Two recurring motifs in
Sophocles' Oedipus Rex are references to both sight
and blindness. Sophocles uses the motifs to represent Oedipus's own
blindness and naivete.
Sophocles
especially uses sight to refer to the things that Oedipus
should be able to notice, thereby contrasting his ability to see what's going on around
him with his inability to see what is going on in his own life. In particular it is
pointed out that Oedipus should be able to see the suffering that is taking place in
Thebes due to the plague. At the very beginning of the play, the priest points out that
Oedipus should be able to see their suffering in his lines, "You see how many of us sit
here at your alters" (15-16). Oedipus even confirms that he sees his citizens' suffering
in his lines:
My poor children, what you desire is known to me
and not unknown, for I see well that everyone is sick.
(63-65)
However, the fact
that Oedipus is able to see his citizens' suffering is
ironic because he is unable to see that his own
transgressions are actually the cause of their suffering. We later learn it has been
prophesied that Oedipus will kill his own father and sleep with his own mother. Oedipus
thinks he has escaped his horrific fate by fleeing Corinth and living in Thebes.
Ironically, he does not realize that his real father is not the king of Corinth, but
rather King Laius of Thebes, whom he killed on his journey to Thebes many years ago.
Therefore, ironically, Oedipus does not realize he has actually fulfilled the prophecy
rather than escape it; he is blind to what he has done and
it's ramifications. The seer Tiresias points out Oedipus's naivete or
ignorance and relates it to blindness, as we
see in his lines:
I will reply, since you reproach me as blind:
You, even though you see clearly, do not see the scope of your evil, nor where you live,
nor with whom you dwell.
(432-435)
Hence, we see that
Sophocles' recurring motif of sight and blindness serves to illustrate Oedipus's own
blindness and lack of understanding.
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