Monday, September 24, 2012
More Irony... or at least I think so
Irony plays a central role in "Oedipus", as Oedipus is blind to the truth, despite the fact that it has been in front of him the entire time. I found quite funny that a factor of Oedipus's hamartia is that he is impulsive and too quick to react without throughly thinking through his decisions (signifying how intelligent he is - after all this is what allowed him to solve the riddle of the sphinx), however when it comes to connecting the pieces of the puzzle together in connection to figuring out the origins of his childhood and who his parents are, Oedipus is almost "slow" in compiling the information together. Jocasta discovers who Oedipus really is long before Oedipus does, which is quite ironic considering Oedipus is so intelligent that he equates himself with the gods.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
It is almost as if Oedipus is so eager to find out who killed Laius that he is blind to the truth when it comes out. As Tejas said, Jocasta finds out that Oedipus has fulfilled his prophecy by killing his father (Laius) and marrying his mother way before Oedipus does. Oedipus's arrogance and false pride cause him to be blind to the truth even though others such as Jocasta can see it. It ties into a major theme of the play which is blindness versus sight. Even though Oedipus can literally see while others such as the prophet Tiresias are blind, Oedipus is blind to the truth around him due to his arrogance while others around him including the blind Tiresias and Jocasta see it clearly.
Post a Comment