Blindness In Oedipus

It is often said that even when exposed to the truth, certain people still cannot accept what is presented to them, regardless of the obviousness of the facts. Oedipus is most definitely a prime example of this. Tiresias, however, is a polar opposite of Oedipus, even when regarding his physical blindness. He represents the wise, the omniscient, while Oedipus represents what humans inevitably tend to be, blind to real truth. Tiresias is the human embodiment of one of the themes of Sophocles’ play, Truth.

King Oedipus was born into a prophecy that proclaimed he would kill his father and marry his mother. In an attempt to avoid this foreseen fate, his parents, king and queen of Thebes, Laius and Jocasta, made a local shepherd take their baby out into the wilderness and leave him for dead. However, the shepherd did not have the heart to do such a thing and gave the child to a Corinthian shepherd. This shepherd took the infant Oedipus to Polybus and Merope, the rulers of his homeland.

Eventually, Oedipus learned of his prophecy, thus ending that episode blindness, and fled his home. He left thinking the Theban royals were his real parents, introducing a new thread of blindness. During his flight from what he believed was his home city, he came across King Laius on a narrow forest path. He ended up killing Laius in an altercation with his accompanying party.

He continued his life blind to the fact that he had fulfilled one end of his dreaded prophecy. Oedipus acquired the throne of Corinth, which he did not know was rightfully his, and married Jocasta, his mother. He had lived out the prophecy without even realizing he had, blind to the importance of everything that had happened.

Prophecy can not be avoided, and Oedipus was again knowingly blind to this fact. Oedipus’ blindness regarding his prophecy was enhanced when news of the death of Polybus made its way to Corinth. In his mind, there was now no way the curse could ever be fulfilled. But this is a form of hubris, as was Laius and Jocasta’s attempt to bypass prophecy by having Oedipus killed at birth.

Thebes, following the death of Laius, fell into bad times, with famine and hardship consuming the city-state. Oedipus called on Tiresias, the famous blind Theban soothsayer, and after much prodding and denial, was informed that the “corruption of the land” was the King himself. “I say you are the murderer you hunt,” charged the seer. As Oedipus searched further and further, and began to weigh his history in his mind, he discovered finally accepted the connections Tiresias made. His dreaded prophecy had come true. Tiresias best explains this realization of the tragedy of Oedipus’ life saying:

“You mock my blindness? Let me tell you this.
You with your precious eyes,
You’re blind to the corruption of your life,
To the house you live in, those you live with – “ (Oedipus, line 468)

When Oedipus finally discovered the truth, he was so distressed that mutilated his eyes, permanently blinding himself. He had been blind to the truth for so long, he was the father of his mother’s children. His children were his brothers and sisters, and he could not bear to look at them.

Oedipus was blind in more then one way. He was blind to the truth about his own life. Oedipus had no idea, up until that painful point of realization, that his real parents were Laius and Jocasta. He was so blind that he was enraged at anyone who was foolish enough to suggest such an idea. He screams at Tiresias, the only man capable and willing to tell him the truth:

Come here, you pious fraud. Tell me,
When did you ever prove yourself as a prophet? (Oedipus, line 442)

As more of the tale began to fall into place, Oedipus was forced to open his eyes to the real truth. Oedipus did indeed murder his father and wed his mother. Finally in the know, he understood that he was the cause of the hardship in Thebes. As soon as Oedipus knew and accepted the truth, he blinded himself, because he could know longer handle seeing the world as it was.

Oedipus' self-inflicted physical blindness was a common function of Greek tragedy. The blindness was just an addition to the building sorrow for Oedipus. All Greek tragedies were supposed to have their main characters experience their own very personal tragedy. For Oedipus, this tragedy was discovering the truth and falsehood of his life to that point, and not being able to deal with it. It concluded the prophecy that Oedipus received from Tiresias. The blind seer told Oedipus that he had entered Thebes with sight, but he would leave Thebes without it.

Oedipus' physical blindness also forced Oedipus to look internally and deal with his newly discovered dilemma. With nothing to look at, Oedipus was forced to think about his life and what had happened. The perpetual blackness and the physical torment he had imposed on himself served as reminders and as punishment for his hubris and other sins. Oedipus made his physical blindness was just as painful as his blindness to the truth, intertwining both. Jocasta's blindness was different then Oedipus'. She knew about the prophecy, but she assumed that her son Oedipus was dead. As the ruler of a kingdom, one expects orders given to be followed by common citizens. Jocasta and Laius believed that the shepherd had done as they had told. Blind, she had no idea that she had married her son. As pieces of information came to clarify the whole truth of the matter, Jocasta refused to accept that the dreaded curse had finally come true. She realized what had happened, and she knew that she had played a role in it. The queen realized that she was guilty of hubris for believing that she could beat the prophecy.

Tiresias' blindness was physical in nature, he was born into his blindness and had no control over it. What is evident is that his blindness was supposed to be representative of him being special, because he was different. He was not able to see in a physical sense, so he made up for it by being able to see in a supernatural sense. Tiresias played the role of the typical prophet of the Greek tragedy. He presented only the truth to Oedipus, and Oedipus attacked for his blindness; primarily in terms of physical sight but also in regards to the figurative sense:

“You’ve lost your power,
Stone blind, stone deaf - sense, eyes blind as stone!” (Oedipus, ln 421)

Figurative blindness can be harder to deal with then literal blindness for some people. Most people will learn to deal with the lack of sight. However, if a person is blind to Truth, there is nothing that person can do correctly in their life until they learn that truth. Oedipus is representative of this. When the person does learn the truth, he tends to feel like all of his previous actions are falsified or void. When Oedipus learned the truth, his way of dealing with his figurative blindness was to physically blind himself. When Jocasta learned the truth, her way of dealing with her figurative blindness was to kill herself. In this play, blindness led to the truth, and the truth led to blindness. The theme of blindness worked perfectly in a tragic circle of hubris and pain. The truth led to tragedy, the blinding and exile of the fallen king and the death of the queen. Oedipus, Tiresias, and Jocasta were all blind in different ways, yet all found the truth.