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 impartiality. Paranoid and quick to anger Oedipus, is markedly different from the confident(p) and self-assured Tiresias. In the dialogue between the two men, Oedipus rapidly progresses from praise of Tiresias as a champion and protector of Thebes in line 304, to blatantly accusing the blind prophet 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 come from the knowledge of integrity. Ironically, blind Tiresias, who has the ability to gibe the truth, becomes enslaved to his own knowledge. Knowing the truth about Oedipus enlists him in the designs of fate as the catalyst of Oedipus destructive revelation. Th e prophet takes strength in knowing what he knows is true but, as he says in line 316, he is non able to profit from the knowledge. Forced into dispute with the king of Thebes, by performing off of the anxieties of the main character, the simple 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 chevvy Oedipus, making him weak and prone to paranoia, are rooted in the obscureness of his origins. In response to accusations made 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 ambiguous one.In whatever manner the chemical mechanism of Tiresias prophetic sight function, to understand the nature of truth, they must include deciphering the ambiguous. As a true slave of Loxias, he is incapable of di rectly relation back Oedipus the truth but always speaks enigmatically. An extreme annoyance to Oedipus, such on the face of it vague speech may be the only way that the truth may be expressed. Tiresias is thus 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 identity to crumble, simultaneously destroying one man and cause another man to come into being.