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

Oedipus the King has many images of coverness, both somatogenetic and blindness of the mind. The characters surrounding these images are Oedipus and Tiresias the prophet. When the play begins Oedipus has vision and Tiresias cannot regulate, but by the end 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 nonpareil who has brought the great plague down upon Thebes and that he is the murderer he has direct the residents of the city to find and cast away. Although Tiresias is visually impaired, he can withal see the fair play of the contingency. However, Oedipus is blind to the truth and immediately begins accusing Tiresias of existence involved in a conspiracy with Creon to overthrow him as king. Oedipus casts insults at Tiresias about his blindness saying You have no strength, blind in your ears, your reason and your eyes. (374-375). Tiresias r esponds by saying that the insults Oedipus has hurled testament before long engender back upon him. He also tells Oedipus that what has brought him greatness is the very luck that will ruin 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 remains blind to the truth until he can deny it no longer. After hearing the testimony of the herdsman it is perfectly clear to Oedipus that he has fulfilled the prophecy by killing his father and marrying his mother, in vacate bringing the great misfortune about the city of Thebes. Upon discovering this, along with discovering Jocastas dead 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.