What does sight and blindness represent in Oedipus Rex?
What does sight and blindness represent in Oedipus Rex?
Oedipus Rex is a play about the way we blind ourselves to painful truths that we can’t bear to see. Physical sight and blindness are used throughout the play, often ironically, as a metaphor for mental sight and blindness.
Who is blind at the end of Oedipus Rex?
But in Oedipus the King, Tiresias also serves an additional role—his blindness augments the dramatic irony that governs the play. Tiresias is blind but can see the truth; Oedipus has his sight but cannot. Oedipus claims that he longs to know the truth; Tiresias says that seeing the truth only brings one pain.
How is blindness used in Oedipus Rex?
Oedipus blinds himself as a symbol of self-realization and insight. It is an irony because he chooses to be physically blind after seeing everything he has done. He realizes that he was figuratively blind throughout the play, therefore he punishes himself by blinding himself.
What is the significance of Oedipus blindness?
Their simple question whether Oedipus was “blind from birth” is loaded with meaning. In fact, he was metaphorically blind to the truth of his birth for much of his life; when Oedipus finally learned the truth, he physically blinded himself by poking out his eyes with the long gold pins from his dead wife’s brooches.
What does Oedipus blinding himself symbolize?
blindness, or knowledge vs. ignorance. Oedipus cannot see the truth when he has his sight, and he blinds himself once he understands it. The crossroads represent fate, where Oedipus made the choice to unknowingly fulfill his prophecy and kill his father.
Why did Oedipus blind himself at the end of the play?
His determination to find a cure and the reasons behind it led to the shocking truth that he had, in fact, killed his own father and married his own mother. This truth led to the demise of his wife and mother and brought Oedipus to blind himself using two golden pins from Jocasta’s regal dress.
How is Oedipus blinded by the truth?
In fact, he was metaphorically blind to the truth of his birth for much of his life; when Oedipus finally learned the truth, he physically blinded himself by poking out his eyes with the long gold pins from his dead wife’s brooches.
What happens to Oedipus after he blinded himself?
They had four children: Eteocles, Polyneices, Antigone, and Ismene. Later, when the truth became known, Jocasta committed suicide, and Oedipus (according to another version), after blinding himself, went into exile, accompanied by Antigone and Ismene, leaving his brother-in-law Creon as regent.
In what ways is Oedipus blind?
While Teiresias is physically blind, Oedipus is blind in many ways. He is blind to the fact that Polybus and Merope are not his natural parents, Jocasta is both his wife and his mother, and the murderer he is searching for is he.
Why does Oedipus gouge his eyes out?
Did Oedipus lose his sight?
Why did Oedipus take his eyes out?
Oedipus blinds himself out of shame because he does not want to see what he has done. He now has a new spiritual sight and cannot stand the consequences of possessing it. This in addition to Jocaste’s suicide, presses him to blind himself.