A moment of dramatic irony appears when Teiresias summons in front of Oedipus. Teiresias’s entrance signals as a turning point in the plot because he reveals the truth about Laius’s murderer and the curse that upholds Thebes with the plague. Despite being visionless, his blindness augments the dramatic irony that dominates the play.
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| Oedipus chooses not to believe in Teiresias's words despite being a brilliant, courageous person who has eyes to see. His stubbornness and hubris takes over him and fail to believe in a blind Teiresias who speaks the truth. |
While Teiresias does not have sight, he detects the truth for Oedipus who tells Teiresias, “You have no eyes but in your mind, you know with what a plague our city is afflicted” (330-331). Teiresias apprises Oedipus, “ you are the land’s pollution” (400) leads to Oedipus to falsely accuse Teiresias for making up the truth so he and Creon can overthrow him. Even though Oedipus can see, he does not believe in the truth and disrespects Teiresias by mocking, “it has no strength for you because you are blind in mind and ears as well as in your eyes” (428-430), confusing the physical sight, insight and knowledge. Teiresias retaliates by mocking Oedipus for his eyesight, “you have your eyes but see not where you are in sin, nor where you live, nor whom you live with” (482-483) and for the brilliance that allows him to solve the riddle of the Sphinx. Neither of the quality Oedipus possesses helps him to realize the truth.
The conversation between Oedipus and Teiresias contains references to sight and eyes to show the irony. Obviously, Sophocles’s audience is well aware of who actually murdered King Laius - Oedipus himself based on the prophecy. Since Teiresias exposes the truth to Oedipus, the plot thickens and escalates as Oedipus ventures to seek any proof by visiting “the only servant that escaped safe home” (878). His journey determines the fate for Oedipus and Thebes on whether Oedipus comprehends the truth before it is too late.
The exchange between Oedipus and Tiresias holds various mentions of blindness and sight paired with darkness and light and truth and lies. Tiresias tells Oedipus that he would rather be blind and see the truth than have physical sight and be blinded by lies. The ability of these words to be interchanged shows a connection within the play of being blind (both metaphorically and literally) to the truth and accepting lies and how they all come to mean different things for different characters. The play on the literal and metaphorical meaning of blindness provides for a deeper meaning to the play, characters, and conversation.
ReplyDeleteI like that you pointed out that the conversation between Oedipus and Tiresias contains dramatic irony. The fact that Tiresias is blind but he is a prophet really emphasizes the accusation that he brings upon Oedipus being the murderer of Laius. Oedipus argues with him, reasoning that he is blind so he cannot possibly be correct in his accusations.
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