Introduction
The ancient times were highly appreciated because of their unique writing style and were valued for the vivid entertainment of the community. Also, plays are considered part and parcel of the community as they encourage unity and peace. On the other hand, authors applied literature to applause the excellent behavior of society and condemn society’s lousy presentation. Oedipus Rex is one such writing that dates back to 430 B.C. It plays a vital role during the special occasion of the tremendous Dionysian, a cultural festival occasionally held for the honor of Dionysus. Aristotle employs Oedipus Rex to expose various themes that relate directly or indirectly to the community. Aristotle uses critical elements of literature such as irony and the composition of fate and blindness as central themes to establish the sense of human belonging in society. Since ancient times, communities have believed in fortune as the power beyond human control. However, the belief in fate is seemingly leading a blind life. This paper discusses critical ways in which blindness is portrayed in Oedipus Rex with its significant symbolization in the playset. Besides, blindness is discussed in two dimensions to symbolize the different perceptions of people.
Artists employ varied literary elements in artwork to expound knowledge and ideas about the aspects of society. The most famous artists, such as Shakespeare and Sophocles artwork, blindness depicts the entire play. For instance, in Oedipus Rex, Sophocles deeply explores the concept of choice and free will (Primak) while also blindness as a major human flaw. The same scenario is depicted in Hamlet. Some people are physically blind not to observe their surroundings, while others might have physical sight but possess blindness towards truth and reality. Ironically, individuals with physical blindness can see the invisible things that the sighted individuals cannot perceive. In most cases, physical blindness is associated with prophecies because the characters with physical blindness are gifted with foresight that is beyond other human recognition.
The Depiction of Blindness
Blindness is a tragic and central theme in Oedipus Rex that Sophocles explores from two inclinations; the disability to identify truth and reality, physical blindness, and physical retardants in the ability of sight. Physical blindness is exposed in the play to depict individuals with visual pictures and conceiving from their surroundings. On the other hand, recognizing truth and reality comprises individuals with the gifted ability to see the future with the inner eye; hence their perception of invisible things is unfathomable. In Oedipus Rex, King Oedipus poses the sense of sight, and there he cannot see reality. Therefore, the beginning of the play depicts the King as someone who does not know the truth and goes on like this throughout the entire tragedy. Jocasta, as well, is blind to the truth because is unaware of the details of her previous husband’s demise and how it brought forth horrible consequences. Jocasta further chooses to be blind by asking Oedipus not to pursue the truth further once she realizes the answers may tear their lives apart.
The play does a good job of portraying characters who have physical sight but are blissfully unaware of the truth behind the prophecy that involves them. Teiresias is a prophet possessed with the gift to see the future though he is physically blind. He represents divine knowledge and the unconscious. Therefore, Teiresias can know the truth, unlike characters such as Oedipus and Jocasta. Truth and clarity are earned at the expense of sight. The ability to see material things comes at the cost of the truth and it is because of this that Oedipus blinds himself after realizing the truth about his origins. Therefore, physical sight and reality cannot coexist, and an individual can only have one of them (Innamorati). “Although Oedipus is blind, and thus in no way a typical sightseer, he attains inner vision, or metaphorical sight” (Reitzammer 12).
Reflection of the Play
The opening of the play dooms Oedipus with tragedy when the prophecy reveals that he will marry his mother after his father’s death. The Oracle asserts that a child born to Oedipus and Jocasta will overturn his father, Laius, and seduce his mother. Unfortunately, Jocasta and Laius are blind to the unavoidability of this wretched prophecy and seek to escape reality. The best solution to them is to kill their child in order to completely avoid any fulfilment of the prophecy. However, unbeknownst to them, Oedipus is rescued by a shepherd and is later adopted by Merope and Polybus.
When Oedipus is older and also gets word of the forecast directed at him, he leaves home to prevent it from coming to pass. He is blind to the fact the parents who raised him are not his biological parents and thus to him, distance between him and his foster parents is how he can prevent the prophecy.
Oedipus murders his biological father Laius when they meet on the road since he has no knowledge that who his real father is and therefore cannot recognize Laius. Oedipus progressed to become the King in Thebes by successfully answering the Sphinx’s riddle and setting Thebes free from its dreadful reign. While in his kingship, Oedipus unknowingly marries his mother, Jocasta. He later on finds out that he married his mother; hence fulfilling the prophecy both he and his parents tried to escape. Understandably, Oedipus finds it difficult to come to terms with the revelation. He escapes from physically seeing the consequences of his actions by taking away his own eyesight. He believes that there is nothing left for him to see in the world. His blindness also diminishes his hubris and humbles him as he seeks penance. He is now able to understand who he is (Aji Putra and Ari Widayanti).
Henceforth, as a brief synopsis of Oedipus Rex, it is evident that Oedipus and other characters in the play are blind in various ways. Firstly, the blindness of truth is portrayed by Oedipus when he cannot recognize that Merope and Polybus are not his birth parents. His adoptive parents are also blind to the consequence of not revealing the truth about their son’s origins. Oedipus stands firmly against reality when he is told that Laius and Jocasta are his birth parents. His blindness to truth denies him the ability to listen to people about his birth parents. Based on the symbolic representation of blindness in this play, Oedipus is depicted as blind to truth even after being presented with facts that explain his origins.
The Manifestation of Blindness
Sophocles expresses blindness in two contexts whereby he refers to the gift of perceiving material and spiritual forms. Since Teiresias has good sense of the invisible and is gifted with prophetic abilities, he defends the truth while boldly challenging Oedipus who is adamantly blind to it. King Oedipus is gifted to only see visible things but not the truth of the prophecy. Therefore, he is unable to see reality at the beginning of the play and is physically overwhelmed at the end.
Jocasta, on the other hand, seeks the truth, but when it is presented to her at last, she deliberately denies it. Jocasta and Oedipus are both hidden from this truth at first although they both possess physical sight while, Teiresias is physically blind but can see the invisible and, therefore, is enlightened with truth. In the text, a person cannot have both truth and sight, that is, whoever possesses the ability to see truth must sacrifice the ability to perceive by sight. Sophocles admits to this argument by highlighting the characterization of Oedipus, who opens up for the truth and realizes that indeed he is blind to reality. Therefore, there is no coexistence of visible and invisible sight. It seems that truth and the eyes of the flesh cannot coexist.
Oedipus is portrayed as a tragic victim that denies his state of blindness and is adamant in denying truth hence escaping from reality. He remains unaware even though a tragedy is cursed upon him. Oedipus’ sorrow begins when the full scope of the prophecy is shown long after the murder of his father. The forecast predicted that the son of Laius would cause the death of his father and end up marrying Jocasta. However, both Laius and Jocasta are blind to reality that a prophecy from the gods cannot be overturned by human actions. Therefore, they decide to hide from the truth orchestrating Oedipus’ death but he is pitied by the servant who is meant to kill him and his life is saved. He is then raised blindly without knowledge of his biological parents. The servant who saves Oedipus, him gives him to a shepherd and he is adopted by Polybus and Merope. Oedipus hears his prophecy and runs away, believing that his adoptive parents are his biological parents. Unfortunately, he meets his father on the street and immediately kills him. Oedipus later becomes King of Thebes.
Tragedy has befallen Thebes for a long time. The citizens of Thebes are blind to what has caused their suffering and call on their King to end their misery. Creon, who had been sent by Oedipus, arrives with word from the god Apollo that their suffering would end if they uncover Laius’ murderer and punish him. For this reason, Oedipus consults Teiresias, the blind prophet because he possesses the power to see future. Ironically, Teiresias criticizes Oedipus and tells him that he is the cause of all Thebes’ suffering. The King is accused of polluting the land, and therefore Oedipus portrays his blindness when he declines to accept the truth. He could not accept such a prophecy. Once he realizes and accepts the truth, he decides to violently blind himself. From this argument, it is evident that Oedipus is blind in various ways. For instance, he did not know that Polybus and Merope were not his biological parents wherein, his birth parents were Laius and Jocasta. He was so blind that he chose to see Teiresias’ revelations as an attempt to steal his throne in order to crown Creon as the new King. Oedipus could not accept such a prophecy. He hated it as ugly slander that made him look ridiculous. It is an incredible ignorance of the truth and in the end when he realizes the truth, he decides to go blind.
The physical blindness of Oedipus is fundamental in this drama. Dawe suggests that this action confirms Teiresias’ prediction that Oedipus would come as a visible person, but be blind to what is in front of him (Caldwell). Oedipus’ physical blindness restored his vision of truth. Metaphorical blindness prevented him from seeing his flaws. and Teiresias gave Oedipus time to reflect and understand the reality about what he had done and how he was living. Physical blindness causes Oedipus to compose himself and spend time reflecting on Laius’ death and his marriage to. He sees how he has cursed himself without knowing.
Furthermore, Jocasta’s death can also be seen as a form of blindness. Once she realizes the prophecy has been fulfilled, she dies by suicide. This can be seen as her blinding herself from the pain and shame she would have to deal with as a result of their incestuous union. She shields herself from the repercussions of it all and falls into eternal blindness. In death, she cannot see or make decisions. Just as Oedipus admits the truth and becomes blind, Jocasta admits the truth and dies.
The citizens of Thebes know Oedipus to be a wise man who saved them from their suffering and thus think that such a hero could not be guilty of the blind prophet’s accusations. Their respect for their King prevents them from acknowledging the words of a prophet they all consider wise beyond comprehension. They are not willing to believe that their current struggles could stem from the very same person who liberated them before.
Additionally, the servant who saved Oedipus’ life when he was a baby did not realize the domino effect his choice would have. His pity led to the destruction of a family’s safe reality. He could have thought that his actions were noble, but he was blind to the catastrophe he had unleashed by saving Oedipus. This shows how human beings are blind to the consequences of their actions until they are presented in front of them and they are willing to accept them.
Conclusion
In retrospect, the narrative of Oedipus Rex highlights the fundamental blindness of human nature. The author applies physical blindness to emphasize the normative blindness of sight, such as that of Teiresias and later on, Oedipus, who blinds himself as a way to atone for his flaws. His blindness enables him to let his other senses reign and thus gives him the ability to fully immerse himself in his anguish. “The protagonist’s blindness, perhaps surprisingly, will contribute to the construction of a dramatic world with a particularly immersive sensory surround. Damage to one of the senses can intensify one’s experiences of the others” (Haselswerdt 3).
As the audience, we too lack sight the world created by Sophocles. We rely on the characters’ voices to describe to us the details of their world since we are not a part of it. We are engaged in a mental process of understanding the nature of humanity’s blind spots (Haselswerdt). The author metaphorically indulges the reader in thinking further than physical blindness and encourages self-reflection. It is also important to note how we do not draw our gazes on the parental neglect Oedipus had to endure that was the beginning of all his suffering (Valerio). We instead focus on Oedipus as the main source of everyone’s suffering and we forget to acknowledge how his own parents fail him from the start. He is painted as the antagonist in the prophecy hence we are blind to the events that led him here.
Work Cited
Aji Putra, M. and M. Ari Widayanti. “Victory in Tragic Ending: Analysis of Sophocles’ “Oedipus The King”.” Rainbow : Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Culture Studie 8.1 (2019): 1-7.
Caldwell, Richard, S. “The Blindness of Oedipus.” International Review of Psycho-Analysis (2019): 207-218.
Haselswerdt, Ella. “Sound and the Sublime in Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus: The Limits of Representation.” American Journal of Philology 140.4 (2019): 613-642.
Innamorati, Marco. “Sophocles’ Diagnosis: Psychoanalysis and the Many Faces of Oedipus.” International Journal of Psychoanalysis and Education 12.1 (2020): 50-58. Web.
Primak, Shoshana. “The Importance of Oedipus: Infamous Complex or Existential Hero?” Undergraduate Review 15 (2020): 276-286.
Reitzammer, Laurialan. “Sightseeing at Colonus: Oedipus, Ismene,.” Classical Antiquity 37.1 (2018): 108-150.
Valerio, Paola. “Is Oedipus still blind? A countertransference take on love and hate in the consulting room.” European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counsellin (2019): 1-13.