The tragedy of Oedipus Rex is one full of intense irony. The fact that Oedipus kills his father and marries his mother is twistedly ironic, but ironic all the same. I pity Oedipus and his situation because his entire life has been a lie and now that the truth has come into light, he has to pay the price for his ignorance. But even though I pity him, I do not pity his crime. He did not know that it was his father that he slew but the simple fact that he murdered is what I cannot justify. I think part of the reason why he does not believe Tiresias is because he is blinded by pride and simply cannot accept that he is the cause of his cities decline. The other part I think is because he thought no one would ever find out.
When Tiresias accuses Oedipus of the murder of the late Laius, Tiresias says, "I say you know not in what worst of shame/ You live together with those nearest you,/ And see not in what evil plight you stand" (14). Then Oedipus accuses Tiresias of not telling the truth and says he is blind, " in eyes, and ears, and mind" (14)! How ironic is it that when Oedipus realizes what he has done that he gouges his own eyes out and becomes one of the physically blind? The consequences of his sins are too much for him to bear. When he sees his wife/mother hanging he, "[snatched] from her dress gold pins/ Wherewith she was adorned, he lifted them,/ And smote the nerves of his own eyeballs, saying/ Something like this-- that they should see no more/ Evils like those he had endured or wrought" (45).
Maybe if Oedipus had not been 'blinded' before by pride and ignorance, he would have been able to keep his sight in the end.
P.S.- I commented on Amanda's blog.
I totally agree, the irony of his blindness at the end is both horrific and thought provoking. When he actually had sight, he was blind to his past and his present state, everything he saw was a lie. When he was physically blind, he had the sight of who he truly was, in his own way, he was a "blind seer" too.
ReplyDeleteOne can easily be blinded by our pride. One can also be blinded by the light of truth as well. I believe it is better to be the latter because if you are prideful and a fool, you are still a fool no matter what you believe. However, to be blinded by knowledge or truth is something gained.
ReplyDeleteThat is quite ironic. I like how you brought out the blindness of his soul preceding his physical blindness. I agree that he might could have kept his sight in the end if he hadn't been so stubbornly prideful from the beginning.
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