Blindness vs. Sight in Oedipus Rex

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Tim Christopher Oedipus Rex Dimovitz, Lit. Matters 2/29/12 For many people there are truths and lies that are directly in front of them. Many people choose to be blind and accept the lies as true, but some people don’t choose because they have been blind their entire lives. In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles the main character Oedipus was given away at birth and even though he believed that the parents who raised him were his birth parents they were not. Oedipus was blind from the time that he was a newborn baby. The conflict of blindness vs. sight is seen throughout Oedipus Rex with character’s decisions to accept the truth or accept the lies that are more convenient for them. “Fear? What should a man fear? It’s all chance, chance rules our lives. Not a man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. Better to live at random, best we can. And as for this marriage with your mother—have no fear. Many a man before you, in his dreams, has shared his mother’s bed. Take such things for shadows, nothing at all— Live, Oedipus, as if there’s no tomorrow!” (Meyer 1128). This quote shows both the blindness of Oedipus and Jocasta. Jocasta only believes what she wants to believe. When the oracle said that her son would kill his father and sleep with his mother she quickly abandoned her son to avoid that horrible fate and thanked the oracle for that. However, when Oedipus heard that Polybus was dead and realized he didn’t kill his father Jocasta said the oracle was useless. Jocasta is the type of person that chooses to be blind and accept the lies but only when they help her. If the truths help her then she will accept the truths. Jocasta is also trying to blind Oedipus in this quote. She is telling him that he can’t see ahead and take everything as shadows. Also, that he should live a carefree life. She is deliberately trying to blind Oedipus because ignoring the
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