Sophocles - Oedipus Journal # 4

Image of being blind.

"... Stone-blind, stone deaf-senses, eyes blind as stone!"(181 line 423)

"And if you find I've lied from this day onward call the prophet blind" (185 lines 525-526)

"Blind in the darkenss- blind!"(237, 1409)

Sophocles use the image of people being blind in regards to the facts and the truth. In the first qoute Oedipus accuse Teiresis of being blind to the facts and the truth and that what he is saying can't possiblely by true but in fact it is Oedipus who is blind to the truth and this accusation of this image of being blind to the truth helps to create a ironic situation. In the second quote Teiresis responds to Oedipus that if he is lying he can be called blind but not just in a literal sense but metaphorical that Teiresis would be blind to the truth and could be called such. In the 3rd quote the image of being blind is brought back up. The image is put forth by Oedipus about how he blind so he must be blind to ignore the suffering.

This image of being blind helps build to the idea of fate and not being able to see how it will unfold and not being able to stop it. It adds to the idea that men are blind and cannot see the truth of fate and how important in their live because they can't see it they think they have some control over it.