Bado 1 Anthony Bado Rick Casper English 102 1 February 2024 Oedipus The King, A Play Of Metaphors. Oedipus The King is a Greek Tragedy play written by Sophocles, in which Oedipus fulfills his prophecy shown to him by the blind Prophet by unknowingly murdering his father and marrying his mother. Within the story, the ability to see is referenced many times, however by further analyzing this writing it is shown that sight is used as a metaphor. This metaphor shows an underlying meaning within this passage, and this is able to be seen by examining the writing further. Sight is used to reference truth, and attempting to escape fate within Oedipus The King, and it is easy to see that Sophocles used very intricate writing methods in order to show the double meaning behind how sight is referenced within his play. The ability to see is referenced multiple times throughout the story, with the first instance being the blind Prophet revealing Oedipus’ prophecy to him. It isn’t shown until later in the story, but the fact that the Prophet was blind actually had an underlying meaning. Later in the story, Oedipus blinds himself after finding out the truth about his Mother by stabbing himself in the eyes. The fact that Oedipus becomes blind shows how he never understood the truth behind the prophecy which was foretold to him by the blind Prophet. His blinding represents him finally being able to recognize the truth of the prophecy, which is also shown with the blind Prophet, who knew the truth of the prophecy and was also blind. The Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth says as such: Sophocles used the myth to tease out aspects of the relationship between human beings and the supernatural world, in particular our ideas of what 'knowledge' and 'ignorance', Bado 2 'sight' and 'blindness' are. (The blind Prophet sees more truthfully than the king who thinks he sees; our attempts to cheat fate lead us down blind alleys and increase our suffering; only when true knowledge comes to Oedipus (in Colonus, after he has blinded himself) is he able to transcend his own mortality.)” Oedipus finally comes to understand the truth behind his prophecy, and even his “mortality” as the Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth writes it. Sophocles used the metaphor to represent trying to cheat fate, and was essentially attempting to state that no matter how ignorant you are to the truth you can't escape your destined fate. That is the stark difference between Oedipus and the Prophet. While the Prophet knew Oedipus’s true fate and was blind, Oedipus had the ability to see, but was “blind” to the truth in a sense. Oedipus himself actually recognized how his “sight” had hurt him so badly. When Oedipus states:”How, could I longer see when sight Brought no delight?”(1335-1336), It seems to be that there is a double meaning. Not only did the things that he physically saw bring him no delight, but him being blind to the truth and thinking that he was correct over the words of the prophet had ultimately harmed him in the end. It is thought that Sophocles used the references to being sightless as a reference to knowing the truth to represent trying to escape a supernatural fate. Oedipus thought that he knew better than the blind Prophet who told him his prophecy, which turned out to be incorrect. Oedipus could not escape his destiny no matter how hard he tried, which shows even farther how this is used. The “truth” or prophecy mentioned in the story is used to represent Oedipus’s destiny, and how he tried and failed to escape it. The story attempted to blur the line between supernatural and reality on earth. Kurt Fosso writes in his article titled Oedipus Crux that when read from a certain perspective the writing shifts from being “a drama about divine fate to being one about questioning the validity of all sources of truth…”. Sophocles intended to discuss Bado 3 escaping a supernatural fate, and the truth and validity of the claims of oracles and Prophets without directly stating that in writing. In all, it it is very interesting how sight is able to be used in such a discreet yet powerful way to discuss underlying meanings of truth and fate within this story. When looked at from a certain perspective, it is easy to see that Sophocles may have intended to hide a meaning of “questioning the validity of all sources of truth”, as Fosso writes. The blind Prophet knowing the real truth of Oedipus’s life and Oedipus only realizing his truth after he was blinded is an interesting metaphor and certainly requires a deeper understanding of the written text. This writing is an incredible work of text, and the use of metaphors involving sight, and prophecy show how intricate Sophocles’s works tended to be. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth. Oedipus Europe (South), https://doi.org/https://search.credoreference.com/articles/Qm9va0FydGljbGU6OTgzMjQ z?q=oedipus%20bloomsbury. Fosso, Kurt. “Oedipus Crux:Reasonable Doubt in Oedipus the King.” EBSCOhost, 1 July 2012, https://web-p-ebscohostcom.wvncc.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=65cf9d97-a8f4-4ab894c9-0a867452116c%40redis. Sophocles, “Oedipus The King”. Bado 4 I apologize for any inconvenience, but I can not get the links to the material I referenced using Ebsco and Credoreference to work, the names of the articles are listed in the bibliography, I will attempt to provide working links to the websites but I do not know if I will be able, my apologies.
