12/25/2023 0 Comments Creon and the blind prophetTiresias does not condemn Creon’s original actions and mistake, rather Tiresias shows that error is anticipated and seen as a natural part of human experience. Thus, in these lines Sophocles sums up the moral of his work and the philosophy of his society.Through the statement “all men make mistakes, it is only human” the reader is assured that mistakes are natural and, while not condoned by the gods, definitely expected. To show undue pride and stubbornness in the face of one’s own mistakes was unheard of in Greek society and therefore punishable by the gods. For Creon to act as if he was faultless and capable of no wrong was to act as if he was a god, an unthinkable offense. Stubbornness brands you for stupidity-pride is a crime.” This warning by Tiresias stresses how Creon had gone against the will of the gods and the ideals of ancient Greek society. But once the wrong is done, a man can turn his back on folly, misfortune too, if he tries to make amends, however low he’s fallen, and stops his bullnecked ways. Oedipus asks to be banished and, bidding farewell to his daughters Antigone and Ismene, the blind man leaves the city.As the Greek tragedy Antigone builds up to a climax, Creon is warned that “ll men make mistakes, it is only human. Overcome with grief, Oedipus blinds himself with her golden brooches. ![]() Horrified, he follows Jocasta, who has already rushed into the palace, where she hangs herself. Oedipus realizes that the prophecy has come true, and that he did indeed murder his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. His suspicions aroused, he sends for the shepherd, who confirms that Oedipus was the son of King Laius. The messenger also reveals that Oedipus was in fact adopted as a child, having been raised by a shepherd. But Oedipus remembers that long ago he had indeed slain a man in a brawl at a crossroads.Ī messenger arrives with news that the King of Corinth, whom Oedipus believed to be his father, has died. Her son, she tells him, had been abandoned on a mountainside at birth to thwart the oracle’s prediction. Jocasta, Oedipus’s wife, comforts him, reminding him of reports that Laius was killed by thieves at a crossroads. Teiresias informs him that he, Oedipus, murdered Laius, and Oedipus flies into a rage. Oedipus determines to find the murderer, and turns to the blind prophet Teiresias for help. The oracle reveals that Thebes is being punished for harboring the murderer of Laius, the city’s former King. The city is suffering a great plague, and Oedipus has sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the oracle to seek advice. When the play opens, Oedipus is King of Thebes. ![]() Oedipus has unknowingly fulfilled a prophecy issued at his birth by the Delphic oracle, that he would in time kill his father and marry his mother. ![]() Though written more than 2,500 years ago, Oedipus still holds the center of Western drama and psychology-a tautly plotted, terrifyingly swift account of human pride and vulnerability that speaks precisely to our own age. Aristotle regarded Sophocles’ tragedy as the masterpiece of Greek drama-an unflinching portrayal of a man’s descent from self-assurance and strength to shame and isolation.
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