Sight/Sightlessness in Oedipus
What is sight? Is it understanding? Knowledge? Truth? Can the sighted be blind? Can a blind man see? When the truth becomes too terrible, does one choose not to see? In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, the characters of Tiresias and Oedipus form a complete contrast to one another. Tiresias, a blind man, can "see" the truth about Oedipus, yet Oedipus, in all of his physical perfection, cannot. Although Tiresias is physically blind, he sees the truth from the beginning, while Oedipus, who has physical eyesight, is blind to his fate. However, in the end, Oedipus blinds himself when he learns the truth and finally sees. Both the characters of Tiresias and Oedipus prove that seeing the truth does not require sight. Although, Tiresias, a seer, is physically blind, he is clairvoyant and sees more truth than the sighted. Tiresias is "A blind man, who has his sight now." It is ironic that the only insight Oedipus has into the gods' will is through a blind man. He cannot see the workings of the world. However, his contact with the gods gives him more knowledge and truth than any of the sighted can observe. Oedipus demands that Tiresias tell him the information sent from the gods, but Tiresias refuses, knowing that the mention of such word
Tiresias retorted, "I'm blind, you say; you mock at that! I say you see and still are blind-appallingly. Tiresias says to him, "Ask yourself where you are from?" His entire life has been a lie and yet he is too blind to see the truth. As an attempt to humble himself, Oedipus decides to gouge out his eyes, which have been blind to the truth for so long. " If only Oedipus were not so ignorant as to demand such information, he himself would benefit. Referring to Oedipus, Tiresias states, "Blind who now has eyes, beggar who now is rich, he will grope his way toward a foreign soil, a stick tapping before him step by step. However, once Oedipus gains the knowledge of his past, his world will come tumbling down. With a scream, Oedipus calls out, "You, you'll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen, blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind from this hour on! Blind in the darkness-blind!" Oedipus blinding himself was the only thing left to do. "O god-all come true, all burst to light! O light-now let me look my last on you! I stand revealed at last-cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage!, cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands!" That light, which represented all truth and knowledge, must be destroyed. He does not know whose house he lives or who his parents are. It isn't until he sees reality that his world begins to crumble. The well-known phrase, "Ignorance is bliss", fully pertains to the life of Oedipus. Tiresias states, "Oh, what anguish to be wise where wisdom is a loss!" The knowledge of the retained information is disadvantageous to so many people and yet Oedipus still demands to know.
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