One of the best examples of Greek tragedy is Oedipus the King, written by ancient Greek playwright Sophocles. Oedipus Rex is about the downfall of Oedipus, the king of Thebes, and how his tragic faults affected that. Sophocles’ purpose is to demonstrate the negative effects of pride and other various personal reasons causing his downfall instead of just fate, as was told in his prophecy.
Sophocles uses various tragic flaws and symbols to send this message to the reader/audience, the most important symbol being the use of blindness and sight, and the most important tragic flaw being excessive pride in Oedipus. From the very beginning of the text the use literal and figurative sight are closely intertwined with one another. Similar to how in English one might see the truth or see the way, in Greek culture the metaphor of sight for truth isn’t really a metaphor, but simply the same thing.
Within the first monologue the use of sight shows up when Oedipus is talking “I would be blind to misery not to pity my people kneeling at my feet” (lines 14-15). This is an early foreshadowing of what is really causing the suffering of Oedipus’ people, which is Oedipus himself, and is also very ironic in that he obviously does feel pity, yet is still blind to the truth of his situation and the reason of his people’s suffering.
Of course this blindness continues throughout much of the play, until close to the end when Oedipus finds out the truth about how the prophecy, in reality, fulfilled by him and his blindness, and in contrast to his newfound sight of the truth, Oedipus literally blinds himself “He rips off her brooches... he digs them down the sockets of his eyes, crying, ‘You, you’ll see no more the pain I suffered… never should have seen” (lines 1402-1406), taking his own sight, imilar to Tiresias, the blind yet all seeing prophet, and further intertwining the idea of physical and figurative sight as being one. While clearly being able to see just fine and even being famed for his sight and comprehension, physically at least, Oedipus is very clearly blind throughout the play to the overall truth of the prophecy and some of the obvious evidence right in front of him. Oedipus acts as a bit of a foil to another important character, Tiresias, the blind prophet who knows the truth to the prophecy.
Tiresias may be blind physically, but clearly is much less blind than Oedipus figuratively “O Tiresias… Blind as you are, you can feel all the more what sickness haunts our city” (lines 340-345). Tiresias is clearly the opposite of Oedipus, whereas Oedipus is very brash and prideful, Tiresias is very reserved, and of course there is the obvious comparison between the two with Oedipus being able to physically see well but being blind figuratively, and Tiresias being physically blind but very good at figuratively seeing.
Oedipus also didn’t know the truth until the end despite being presented with obvious evidence throughout the play. This being a clear show of Oedipus’ character. From the very start of the Oedipus’ interactions with Tiresias, Oedipus is accused of causing the problems, ‘You are the curse, the corruption of the land! ” (line 401), this is of course ignored by Oedipus, and he becomes indignant at the remark, becoming very angry at Tiresias.
However, despite hearing all of this and later being presented with even more damning evidence and clues such as finding out it was in fact he who killed Laius, who, unbeknownst to him, was his father, Oedipus still doesn’t quite make the connection until the very end. All of this leads to the climax of the story, Oedipus’ downfall. Oedipus had many important tragic flaws, mainly pride but also some curiosity. Oedipus is very prideful, and going slightly against his obvious love and care for his people and family, he very quickly jumps to conclusions.
Before the events in Oedipus the King Oedipus lived in an adopted home, which he ended up abandoning after visiting the oracle and finding out about a prophecy which he obviously wanted to avoid. “I heard all that and ran. I abandoned Corinth” (Line 876). This is more indicative of his love and care for his family, but also has undertones of pride, the Ancient Greeks believed that you simply couldn’t outrun a prophecy, fate was meant to happen but Oedipus was so prideful and brash that he believed he could run away and avoid it.
This also led to him running into his real father whom Oedipus did not know, and it ended with Laius being killed by Oedipus over what was the equivalent of just a bit of road rage. Also shown is Oedipus’ more apparent blindness to the fact that this man was actually his father and he was starting to carry out the prophecy he was trying so hard to avoid. However, probably the largest reason for Oedipus’ downfall was his curiosity. Oedipus is a very curious character, as he gets closer to the truth the harder he tries and the more he finds out.
The whole reason Oedipus even found out about the prophecy in the first place was his curiosity to visit the oracle, and again the only reason he found out about it being fulfilled was his curiosity. As his people were suffering he inquired into the reasons for it, and through several events he found out about his mother and father. Several characters even tried to dissuade him from inquiring farther, “Stop- in the name of god, if you love your own life, call of this search! My suffering is enough” (Lines 1162-1164).
Yet Oedipus carries on, such as when he tortured the shepherd who had spared him, “So, you won’t talk willingly, then you’ll talk with pain,” (Lines 1266-1267). If he had never inquired farther into any of the events preceding the story and some of the mysteries he and Jocasta would not have been driven into madness, his crown would still be legitimate, and he would still have his throne, the downfall never would have happened.
Among the many symbols, motifs and tragic flaws present within Oedipus the King the motif of sight and blindness as well as the tragic flaw of excessive pride are the most prominent eatures of the play and best serve to send the overall message of the negative affects of pride and being too brash. Figurative and literal sight are intertwined and often treated as being almost no different from the very beginning of the play with the use of many different words relating to sight and serve an important role throughout the play, most notably when Oedipus literally stabs out his own eyes when he finds out the truth of his situation and the prophecy he thought he avoided.
Oedipus was also blind throughout much of the paly, despite having very good physical eyesight, best demonstrated in his interactions and relations with the blind prophet Tiresias who was physically blind but had much spiritual insight which Oedipus had none of, also relating to the climax of the play when Oedipus takes away his own physical eyesight when he is finally spiritually unblinded.
This along with his excessive pride led to the climax and Oedipus’ eventual downfall. Curiosity ended up playing a role as well as if Oedipus wasn’t so curious he wouldn’t have kept inquiring and going further into his decline. These apparent tragic flaws of curiosity because of lack of future insight and excessive pride are really outlined and brought out into the spotlight by the motif of blindness.
