What Does It Mean to See?
Is there a cost to seeing? Are there times where it is better to be blind?
One end of Europe to Portugal, touches Israel, Britain. Along the Mediterranean
Ancient Greece - is at the center of the Mediterranean.
Oedipus the King, Part I
Ancients believed that crimes in the community that go unpunished lead to the community being punished as a whole.
Shows that no one is exempt from punishment and that regardless of your status, the crime that you commit that goes unpunished will lead to disaster as a whole
coming up with answers will only make you miserable. (683, Line 286)
Tiresias repeats the word “murderer” to emphasize that the murderer is him. Though Oedipus is blind and ignores this.
shows we have trouble speaking up to what we did wrong about.
Tiresias mentions darkness (like the beginning) and says that it will overtake him
Jocasta also refuses to know the truth. she says “I know, I know” they dont want to understand the truth. They want to hide from the truth. Don’t want to be broken from the truth.
Oedipus starts to realize the truth. (694). He is starting to change, wanting to fin.d out the truth.
gauge out his eyes; the knowledge in his brain
wishes he can unknow this knowledge
sometimes knowledge is burden, a curse
fate vs. free will
tried to escape his fate, but it brought him closer to his fate. sent away to prevent this from happening, but it brings you closer
you cant avoid fate
Honor vs. Truth
Tiresias says its better to keep the truth. He says its best to let the people continue to be plauged to keep the honor of oedipus.
Oedipus is a tragic hero. All tragic heroes have a tragic flaw. - Hubris
Oedipus thinks HE is gonna find the truth, he ignores what tiresias says, but then he finds something terrible.
Symbols
-blindness = ignorance
-slight = knowledge
-crossroads = fate vs free will, human choice
at a crossroad, you have two different paths
oedipus made choices that led him exactly to their fate.
no one can avoid their fate