Memory In Sophocles The Sense Of An Ending

During the approximate time of 400BC, Socrates stated that "I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing." Although many may observe and say that this cannot be true, that the wisest man alive must know something -- we get some insight into how the human psychie stores and utilizes memories. When a memory is created we take it in through our personal perception of the world, and take note of what happened. As soon as we apply our personal perception, it is no longer the truth, but a painting of it. Even though the painting may seem perfect in our own minds, another may have a completely different picture of the event, which can cause a massive ammount of unreliability in recording history. Tony from The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes has a flawed memory. …show more content…
Oedipus from Oedipus the King by Sophocles has a similar problem to Tony, he killed a nobleman at a crossroads over a roadrage-like scenario, and he forgets all about it after he marries the queen of thebes. The personal perception that all biological life has clouds the truth, causing misinterpretations of what 's before the entity, which can be seen in Oedipus ' murder of his father. The devices that are used to record such events are often easily destroyed like Adrian 's diary from The Sense of an Ending, but even then they are often faulty due to clouded perception. The documentation produced and re-percieved by neighboring entities can be misinterpreted or false to begin with, such as Creon 's account of the death of the previous king Laius from Oedipus the King. Truth exists outside of the human psychie, but when it is within the grasp of memory it becomes