Week 5: Lauren Hansen

Oedipus Rex: Until the Blind See 

The only ones who can truly see are blind. Teiresias, the only physically blind character in the play Oedipus Rex, is the only person that can actually see what has happened, is happening and will happen to Oedipus and the other characters in the play. In Scene 1 (lines 152-157), Teiresias and Oedipus get into an argument that can be determined by the following:

OED: But not for you, not for you,
          You sightless, witless, senseless, mad old man!

TEIR: You are the madman. There is no one here
           Who will not curse you soon, as you curse me.

OED: You child of total night! I would not touch you;
          Neither would any man who sees the sun.

Oedipus says, “You sightless, senseless, witless old man!”—a statement that is full of meaning, both literal and figuratively. The alliterative use of the ‘S’ sound makes the phrase linger longer than necessary, but its uniqueness among other lines was what initially attracted me to this passage. Each word cuts deep with its cruel meaning, but dramatic irony cleverly resurfaces before the exclamation point can be tacked onto the end of the sentence. The words ‘sightless, witless, and senseless’ may be directed at Teiresias, but they actually apply more to Oedipus. To solidify his argument, Teiresias tells Oedipus the following prophecy: “there is no one here / Who will not curse you soon, as you curse me.”

This particular section of lines stood out to me because of the use of dramatic irony, which is the most common literary device used in Oedipus Rex. Oedipus makes a show out of the fact that Teiresias is physically blind, but the audience knows that reality is quite the opposite. Dramatic irony creates a concept of knowledge that seems to be brought to life through the deeper contrast between light and darkness. In this, it appears that Oedipus’s own sight blinded him to the truth, which had been told to him many times. He decided not to listen to the truth, but instead seek it out on his own.

On more than one occasion throughout the play, Sophocles refers to the fact that Oedipus is blind to the truth just as Teiresias is blind to the world. Also, to be blind in ironical terms could also mean unknowingly doing something. I think this ties in nicely to the action going on behind the scenes with Oedipus and the fact that he doesn’t realize what he has done by killing his father and marrying his mother. Despite his intelligence, Oedipus’s lack of knowledge is the path to his downfall because he refused to follow the advice of those who knew what was happening. (Oh, the irony!)

These exchanges set up the purpose of the entire play and, in a sense, foreshadow the fate of Oedipus. According to Sophocles, a person must not only be able to see something, but be able to understand it as well. After learning of his mistakes, Oedipus realizes he had never ‘seen’ his life in the ‘light.’ Ashamed of his actions, he blinds himself in an attempt to return to the ‘darkness,’ which he had previously occupied, returning to a state where he could not see the evil he lived in and the misery he caused.