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In Sophocles story of Oedipus Rex the author uses various literary elements to expose the main heros personality and create a constant impression of tragic and disastrous setting throughout the whole play. Many contrasts are done through numerous allusions to the light and dark side of each situation to portray the duality of everything that happens and is predestined to happen. This symbolism is mainly used to show the hopelessness of the main heroes to change their fate and the prophesied future. Sophocles has portrayed Oedipus as a good-natured person that the original Greek audience could sympathize with and relate themselves to. He is depicted as a respectable figure, who does not seem to be able any kind of malicious deeds which could lead to his degradation and ruination of his authority. Sophocles made sure that the audience would view Oedipus as a respectable and credible hero by giving him many of the popular traits of that time.
These ideals were taken from the general philosophy and respected traits considered during Sophocles life. Most of Oedipus notions, can be traced back to either the dialectic Socrates in who appeared in Plato's several works, or Plato's student Aristotle. These notions were being circulated throughout Greece during the time period, which Oedipus was thought to be presented, making them common knowledge for the audience of the time (Friedlander 7). From the very beginning Oedipus goodness, self-confidence, and rationality are shown allowing everyone to see his positive side. These traits however are taken over respectively by impiety, passion and a lack of confidence when his pride and life-stability are threatened further in the story. Oedipus is human, regardless of his pride intelligence, or his stubbornness, and the audience can recognize this in his agonizing reaction to his sins.
Watching this, the audience is certainly moved to both pity and fear: pity for this broken man, and fear that his tragedy could be the audiences own. Collapsing the events of the play into the moments before and after Oedipus realization, and by using the transition of the light side of the main hero being ruined by his dark experience and fate, Sophocles catches and heightens the drama. Using this dramatic irony to involve the audience, the characters come alive in all their flawed glory. Another reference to the light versus darkness metaphor occurs early in the play, used in comparison of Oedipus ability to see and his positive will and Tiresias blindness and supposed treachery. The King falsely blames Tiresias and Creon of conspiracy against him Creon, the soul of trust, my loyal friend from the start steals against me...
so hungry to overthrow me he sets this wizard on me, this scheming quack, this fortune-teller peddling lies, eyes peeled for his own profit - seer blind in his craft! Tiresias responds to Oedipus by using the same metaphor to deny Kings accusations So, you mock my blindness? Let me tell you this. You with your precious eyes, youre blind to the corruption of your life, to the house you live in, those you live with - who are your parents? Do you know? All unknowing you are the scourge of your own flesh and blood, the dead below the earth and the living here above, and the double lash of your mother and your fathers curse will whip you from this land one day, their footfall treading you down in terror, darkness shrouding your eyes that now can see the light!
Though at this point of the play the audience cannot be sure which character is correct, but eventually Tiresias comes out the winner. This is revealed as Oedipus learns his tragic fate, saying, O god - all come true, all burst to light! O light - now let me look my last on you! I stand revealed at last - cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage, cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands!
Here the used metaphor of light represents the truth about the main hero supported by the disastrous dark consequences of this knowledge. Ironically, this causes the king to gouge out his eyes, which have been blind to the truth for so long. Dramatic irony and conflict between the right and wrong, light and dark actions is also represented in two different attempts of the main heroes to change the course of fate to the better side, eventually resulting in tragedy. Jocasta and Laiuss attempt to kill Oedipus at birth and Oedipus flight from Corinth later on are two examples of this.
In both cases, an oracles prophecy comes true regardless of the characters actions. Jocasta tries to kill her son only to find him restored to life and married to her. Oedipus leaves Corinth only to find that in doing so he has found his real parents and carried out the oracles words. Both Oedipus and Jocasta prematurely exult over the failure of oracles, only to find that the oracles were right after all.
Each time a character tries to avert the future predicted by the oracles, the audience knows the characters attempts are futile, creating the sense of irony that permeates the play. Even the manner in which Oedipus and Jocasta express their disbelief in oracles is ironic. In an attempt to comfort Oedipus, Jocasta tells him that oracles are powerless; yet at the beginning of the very next scene she is praying to the same gods whose powers she has just mocked. From the start of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus piety, reason and confidence are portrayed allowing everyone to see his positive side. However as Oedipus pride is hurt or threatened his negative traits respectively take over. His piety becomes impiety, his reason turns to passion, and his confidence leads to a lack of confidence in himself.
Throughout the whole play Sophocles show his audience how the traits of Oedipus and other main figures balance between the light and dark side of their action and desires and eventually lose to the prophesied inevitable. This can be well observed on the figure of the main himself. Pride prevented him to believe what the truth may be which led him to act impious as well as out of passion. He lost his sense of self worth and became the thing he hated the most.
Overall Oedipus had the potential to be great leader and if it was not his need the sense of pride then he would have realized the truth a lot sooner and accepted it. Although he began by acting in a positive manner, the positive actions prevented him to believe and caused his downfall. Oedipus, being the tragic hero that he is falls into bad fortune because of such flaws in his character. Bibliography: Friedlander MD, Ed. Enjoying Oedipus the King by Sophocles. 27 March 2004 Online Posting. 2 Nov. 1999. < web >. Sophocles.
Oedipus the King. Trans. Robert Files. The Three Theban Plays. New York: Viking Penguin Incorporated, 1982. 155 - 252.
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