These words were spoken by Kreon in Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King. The recipient of these words was none other than Oedipus himself, the king of Thebes and Kreon’s brother-in-law. At this point in the plot, Kreon had just returned from the Oracle of Delphi, where he sought answers concerning Apollo’s plague, which was destroying Thebes. For the plague to end, Apollo orders the city to be cleansed. This requires either the exile or execution of the murderer of Laios, Thebes’ former king. This quote plays an important role in instigating the story’s rise to action. The evil that must be rooted out is Oedipus, unbeknownst to major characters at the time. The audience, however, is conditioned by prior knowledge of the Oedipus myth to recognize
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Specifically, these are fate and free-will, ignorance and enlightenment, and hubris and humility, which coincide with prestige and infamy. While fate overwhelms the story, free-will is peppered in symbolically, as when Oedipus encounters the three-way crossroads. In addition, the play exhibits themes of justice and self-destruction, both of which are present when Oedipus blinds himself, thereby punishing Laios’ killer as he promised he would. This action also calls to mind Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, wherein one cannot return to their prior existence upon enlightenment; though for Oedipus the truth is more devastating than awe-inspiring. Further depictions of sight and blindness are found in the blind prophet, Tiresias, and in comments made by the characters, as when Oedipus speaks, “Then I’ll go back, start fresh, and light up that darkness.” (Sophocles, line 150); and again when Kreon insists Oedipus “…. can see nothing clearly.” (Sophocles, line …show more content…
The audience, for example, does not directly witness Oedipus blind himself with his mother’s pins. Nor do they see Jokasta’s suicide by hanging. Instead, these tragic moments are left to our imagination, where their brutal nature can only fester with time. Certainly, blinding oneself can be viewed as an extreme response to bad news. Not only is Oedipus afraid of facing his parents in the underworld, he can no longer stand to look at the world, which once filled him with joy. Everything he cherished has lost its beauty, or perhaps it is Oedipus who has simply lost the capacity to bear anything beautiful or
Specifically, these are fate and free-will, ignorance and enlightenment, and hubris and humility, which coincide with prestige and infamy. While fate overwhelms the story, free-will is peppered in symbolically, as when Oedipus encounters the three-way crossroads. In addition, the play exhibits themes of justice and self-destruction, both of which are present when Oedipus blinds himself, thereby punishing Laios’ killer as he promised he would. This action also calls to mind Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, wherein one cannot return to their prior existence upon enlightenment; though for Oedipus the truth is more devastating than awe-inspiring. Further depictions of sight and blindness are found in the blind prophet, Tiresias, and in comments made by the characters, as when Oedipus speaks, “Then I’ll go back, start fresh, and light up that darkness.” (Sophocles, line 150); and again when Kreon insists Oedipus “…. can see nothing clearly.” (Sophocles, line …show more content…
The audience, for example, does not directly witness Oedipus blind himself with his mother’s pins. Nor do they see Jokasta’s suicide by hanging. Instead, these tragic moments are left to our imagination, where their brutal nature can only fester with time. Certainly, blinding oneself can be viewed as an extreme response to bad news. Not only is Oedipus afraid of facing his parents in the underworld, he can no longer stand to look at the world, which once filled him with joy. Everything he cherished has lost its beauty, or perhaps it is Oedipus who has simply lost the capacity to bear anything beautiful or