How do the ideas of blindness and sight correlate to the ideas of knowledge and ignorance throughout the play in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex?

Sophocles' Oedipus Rex (Greek: Oedipus Tyrannos) first appeared on the stage in Athens during the early years of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and its allies and Sparta and its allies. Like Thebes in Sophocles' play, Athens had also been experiencing a horrific plague. Undoubtedly, the Athenians, like Sophocles' fictional Thebans, had been consulting oracles and prophets about how to remedy this situation.

In Sophocles' play, the playwright takes up the question of whether...

Sophocles' Oedipus Rex (Greek: Oedipus Tyrannos) first appeared on the stage in Athens during the early years of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and its allies and Sparta and its allies. Like Thebes in Sophocles' play, Athens had also been experiencing a horrific plague. Undoubtedly, the Athenians, like Sophocles' fictional Thebans, had been consulting oracles and prophets about how to remedy this situation.

In Sophocles' play, the playwright takes up the question of whether physical sight equates to spiritual or intellectual knowledge. This idea is played out especially through the characters of Oedipus and Teiresias. Oedipus can see physically, but he does not realize until it is too late that he has killed his father and married his mother.

In contrast, the prophet Teiresias is physically blind, but he knows that Oedipus has killed his father and married his mother. Oedipus taunts Teiresias and his blindness, to which the prophet responds:

      "you have your eyesight, and you do not see
      how miserable you are, or where you live,
      or who it is who shares your household." (Johnston translation)

Ironically, when Oedipus eventually gains true knowledge about his past, he blinds himself. Thus, like Teiresias, Oedipus becomes physically blind but appears to gain some measure of spiritual or intellectual knowledge.

Interestingly, the first part of Oedipus' name is reminiscent of the Greek verb oida ("I know"). In Greek, Oedipus' name is spelled Oidipous. So, even though Oedipus' name indicates that he should have knowledge, Oedipus remains in ignorance until it is too late.