Vicki Yang, 11/20/20, PD8, Day C

Vicki Yang
Modern Mythology 2021
11/25/2020
Period 8


When talking about the state of catharsis in tragedies, we are specifically referring to the purge of emotions for the audience or reader when the characters finally understand everything that the audience does, and when irony is added to the story, it helps to increase this state of catharsis. This is shown in the play “Oedipus Rex” where the irony is that the blind truly see everything while those who can see are ignorant.

In the story, the main character, Oedipus, encounters multiple oracles who are blind. To him, they seem to be a nuisance and because of their uncooperative nature, but to the audience, our knowledge of oracles tells us that they are actually able to see the full truth and are wiser than Odepus realizes.

An example of this is at the beginning of the play where Oedipus catches wind that he may not be the king and queen’s actual son and as a result, he goes to consult Delphi the oracle. Instead of answering his question straight-forwardly, she tells him that he will marry his mother and kill his father. Realizing this, Oedipus leaves Corinth in an attempt to escape his fate. Like most characters who ask about their fate, they are usually trying actively to change them in order to keep his or her power, money, etc. They are ignorant to the truth much like Oedipus was in this situation. Although it is known that oracles are never wrong, he was ignorant of the idea that his fate would come true and left him to try to escape it, which would inevitably lead to his destiny that was predetermined by Delphi.

Similarly, near the end of the play when the blind oracle tells Oedipus that he was the murderer that the people were looking for. Right after this information is brought to light, Oedipus refuses to believe that the oracle was telling the truth and even Jocasta agrees and explains that she believes fate can be changed, which is why she and her husband sent away from their son years prior. Once again the characters’ ignorance makes them believe that they are able to change destiny and the oracle, although blind, is able to accept and see the truth that they can not see.

Finally, at the end of the story, Oedipus stabs his eyes causing him to become blind which is what allows him to no longer be ignorant. By blinding himself, he is then truly able to reflect upon his decisions that he made and learned the true nature of the power of the gods and fate.

The main reason that I found this irony intriguing because I felt as though it very closely relates to the people of the present day. In the year 2020, we have seen prejudice and unjust actions in America. We saw that those with privilege and power, much like those who are able to see in “Oedipus Rex” are more ignorant towards the unfortunate discrimination that those who are underprivileged, like the blind oracles, experience. An example of this is the people who are in support and not in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Throughout social media, I saw that the reason that many people do not support this movement is that they believe that racism is not as prevalent in the country anymore or that it doesn’t exist, and the main reason for this is because they do not experience it. Those who are very privileged oftentimes do not experience unjustified behavior from police officers or other people on the street. However, if you were to look at the lives of those who are underprivileged, minorities, we can see that racism is more prevalent than people can fathom. And similar to the irony from the story, just because you don’t want to believe something is true, doesn’t mean it isn’t. Just because Oedipus didn’t want his fate to come true, doesn’t mean it won’t and just because you may not experience racism, doesn’t mean it does not exist.