Blindness And Light In Oedipus Rex Essay

Is the play Oedipus about blindness or light?

The play Oedipus Rex concerns itself with both blindness and light, it compares their literal and allegorical interpretations to discuss the main theme of the pursuit of knowledge. It is driven by the titular character Oedipus’ thirst for knowledge that ultimately ends up blinding him. In this essay I will bring into attention different interpretations of blindness and light used in the play and how one must be given up for the other to prevail. Oedipus is burdened with a terrible prophecy which states that he would kill his own father and would commit incest with his mother. This leads him to leave Polybus and Merope, who he thinks are his parents, and he travels to Thebes. In Thebes once he’s made king, he is determined to find the killer of the previous king Laius as this is the cure to Thebes’s ailment. Even when he is warned of the consequences, he pursues the secret behind Laius’ murder, only to be confronted with the fact that Laius is his real father and that he himself killed his father on his route to Thebes. Oedipus realizes that he was blind about his …show more content…
Sophocles tries to tell the readers that they should have blind faith in the prophecies of God instead of adamantly trying to conquer the light (knowledge). Oedipus spent his entire life trying to escape the terrible prophecy that was made at his birth, however he still unknowingly fulfilled it. Sophocles brings about the concepts of pre-determinism and free will that were prevalent in his society, into this play. Oedipus had the free will to pursue the light and make his own decisions, however ultimately he was only a victim to his predetermined fate. This in a way shows us how our free will too is predetermined and how we are destined to our