Journal # 4 - Oedipus Rex

Sophocles uses many images in the tragedy , Oedipus. The one that I most commonly found was the repeating image of blindness. Tiresias is a blind prophet, yet he sees all. Sophocles uses the image of being blind to show a wisdom when used in the physical sense, but a stupidity when used to show someone's mental blindness. When Tiresias calls Oedipus blind, he does not mean in the sense that he cannot see, but in the sense that he is blind to the truth. However, once Oedipus finds out the truth, this knowledge is too much for him to bear, and he creates physical blindness in himself. This shows that his wisdom/knowledge has become too much for him to bear, much like Tiresias' burden of knowing everything. Therefore, in Oedipus, we can see that Sophocles uses the image of blindness to demonstrate the pain one goes through when not blind to the horrible truth, but also the pain one takes in order to ease themselves of that truthful burden.