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Intro. to Lit -004
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The Oedipus and Tiresias Scene:
"Everyman" and the Limits of Human Knowledge

        The encounter between Oedipus and Tiresias demonstrates an important thematic idea in Sophocles' play Oedipus the King.  The scene depicts Oedipus as a personification of humanity, which, no matter how great its achievements, is severely limited in its understanding of why people undergo terrible pain in their lives.  Oedipus represents an exalted "Everyman," a representative of all people, who are often wise, but sometimes foolish.  Tiresias, on the other hand, stands for "truth."  But truth is here depicted as fact, that which will occur; it simply exists.  Inherent in their conflict is that human wisdom, as represented by Oedipus, has limitations that must be acknowledged.  The unknowable reasons for suffering cannot be answered by "reason" alone: no matter how diligent, no matter how we draw on past experiences or our powers of observation, we cannot assure happiness or alleviate pain from our lives.  The "truth" of life, as Oedipus comes to learn, is beyond human comprehension.

       In their first encounter, Oedipus and Tiresias accuse one another of blindness and arrogance, which is appropriate for an understanding of Oedipus's function as Everyman.  As a recurrent metaphor in the play, "blindness" stands for the limits of knowledge.  Sight becomes the most important of the five senses for Oedipus, especially as it relates to reason, because, like most people, he bases truth on observable facts.  And it is not by accident that Sophocles has the blind "seer" Tiresias in conflict with the sighted though "blind" Oedipus, who seeks the truth as to why his people suffer.  The language of this scene is filled with words that relate to the physical senses: "understand" (hear), "say," and "touch."  When Tiresias, who knows the cause but not the gods' purposes for the prophecy, patiently says that he has given Oedipus the answer he seeks, Oedipus angrily responds "What? Say it again—I’ll understand it better" (Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, vol. 7, 408).  Tiresias repeats the truth, what the gods have permitted him to know, but Oedipus cannot grasp it and denounces the prophet: "You've lost your power, / stone-blind, stone-deaf—senses, eyes blind as stone!" (422-23).  For Oedipus, Tiresias cannot account for the suffering of the people because he suffers a limitation that Oedipus does not.  He is blind, and thus cannot observe or reason.  Oedipus rejects the prophet's words, therefore, because they are beyond his comprehension and cannot be "true."

  For Oedipus, to be in control of all human faculties, to possess a command of the five senses, especially sight, represents Everyman's ability to grasp all knowledge.  Nor is he unjustified in his assumption, for the blind prophet Tiresias could not save the city from the curse of the Sphinx as Oedipus had: "When the Sphinx, that chanting Fury kept her deathwatch here, / why silent then, not a word to set our people free?" (445-46).  Tiresias offers no answer, except to state that Oedipus's "good fortune" was, in fact, his "ruin" (504).  Tiresias does not need to respond further, for the suffering that Oedipus will soon experience will not be mitigated by his past deeds or moments of glory.  Oedipus's victory over the Sphinx has blinded him into proudly believing that reason and observation translate into self-sufficiency, that there are no limits to human knowledge: "I stopped the Sphinx!  ... / the flight of my own intelligence hit the mark" (452-53).

Oedipus's boast is ironic, for his reference to an arrow finding its mark suggests the same image that Greek dramatists used for error—hamartia, which means "missing the bull's-eye."  Oedipus indeed hit the target in destroying the Sphinx, but his pride in his own accomplishments blinds him into believing that he can again find the center: the reason for human suffering.  The archery image suggests that this time he has failed to find the vital center of truth.  His pride is his error, his hamartia.  And that is what Tiresias knows but Oedipus fails to understand.  Tiresias has no need to justify his own inability to solve the riddle of the Sphinx, for, as he says to Oedipus, "I serve Apollo" (467).  The scene suggests that no matter how far humanity excels in its accomplishments and reasoning abilities, human knowledge is still limited, because the gods alone can divine that most important of truths: why people must suffer.  Oedipus is exceptional; an Everyman at his full potential; but his self-sufficient pride brings an exceptional price. 

 Pride is an affront to the gods, because wisdom must acknowledge that the reasons for life's pains are beyond human understanding and can only be divined by gods such as Apollo, whom Tiresias serves and the Chorus, made up of Theban citizens, pray to: "I call Apollo, Archer astride the thunderheads of heaven" (184).  As the god of light, prophecy, and truth, Apollo is the supreme archer, not Oedipus, who is merely mortal.  Yet after the Chorus' prayer, Oedipus's vanity becomes obvious: "You pray to the gods?  Let me grant your prayers. / Come, listen to me" (246).  His excessive pride causes him to dismiss Tiresias as merely a "pious fraud" (443).

 Pride is part of Everyman's nature, what is the best and worst in all of us.  The character of Oedipus represents the finest in human accomplishments, but he also points out humanity's limitations.  Suffering and death are beyond "reason," the play suggests, and the confrontation between Tiresias and Oedipus demonstrates humanity's inability to answer the unknowable.  The Chorus, who has witnessed their angry scene, seems willing to accept those limitations:  

  Zeus and Apollo know, they know, the great masters
  of all the dark and depth of human life. 
  But whether a mere man can know the truth, 
  whether a seer can fathom more than I --
  there is no test, no certain proof
  though matching skill for skill
  a man can outstrip a rival.  (561-67)  

 Yet still they side with Oedipus—“No, not till I see / these charges proved will I side with his accusers" (567-68)—because Oedipus represents the best of humanity, a man whose talents are beyond their own.  When Oedipus finally sees that the truth of human misery is beyond even his comprehension, he blinds himself—an act that suggests surrender to the unknowable and the limits of human knowledge.

 

 

 

 

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