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 truth. Paranoid and fond 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 champion and defender 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 truth. Ironically, blind Tiresias, who has the top executive to see 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. The prophet ta kes strength in knowing what he knows is true but, as he says in line 316, he is not able to profit from the knowledge. Forced into dispute with the king of Thebes, by playing rancid 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 plague Oedipus, making him loose and prone to paranoia, are rooted in the obscurity 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 mechanics of Tiresias prophetic sight function, to understand the character of truth, they must include deciphering the ambiguous. As a true slave of Loxias, he is incapable of directly telling Oedipu s the truth but always speaks enigmatically. An extreme pain in the neck to Oedipus, such seemingly vague speech may be the only way that the truth may be expressed. Tiresias is thus fluent in the run-in 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 causing another man to come into being.