Sophocles, Truth Seeking, and Knowledge

In his Oedipus the King, Sophocles sends a strange message about the power of knowledge. The Theban society both rewards and punishes knowledge. Knowledge and wisdom are what allow Oedipus to answer the riddle of the Sphinx and consequently attain greatness in Thebes. Regardless of his tragic methods, Oedipus pursues knowledge of Laios’s death even against Teiresias’s advice. Indeed, his dogged pursuit of the truth leads to his downfall. Oedipus was revered for his intelligence and just rule, but his pursuit of additional knowledge was deemed inappropriate by the gods. Thus, Sophocles appears to suggest that there is a limit to what Oedipus – or any man – should know. Perhaps Oedipus’s brash invective against Teiresias and Creon was rooted in a desire to understand something that humans were not meant to comprehend. If that is true, then Oedipus’s flaw is less of ruling unjustly (without any facts to support his accusations) than it is of hubris. Oedipus thinks he knows better than Teiresias – a messenger of the gods – and is entitled to the seer’s knowledge of Laios’s murder.

However, following the definition of a tragic mistake, that would mean that Oedipus would not have reached his terrible downfall if he had not blindly lashed out at Teiresias and Creon. Iocaste seems to support that hypothesis when she begs Oedipus not to continue searching for the truth of Laios’s death. It is understood that Oedipus should have respected Teiresias’s decision to withhold information. If Oedipus had not sought the truth of his father’s death, he would still have unwittingly fulfilled the initial prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother, but he would never have suffered the disgrace of finding out. He would not have been forced to confront his incestuous relationship and would not have shamed his family. Teiresias would never have had occasion to predict Oedipus’s humbling fall to become a “blind man / who has his eyes now; a penniless man, who is rich now / and he will go tapping the strange earth with his staff…” In short, Oedipus would never have been fated to disgrace and therefore, he would never have fulfilled that prophecy.

Oedipus was loved in Thebes and could probably have remained a popular and effective leader if he had not allowed his pride to cloud his judgment. However, even with his sight, Oedipus was not able to see what lay right in front of him. He sought a truth denied to him and it cost him his sight, his honor, and his family.