VCCS Litonline Introduction to Literature English 112 (English Composition II)

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Oedipus the Wreck

Oedipus and Themes* [an inventory of passage on blindness symbolism--and a few surmises]

The story of Oedipus the King by Sophocles brings to light many themes, making it a truly great piece of literature. One theme that I could not help notice, due to its timely recurrences, was the idea of blindness. Over and over, the idea of being in darkness, being blind, seeing, etc. came up in key parts of the text.

First off, I will proceed to list every occurrence of the references to sight that I deem are important (sometimes being blind just means being blind!) as well as a bit of context. The passages with a "*" denote a message of extreme importance (in my opinion):

line 14: Oedipus speaking to the priests about him sensing trouble ahead; "I would be blind to misery,"

line 28-9: Priest responding to line 14; "Our city-look around you, see with your own eyes-our ship pitches wildly,"

line 70-1: Same subject as above; "I see-how could I fail to see what longings bring you here?"

line 119: Oedipus speaking of the killing of their former king; "I never saw the man myself."

line 150: Oedipus speaking of how he will try and solve the murder of their former king, Laius; "...I'll bring it all to light myself!"

line 216-7: Chorus pleading the gods for help; "O golden daughter of god, send rescue radiant as the kindness in your eyes!"

line 323: The leader of the chorus speaking of the blind prophet Tiresias; "Lord Tiresias sees with the eyes of Lord Apollo."

line 344-5: Oedipus speaking of Tiresias; "Blind as you are, you can feel all the more what sickness haunts our city."

*line 360: Tiresias speaking of the problems that the city wants solved; "How terrible-to see the truth when the truth is only pain to him who sees!"

line 425-7: Oedipus scolding Tiresias for accusing him of being the curse upon the town; "Blind, lost in the night, endless night that nursed you! You can't hurt me or anyone else who sees the light-you can never touch me."

line 441-2: Oedipus again, "going to town" on Tiresias; "...this fortune-teller peddling lies, eyes peeled for his own profit-seer blind in his craft!"

line 470-1: Tiresias "responding" to Oedipus's attacks; "You with your precious eyes, you're blind to the corruption of your life,"

line 477-9: Same as 470-1; "...their footfall treading you down in terror, darkness shrouding your eyes that now can see the light!"

*line 517-9: Same as previous two quotes, this time foreshadowing Oedipus's fate; "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."

line 552-3: The chorus is expressing concern over the fight which has just ensued between Oedipus and Tiresias; "...I'm lost, and the wings of dark foreboding beating-I cannot see what's come, what's still to come..."

line 567-70: Same as previous quote; "No, not till I see these charges proved will I side with his accusers. We saw him then, when the she-hawk swept against him, saw with our own eyes his skill, his brilliant triumph..."

line 672-3: Creon, after having been accused of killing Laius and treason, Creon defends himself; "A man of sense, someone who sees things clearly would never resort to treason."

line 822: Oedipus infers to his wife (and mother...) Jocasta that he may be cause of the trouble, prompting Jocasta to be afraid; "I shudder to look at you."

line 878-80: Oedipus is recalling past events in his life, how he was prophesized to be the downfall of his parents; "...always running toward some place where I would never see the shame of all those oracles come true."

line 919-20: Oedipus prays to the gods that he is not the victim of fate (that he will bring the downfall of his royal family); "Oh no, not that you pure and awesome gods, never let me see that day!"

*line 1070-1: Jocasta gives us her theory on man and wisdom; "Not a man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark."

line 1168-9: Oedipus wants the truth about his mysterious past; "I must know it all, must see the truth at last."

line 1190: Oedipus foreshadows his own fate; "I'll never see myself disgraced."

*line 1306-8: Oedipus finds out the truth that he 1) killed his father, Laius, the former king, and 2) he slept with his mother; "O god-all come true, all burst to light! O light-now let me look my last on you! I stand revealed at last-"

line 1315-7: The chorus sums up and philosophizes on the fate of men; "...who seizes more joy than just a dream, a vision? And the vision no sooner dawns than dies blazing into oblivion."

*line 1341: Chorus gives us a nice summary of what has happened; "...Time, all-seeing Time has dragged you to the light..."

*line 1350: Chorus foreshadows the fate of Oedipus; "...and now you bring down night upon my eyes."

*line 1358-9: The messenger adds to the chorus's speech; "Such things it hides, it soon will bring to light-terrible things, and none done blindly now..."

**line 1402-09: In the climax of the play, Oedipus finds out the truth about his past. This is probably one of the most important (if not the most important) sections of this play; "He rips off her brooches, the long gold pins holding her robes-and lifting them high, looking straight up into the points, he digs them down the sockets of his eyes, crying, '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!'"

*line1432-42: The chorus is talking about the wretched site of Oedipus after having gouged out his own eyes; "O the terror, the suffering, for all the world to see, the worst terror that ever met my eyes." "I pity you but I can't bear to look." "...so much fascinates my eyes, but you... I shudder at the sight."

line 1498: The chorus, speaking about Oedipus, falls prey to the same ignorance that Oedipus does earlier in the play; "Better to die than be alive and blind."

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After seeing almost all of the quotes having to deal with sight, darkness, blindness, etc. it is obvious that they represent something deeper than their literal meaning. Most of the early quotes using the word "blind", represent the paradox that is presented with Oedipus and the "blind seer" Tiresias. Oedipus keeps pointing out the fact that Tiresias is blind, but fails to see (impossible to escape the word...) that, in fact, he himself is blind to the circumstances that are going on. Throughout the entire play, the only one who can clearly "see" is Tiresias. The chorus, Oedipus and the others can all "see" literally, but cannot see the "truth".

The double asterisk passages are of special importance. They parallel Plato's Allegory of the Cave practically to perfection. Line 1306-8, "O god-all come true, all burst to light! O light-now let me look my last on you! I stand revealed at last-" to me, symbolizes Oedipus having broken the chains of the cave, bursting towards the light (the truth). Since the light is so bright, he is blinded; he suddenly does not want to see the light, so he gouges out his own eyes. After having done so, Oedipus has descended back into the cave, into darkness...

In lines1432-42, "O the terror, the suffering, for all the world to see, the worst terror that ever met my eyes." "I pity you but I can't bear to look." the people of the town cannot look at the light (the truth), that is Oedipus; in fact, they state that, "...so much fascinates my eyes, but you... I shudder at the sight." This sounds exactly like the shadows playing upon the wall of the cave that occupies their time; they cannot look away from the shadow, and cannot look at the light-the light would bring them pain. In the final quote that I have added, line 1498, "Better to die than be alive and blind.", the crowd finalizes their ignorance on the subject of truth. Since one is blinded by the light after emerging from the cave, the people would rather die having been occupied by shadows than to face the real truth.

*The content on this page was made by a student at the University of Michigan in 1997. Permission to archive this information here and to get the writer's name to credit it here is being sought from the group leader/webmaster and group members in Oct. 2003.

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