Odepus

Odepus "An idea is an eye given by God for the seeing of God. Some of these eyes we can not bear to look out of, we blind them as quickly as possible." (Russell Hoban, American novelist) Sometimes the reality of a situation is so harsh that, instead of facing it, people blind themselves to it. In Oedipus Rex, the theme of sightlessness is prevalent throughout the play. Sophocles uses ambiguity to keep from creating biases toward the characters so that, in a sense the audience, as well as the characters, are blind. Fate and blindness go hand in hand in the play. The main character, Oedipus, is a severe victim of fate, ".... damned in his birth, in his marriage damned, damned in the blood he shed with his own hand." The hero Oedipus is tormented by the punishment of a crime that he did not commit. At birth, it was said that he would "…lie with [his] mother, breed children from whom all men would turn their eyes; and that [he] should be [his] father’s murderer." This fate is undeserved and makes one question the reasoning behind the fate. oedipus, fate, man, gods, corinth, blind, shepherd, king, because, parents, out, mother, killed, father, prophesy, own, messenger, kill, eyes, child, birth, been, [he], whom, son, hand, god, gave, fulfilled, first, death, damned, crime, cannot, blinded