Oedipus and Tiresias :: Essays Papers

Oedipus and TiresiasOedipus and Tiresias, characters of Sophocles play Oedipus Tyrannus, are propelled to their individual destinies by their peculiar relationships with law. Paranoid and immediate to anger Oedipus, is markedly different from the confident and self-assured Tiresias. In the dialogue between the two men, Oedipus rapidly progresses from praise of Tiresias as a suspensor and protector of Thebes in seam 304, to blatantly accusing the blind seer of betraying the city in line 331, to angrily insulting him in line 334. Rather than be intimidated by the protagonists title and temperament, Tiresias draws strength from what he knows is true and is able to stand his ground.In this play, power and strength watch from the knowledge of virtue. Ironically, blind Tiresias, who has the ability to see the truth, be humps en hard workerd to his own knowledge. Knowing the truth about Oedipus enlists him in the designs of fate as the catalyst of Oedipus destructive revelation. The prophet takes strength in knowing what he knows is true but, as he says in line 316, he is not able to profit from the knowledge. squeeze into dispute with the king of Thebes, by playing off of the anxieties of the main character, the simpleton power of knowing what another does not know protects Tiresias.Gradually Tiresias and Oedipus relationships with the truth are revealed as that of knowledge and ignorance, respectively. The anxieties that plague Oedipus, making him weak and disposed to paranoia, are rooted in the obscurity of his origins. In response to accusations do by Oedipus, Tiresias declares that he is neither a conspirator in a scheme concocted by Oedipus paranoid mind, nor his supplicant. Rather, Tiresias states that he is a slave of Loxias the suspicious one.In whatever manner the mechanics of Tiresias prophetic sight function, to commiserate the nature of truth, they must include deciphering the ambiguous. As a true slave of Loxias, he is incapable of directly t elling Oedipus the truth but forever speaks enigmatically. An extreme annoyance to Oedipus, such seemingly vague speech whitethorn be the only way that the truth may be expressed. Tiresias is frankincense fluent in the language of truth and is speaking to Oedipus, who claims to excel in deciphering riddles, in the clearest manner. Tiresias knows who Oedipus parents are, and he knows that the revelation of Oedipus genealogy will cause the foundations of Oedipus personal identity to crumble, simultaneously destroying one man and causing another man to come into being.