The Blind nature of Oedipus One of the main themes in Oedipus the King is
blindness. Not just physical blindness, but intellectual blindness as well. This
issue is an effective contrasting method for Oedipus at different points in the
play. By saying "blindness", however, is a little misleading. It can
be broken down into two sections: Oedipus's ability to "see", and his
willingness to "see". The word "see" can be used in both
contexts. Throughout the play, these two details are always at the center of the
play. In the beginning of the play, Oedipus has perfect sight or vision.
However, he is blind and ignorant to the truth about himself and his past, which
relates to the idea of "truth v.s. appearance". He desperately wants
to know, and to understand, but he cannot. At this point, it is obvious what
Oedipus's action must be to overcome the blindness. Ironically, into the play is
introduced a prophet, Teiresias, who is physically blind, but who has great
mental power. This justifies Oedipus as a man ignorant to the true appearance of
things - this blind man can "see" the truth about Oedipus, yet
Oedipus, in all of his physical perfection, cannot. Brocco 2 Oedipus does have
tragic flaws, which are standard in the Greek tragedies. Oedipus has a tragic
flaw, which brings him to his end. Although it cannot be summed up into one
word, there is evidence that his flaw may be ignorance or blindness to his own
fate. This is true because we see Oedipus trying to avoid his fate, which was
that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother, but he ran away from
his homeland. Only if he had stayed then he may have been able to try to take
his fate into his own hands, but instead he fulfilled the prophecy. Oedipus had
changed dramatically throughout the end of the play. After realizing his flaw of
fleeing his fate and actually killing his father, he was desperate to find the
truth. In his case though, he wanted to see the truth and he finally got that
chance. After marrying his mother and becoming aware of all that had happened he
went into despair. After knowing that he couldn't see the truth and wasn't aware
to understand what happened, he made himself blind. He didn't want to see the
truth and he wanted to run away after all that has happened in his life.
Tiresias told Oedipus his fate and predicted his physical blindness would soon
come forth, "You are a poor wretch to taunt me with the very insults which
everyone soon will heap upon yourself" (lines 408 - 410). He said this
because of Oedipus' attitude towards it. This was when he didn't want to believe
a blind man, a man that couldn't see what he could see and he thought Tiresias
wouldn't be able to understand everything that was going on. Unfortunately for
Oedipus he was completely wrong. This is where the roles are reversed and he
becomes the blind man who has seen more than he wanted to. Brocco 3 It is
evident that he is more reluctant to accept his fate than in the beginning of
the play. This goes along with the fact that him blinding himself is
dramatically appropriate. This was due to the fact that he didn't want to know
the truth anymore and wanted to get away in a sense. Oedipus the King was
Sophocles' attempt to show the Greek God's that they could not avoid the
dealings of the gods, or they may be forced to have a plot against the people he
should love the most. Jocasta, his mother/wife, was in this way, a victim. Even
though she brought it upon herself, by not telling Oedipus that she knew of his
fate, it was at this moment when she became aware of her punishment. In
desperation at this point, she kills herself. Oedipus the King is a true tragedy
in the sense that fate and Oedipus' own tragic flaw combined through the play to
bring about his downfall. What makes it much more tragic though is that the
events were, for the most part, out of Oedipus' control. When Oedipus speaks to
Jocasta, it is very clear that she knows about his fate and what just might
happen if he finds out. He basically says to her, How can you say that, when the
clues to my birth are in my hands? The only thing she will reply with is, For
God's love, let us have no more questioning! Is your life nothing to you? My own
pain is enough for me to bear. This just shows how much pain his fate is
bringing to everyone. For him not to know about his real parents in the
beginning of the play and then to find out in the end that he did in fact kill
his father and marry his mother, would destroy any courage and great honor he
would have for himself. The differences he sees in himself from the beginning of
the play to the end are dramatic. Brocco 4 Toward the end of the play, it is
shown how Oedipus learns the true nature of things - his past is revealed to him
and he learns that the prophecy was correct. Now Oedipus has gone through it
all. He can see all to clearly what the truth is, but he desperately does not
want to accept his fate. So, he reacts by, committing an act of escape; he
blinds himself so that he may not see. Unfortunately, this does not help his
problem. This writer thinks it was an act of cowardice because he didn't want to
accept the situation the way he "saw" it, and decided instead not to
see it at all.

Bibliography
Kitto, Humphrey D. Greek Tragedy : A Literary Study. London: Harper & Row
Publishers, Inc. 1978 Myatt, D.W. A Translation of Oedipus the King N. p., 1990.
1994.
An exploration of Oedipus, Oedipus online resources - Ancient/classical history.
26April 2000