means of a forged letter that Edgar was plotti...

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... cursing up and down, the murderer of Laius-he is here. A stranger, you may think, who lives among you, he soon will be revealed a native Theban but he will take no joy in revelation. Blind who now has eyes, beggar who now is rich, he will grope his way toward a foreign ... Before we know for sure Oedipus displays insensitivity to killing his father but blocks it from his thoughts never contemplating the harm his in this moral blindness. It occurs to Oedipus that he once killed a man at a crossroad when Jocasta, Oedipus's wife, reveals to him her late husband Laius was ... all have an und...

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... of the play Oedipus Rex, the protagonist Oedipus is rational, mature, admired and independent of others. "Oedipus, famous among all men," he himself quotes. He has the power to curse the unknown criminal and therefore he is nearly divine. He is sure of his strength and foresight, seen through ... oracle, for fear that he will one day kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus' biological parents, King Laius and Queen Jocasta, sent their son away to be killed. After the estranged shepherd did not fulfill his duty, he proceeded to tell King Laius and wife that he had murdered the young ...

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... , king, this man, this murderer-he is here. In name he is a stranger among citizens but soon he will be shown to be a citizen true native Theban, and he'll have no joy of the discovery: blindness for sight and beggary for riches his exchange, he shall go journeying to a foreign country tapping his way befor him with a stick. He shall be ... proved father and brother both to his own children in his house: to her that gave him birth, a son and husband both: a fellow sower in his father ... it told him that it was fate that he should die a victim at the hands of his own son."œ (41). This ...

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... soothsayer warns the King that the gods disagree with his decision to defile the body of Oedipus's son. Offended by Creon's pride and by his refusal to bury Polynices, the gods threaten to take the life of Creon's son. Tiresias' prophetic warning is met with anger and rejection, and he is sent away. Nonetheless ... of this person will cure the city. The play unfolds as a murder mystery as Oedipus sets out to find the killer of Laius. Sight and blindness is a motif throughout the plays, and plays a crucial role in the dramatic irony of Oedipus the King. Tiresisas the blind prophet is summ...

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The images of light and darkness, sight and blindness, and knowledge and ignorance are present in the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Throughout the play these contrasting images are always at the center ... die. The death of a newborn is an image of darkness. Another set of contrasting images that are found in the play are the images of sight and blindness. In the beginning Oedipus has perfect physical vision. On the other hand the prophet Teiresias is physically blind. After Oedipus learns the truth about himself he physically blinds ... and Oedipus foster parents. Jocasta, Oedipus...

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... the Gods. Oedipus the King through different key characters demonstrates how blind humans are compared to the Gods. Laius found out from the oracle that his son's fate was to kill his own father. After hearing the inevitable truth, he immediately tried to alter it. But humans, unlike the Gods, cannot ... had a soft heart. Even more, Laius "accidentally" bumped into Oedipus where the three roads meet. Only the Gods knew what really happened that dayoLaius's son slaying his own father. Both Laius and Oedipus were so blind. Jocasta who was Laius's wife and Oedipus's mother was also really ...

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... Oedipus blames Apollo for his two shameful crimes that caused his sufferings. On the other hand, he admits that the gods had nothing to do with his blindness, and that he's responsible for that. Also, in the previous quote, Oedipus tries to diminish his shame by convincing his people that it is not ... mother. "I would never have become my father's killer, never have been known to all men as my own mother's husband. Now I am godforsaken, the son of an accursed marriage, my own father's successor in the marriage bed. If there is any evil worse than the worst that a man can suffer " ... th...

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... Oedipus blames Apollo for his two shameful crimes that caused his sufferings. On the other hand, he admits that the gods had nothing to do with his blindness, and that he's responsible for that. Also, in the previous quote, Oedipus tries to diminish his shame by convincing his people that it is not ... mother. "I would never have become my father's killer, never have been known to all men as my own mother's husband. Now I am godforsaken, the son of an accursed marriage, my own father's successor in the marriage bed. If there is any evil worse than the worst that a man can suffer " ... th...

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... grew deeper turning the blind eye to this old mans words. As Oedipus was telling the blind wizard to leave, Teiresias also said: "Listen to me, you mock my blindness, do you? But i say that you, with both your eyes, are blind: You can not see the wretchedness of your life, nor in whose house you live, no, nor with ... apart from being financially free, Linda is free from being dominated by Willy. Willy is stuck in a dream, his wife is concerned financially. The oldest son Biff, is disappointed in his father, whereas the youngest son Happy, is satisfied. It is ironic that Willy is a fail...

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... is between ignorance and truth. Oedipus is unable to see the truth because of his ignorance, therefore, his two main characteristics, being pride and blindness, ultimately lead to his downfall. Pride is a sense of one's own proper dignity or value. Oedipus is very well spoken. His words ... line 286) Tieresias" character is the symbol of truth in the play. Oedipus greets him with praise. Right away he makes a reference to Teiresias" blindness. "Blind though you are, you know the city lies sick with plague-(C&S Oedipus Scene 1, lines 290-291) This is an ironic statement because although ...

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... the truth about his past and himself, discovering that he was blind. Then Oedipus punishes himself harshly by making himself physically blind. It is Oedipus's unfortunate blindness, which is his tragic flaw. He is intellectually blind as well as physically blind. He is blind of the truth of himself and his past. In the ... of cowardice because he did not want to accept the situation by the way he saw it and decided not to see it at all. Oedipus's mental "blindness" was brought upon him by his fate by Apollo. "It was Apollo there, Apollo, friends, who brought my sorrows, vile sorrows to ...

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... darkness represents his inability to see the truth about his life. Oedipus Rex is a play full of paradox. The imagery of sightedness and blindness highlight the contrasts between the characters. Tiresias, a prophet, who can see the future and knows what will happen to Oedipus, is physically ... blind. During the exchange between Tiresias and Oedipus near the beginning of the play, constant reference is made to Oedipus" sight and Tiresias" blindness. The irony here lies in the fact that Tiresias" sight is far greater than Oedipus"; despite his physical handicap, Tiresias can see the trut...

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... downfall of the hero Oedipus in the play ""King Oedipus-- by Sophocles. Not only does the blindness appear physically, but also egotistically as he refuses to acknowledge the possibility of him actually being the murderer of Laius, the former King of Thebes. ... especially if he is the one to be accused of a crime he ""knows-- he didn''t commit. In response Teiresias argues, ""You are please to mock my blindness. Have you eyes, and do not see your own damnation? Eyes and cannot see what company you keep.""- This is a pivotal component to the irony behind the idea ... of blindness throu...

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... to escape fate, and his own denial, Oedipus embarks on a quest to find the true killer of the king, his father. The first demonstration of Oedipus' blindness to the truth comes when he denounces the murderer of the king. The murder in reality himself, Oedipus condemns himself. "If with my knowledge he lives at my ... this for me, for the God, and for this land of ours destroyed and blighted, by the God forsaken." (Sophocles, line 250). This shows Oedipus' blindness in the sense of in his inability to see the truth. He has not yet discovered that he killed the king, thus he is blind to th...

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... The King, many characters are distracted by the physical world, which causes them to be blinded by the most obvious of truths. In Oedipus The King, Sophocles uses blindness as a motif. Oedipus, the main character, could not see the truth. Teiresias, the blind seer, "saw" it plainly. Jocasta, Oedipus" wife and mother, ... to truth of Oedipus" identity. In addition, Laius, Oedipus father, was blind to think that he could cheat destiny with simply mortal actions. The blindness in Oedipus The King is an effective contrasting technique used by Sophocles to influence the actions of many of the ...

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... to figure it out because he had spend so much time trying to deny the truth about things. The use of motifs such as light versus dark and sight versus blindness show that those who can truly see are blind while teaching the moral lesson that ones fate cannot be avoided. In the modern time period, people say things like I see ... suffering than he would if he were to die. This relates back to Tiresiass statement which said the truth will cause Oedipus pain. Similarly to the motifs of sight and blindness, light also represents knowledge and understanding of the truth. When first realizing...

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... be seen. Sophocles uses Tiresias as a major vehicle in establishing this theme. Tiresias" physical blindness is used to accentuate Oedipus" blindness to the truth of his past, and present. Tiresias is a prophet of Apollo and can see the corruption of Oedipus" life despite the fact that he is blind and therefore ... ...

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... : The Human Experience ; Edited by Richard Abcacian, Marvin Klotz with Peter Richardson, St. Martins Press Inc. NY. 1998, one of the themes is blindness. Not just fisical but emotional and even intelectual in some ways. The issue of blindness in the story could be interpreted in different ways, depending on the situations that present themselfs during the development of the plot. For ... only needs to chose for ones self and believ. But even if life is already planed one must try their hardest to handle whatever comes their way. For Teresias physical blindness could have been fate but h...

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Blindness, Even With Sight The tragic play Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, is filled with dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is when the audience has knowledge about the main character in the play ... of his tragic end, even though many signs, clues, and blunt statements were made throughout the play. One such example of a dramatic irony in the play is the theme of blindness. When Oedipus persists in finding who is the murderer of the previous king, Laios, Oedipus is blind to fact that he is actually the killer which caused the plaque in ... the tragedy that has already occurred and they cringe abou...

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... and are able to think out a better solution, or better yet, learn to just accept the outcome. Oedipus eventually learns everything about his darkened past and proceeds to inflict self-blindness by stabbing his own eyes. This is a very telling part of the story as it again mirrors human instinct - to turn a blind eye to the truth. In the midst of ... is driving him to inflict this pain on himself so that he will not have to face others. He is turning from one blindness (his refusal to accept his fate by attempting to control the situation), to another blindness (his refusal to face other...

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• Grade Level: High School