Oedipus The King: Images Of Blindness :: Oedipus Rex, Sophocles

Oedipus the King has many images of sightlessness, both physical and blindness of the mind. The characters surrounding these images are Oedipus and Tiresias the illusionist. When the play begins Oedipus has vision and Tiresias cannot take in, but by the curio of the play, it is clear who can really see and who is blind.When Oedipus first encounters Tiresias, the blind prophet proceeds to tell Oedipus after much pressure that Oedipus is the one who has brought the salient plague down upon Thebes and that he is the murderer he has sent the residents of the city to find and cast away. Although Tiresias is visually impaired, he can still see the truth of the contingency. However, Oedipus is blind to the truth and immediately begins accusing Tiresias of being complex in a conspiracy with Creon to overthrow him as king. Oedipus casts insults at Tiresias round his blindness saying You hold up no strength, blind in your ears, your fountain and your eyes. (374-375). Tiresias respon ds by saying that the insults Oedipus has hurled get out before long come choke upon him. He also tells Oedipus that what has brought him greatness is the very luck that will razing him. Tiresias says Blind who could see, a beggar who was rich, through foreign lands hell go and point before him with a stick, (460) implying that although Oedipus can see now, the truth will eventually blind him and cause him to loose all he has.Oedipus carcass blind to the truth until he can deny it no longer. by and by hearing the testimony of the herdsman it is perfectly clear to Oedipus that he has effect the prophecy by killing his father and marrying his mother, in turn convey the great misfortune about the city of Thebes. Upon discovering this, along with discovering Jocastas at peace(predicate) body, Oedipus blinds himself with the pins on her dress and shouts that his eyes would no longer see the evils he had suffered or had done, see in the dark those he should not have seen.