Some people say that ignorance is bliss. In some cases, however, that may not be true. In Sophocles’ tragic play Oedipus Rex, the author uses a motif of sight and blindness through foreshadowing, in conjunction with Oedipus, and through irony to convey the idea that when someone thinks they know what is right but are actually ignorant to the truth, that will most likely cause their downfall. Sophocles foreshadows Oedipus’ future using the motif of sight and blindness through prophecies and through the character Tiresias to show his point. The prophecies that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother all were prophesied even before this story begins. Even though he thought he had escaped those prophecies, he actually ran to them, which shows
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Oedipus starts to blame other people for all the evil there is and believes that “someone swiftly [is moving] secret plots against[him],” but it turns out it is actually him causing all the evil(644-645). He also declares that he will fight to find the murderer of the king Laius “as if for his own father,” (273) and he said he wanted them “destroyed in suffering more hateful than that which holds [them]” (280-281). The dramatic irony in this is so great because he is the one who actually killed Laius who was his father, and he would eventually suffer and be destroyed. Oedipus thought he could escape the prophecies of the evil he would do, but he ends up running to his father and mother instead of away from them. When Oedipus can physically see, he thinks he can see the truth as well, but he actually does not. At the end when he actually sees the truth he becomes physically blind which is very ironic and leads to his downfall. Irony and the motif of sight and blindness are paired together and used frequently in this play to convey Sophocles’ point that being ignorant to truth can cause
Oedipus starts to blame other people for all the evil there is and believes that “someone swiftly [is moving] secret plots against[him],” but it turns out it is actually him causing all the evil(644-645). He also declares that he will fight to find the murderer of the king Laius “as if for his own father,” (273) and he said he wanted them “destroyed in suffering more hateful than that which holds [them]” (280-281). The dramatic irony in this is so great because he is the one who actually killed Laius who was his father, and he would eventually suffer and be destroyed. Oedipus thought he could escape the prophecies of the evil he would do, but he ends up running to his father and mother instead of away from them. When Oedipus can physically see, he thinks he can see the truth as well, but he actually does not. At the end when he actually sees the truth he becomes physically blind which is very ironic and leads to his downfall. Irony and the motif of sight and blindness are paired together and used frequently in this play to convey Sophocles’ point that being ignorant to truth can cause