Blidness of Oedipus

1 Pages 345 Words

One of the main underlying themes in Oedipus is blindness. Not just physical blindness, but intellectual blindness as well. The blindness issue is an effective contrasting method for Oedipus at different points in the play. You can’t just simply say "blindness", because, it has a double meaning. It can be broken down into two components: Oedipus's ignorance to see the truth, and his willingness to see. Throughout the play, these two components are always at the center of the action.
In the beginning of the play, Oedipus has perfect physical vision. However, he is blind and ignorant to the truth about himself and his past. He desperately wants to know, to see, but he cannot. At this point, it is obvious what Oedipus's action must be: to overcome the blindness. All of his actions thereafter are to that end.
Ironically, into the play is introduced a prophet, a seer, Teiresias, who is physically blind, but who can see with his mind the truth and flaws of others. This just reaffirms 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.
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 oracle was correct. Now Oedipus has gone full circle: he can see all to clearly what the truth is, but he desperately does not want to accept his fate. So, in response, Oedipus commits an act of would-be escapism: he blinds himself so that he may not see. Unfortunately, this does not help his problem. I think 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.
A lesson can be learned from all of this, that is that even the greatest of all men can fall to the smallest of things, especially their blindness to the truth....