Week 5: Hailey Sherwood

In Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, the age-old question, “Who am I?” is presented in the pursuit of the protagonist, Oedipus, to find the truth about the murder of his father, Laius, which in turn reveals a forbidden relationship with his wife, Iokaste. In the pivotal moment where Oedipus comes to believe the truth he had sought out and simultaneously refused to accept, he gouges his eyes out. It is in this passage that the play comes to its head, highlighting the ironical nature of the story, and developing further questions about identity, ignorance, and crime and punishment.

“For the king ripped from her gown the golden brooches that were her ornament, and raised them and plunged them down straight into his own eyeballs, crying ‘No more, no more shall you look on the misery about me, the horrors of my own doing! Too long you have known the faces of of those whom I should have never seen, too long been blind to those for whom I was searching! From this hour, go in darkness!”’

The passage at first is rhetorically significant through the use of vivid imagery that expresses the gravity of the situation. Using diction such as “ripped,” “plunged,” and “down straight” contribute to the brutality of Oedipus blinding himself, and suggest that the act was swift and desperate (Lines 43-45). Juxtaposed next to a word as flowery as “ornament”, the association between the beautiful weapon and grotesque has an ironical feel (Line 44). Furthermore, detailing the brooches as “golden” suggest that they are representative of the “light” or truth in the story in Oedipus’ relationship with Iokaste (Line 43). The brooches are rich with meaning, and taking them, and using them as an instrument to inflict darkness is a literal and visual display of what Oedipus had been¾blind. It is then that Oedipus’s identity becomes centered around his own ignorance.

Oedipus’s own words hold important meaning in expressing the complex nature of the play. Through the instance of anaphora in Oedipus crying “too long”, there is a parallel created between the knowledge the others had possessed and the ignorance Oedipus had carried, with the words “know” and “blind” further depicting this contrast (Lines 47-49). Furthermore, a double entendre exists in Oedipus’s cry that “no more, no more shall you look on the misery about me, the horrors of my own doing” (Lines 46-47). Although it can be interpreted that the horrors of his doing can be recognized as killing his father and sleeping with his mother, the fact that Oedipus would punish himself in such an extreme and unflattering way suggest that the “horrors of his own doing” could be blinding himself (Line 47). In this, one can derive that Sophocles was possibly making a statement about a punishment literally fitting a crime, which contributes more to an ironic effect. It is in this passage, when Oedipus discovers his identity of the past that he consequently creates a new one for himself¾a banished blind man, a stark contrast to his once kingly status. He also gives a new meaning to the entire dynamic of his family, with Antigone and Ismene having meaningful and detrimental social implications from the affirmation of his identity. This passage is vital to the play in that as everything comes crashing down, some resolution exists in the knowledge that what is said to be true is true in fact. If a crime is committed, is there resolution in a punishment? Is ignorance truly bliss? Do two wrongs make a right? Oedipus Rex poses all of the above questions, and doesn’t necessarily give a clear answer. It is in this passage that these questions are brought to full front, and are vital to understanding the play.

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.