Socrates once said, “Seers and prophets deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.” Seers in The Iliad, Agamemnon, and Oedipus the King have a crucial role in the overall plot of each play and tend to foretell the demise of their superiors. They blindly predict the future based on supernatural powers that only the gods such as Apollo possess. Calchas, Cassandra, and Tiresias are all seers who stand out in terms of how they drive the play in becoming a tragedy. The three seers are granted with the gift of prophecy from Apollo, and were always taken for granted by their superiors. However, they all differ in terms of their physical and mental suffering and how they attempted to prophesize the future.
All three seers share a common origin regarding their ability to foretell the future. They were all granted their powers by Apollo, god of prophecies. When Cassandra was asked how she was able to tell what the future of Agamemnon will be, she simply replied by stating that “Apollo the Prophet introduced (her) to his gift” (Aeschylus 1207-1208). Apollo was the only god that was able to grant her with the ability to prognosticate the eventual deaths of herself and Agamemnon. Not only was Cassandra granted the ability to foresee the future, but Calchas and Tiresias were able to possess this god-like power as well. In fact, “Calchas as the man…who is described as the best of diviners…which was exclusively given to him by Apollo” (Ronen 276). Calchas was granted this ability by Apollo as well, and only Apollo. No other deity could have been able to grant Calchas with the ability to prophesize. Apollo is the only Greek god who is capable of allowing others to become seers. Furthermore, when “Tiresias was...
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...1330-1337). She is extremely direct regarding her revelations and does not seem to hide it from the people. Her body was not possessed by any god and was simply stating what is going to happen. The three seers took very distinctive methods in attempting to warn the people of what is to come and were able to inform them of their future.
Calchas, Cassandra and Tiresias all played a fundamental role in all three Greek pieces of literature. All three seers possess this god-like ability of telling what the future holds but do so in an unknowing manner. They all shared many similar characteristics in regards as to how they were perceived by the people and how they obtained the power of seer craft. Yet they differed in terms of how they struggled with their powers and the suffering they had to endure as well as how they were able to let the people know what is to come.
In the play “Oedipus Rex by Sophocles” the themes of sight and blindness are produced to develop in the readers mind that it is not the eyesight, but insight that holds the key to truth and without It no amount of knowledge can help uncover the truth. Insight can be described as the ability to see what is going to happen. Characters like Oedipus and Teiresias hold a significant role in the play and other characters like Iocaste are also important in the play.
Foreshadowing is literary device by which an author hints what is to come. People cannot predict their future, however the choices they make foreshadow what the future will hold for them. In the epic, The Odyssey by Homer is about Odysseus’s journey back home and at the end of Book Nine, Homer used foreshadowing through prophecy’s curse and naming an approaching event. Homer use foreshadowing through Polyphemus’s prayer and when Odysseus was cursed by Zeus. After Odysseus escape from the Polyphemus and anger him, Polyphemus prayed to his father that Odysseus “never reaches home” and if he does, “let him come home late and come a broken man- all shipmates lost” (153). Homer also added, “so he prayed and the god of the sea blue mane Poseidon
Yet, despite the fact that no two women in this epic are alike, each—through her vices or virtues—helps to delineate the role of the ideal woman. Below, we will show the importance of Circe, Calypso, Nausicaa, Clytaemestra, and Penelope in terms of the movement of the narrative and in defining social roles for the Ancient Greeks. Before we delve into the traits of individual characters, it is important to understand certain assumptions about women that prevailed in the Homeric Age. By modern standards, the Ancient Greeks would be considered a rabidly misogynistic culture. Indeed, the notoriously sour Boetian playwright Hesiod-- who wrote about fifty years before Homer-- proclaimed "Zeus who thunders on high made women to be evil to mortal men, with a nature to do evil (Theogony 600).
Kane, Robert L. “Prophecy and Perception in the Oedipus Rex.” Transactions of the American Philological Association 1975: 189-208.
oracle in Greek religion, priest or priestess who imparted the response of a god to a human questioner. The word is also used to refer to the response itself and to the shrine of a god. Every oracular shrine had a fixed method of divination. Many observed signs, such as the motion of objects dropped into a spring, the movement of birds, or the rustle of leaves. Often dreams were interpreted. A later and popular method involved the use of entranced persons whose ecstatic cries were interpreted by trained attendants. Before an oracle was questioned consultants underwent rites of purification and sacrifice. There were many established oracles in ancient Greece, the most famous being those of Zeus at Dodona and of Apollo at Delphi and at Didyma in Asia Minor. Other oracular shrines were located in Syria, Egypt, and Italy.
Conversely, the soothsayer Teiresias is blind from the beginning of the story, but has full use of his prophetic vision. He knows the truth of Oedipus and his family, but at first doesn’t want to tell him, as he knows what it will mean for Oedipus and the kingdom. When he does explain his knowledge, Oedipus doesn’t believe any of it, due to his own over confidence. Teirseias says “You have your eyes but see not where you are in sin, nor where you live, nor whom you live with.” He is telling Oedipus the truth, but Oedipus refuses acknowledge that he may, in fact, be living in darkness.
In Oedipus The King, Sophocles presents a view of life fixed by fate. This fate, predetermined by the gods, is the sole factor in deciding human destiny. Tiresias expresses his understanding of the unchangeable fate of Oedipus, laid out by the gods, as he argues with the King about revealing the truth of all the Theban troubles. When Oedipus, frustrated by the lack of cooperation, insults Tiresias, he responds "I pity you, flinging at me the very insults / each man here will fling at you so soon."(322) Even more telling of the fated existence of Sophocles' characters is Jocasta's revelation of prophecies given before Oedipus' birth which foretold all that the gods had in store, which had indeed come to pass (332).
People have visited physics’ and fortunetellers for centuries to find out what is going to happen in their future, or to help them make an important decision that they faced. This is what King Laius did in the play “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles. King Laius, Oedipus’s father went to the Oracle at Delphi. Upon receiving the prophecy that his son Oedipus will kill him and marry his mother and commit incest with her, King Laius of his own free will ordered that Oedipus feet be bound by riveting his ankles together and sent him to Mount Cithaeron to perish. “Laius, king of Thebes, was warned by an oracle that his son would slay him. Accordingly, when his wife, Jocasta bore a son, he exposed the baby on Mt. Cithaeron, first pinning his ankles together (hence the name Oedipus, meaning Swell-Foot)”(1).
Alexander the Great states, “Remember upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.” In this way, Alexander shows the belief of fate in ancient times. By looking at this mindset, the beliefs of these ancient people can be seen. These ancient people also had a strong belief in the omens and prophecies given by the gods. In both Greek and Roman times, omens and prophecies structured the lives of these ancient people through their tradition, stories, and way of living.
Sophocles introduces a prophet, a seer, Teiresias, into the play. Teiresias is a wise, old man who has supernatural powers to interpret the past and predict the future. Ironically, Teiresias is physically blind, but can “see” the truth about Oedipus. Oedipus has trouble imagining that his father life was taken at his hands. It signifies that Oedipus as a man is ignorant to the true appearance of things - this blind man can "see" the truth about Oedipus, yet Oedipus, in all of his physical perfection, cannot.
The play Oedipus Tyrannus, written by Sophocles, is a play filled with symbols and irony involving the aspect of both vision and blindness. This aspect of the novel takes on an important role in the life of Oedipus, the ruler of Thebes. He originally feels as though he knows and sees everything, nevertheless, as the motto of the Oracle at Delphi states, he does not "know thyself," as he will find out toward the end of the play. The notion of seeing and blindness becomes an important and ironic symbol in the tragic fall of Oedipus, a man who could not escape his lot or moira.
Since there is a human element to prophecies, these foresights cannot be seen as coming directly from God. However, through looking at the chorus over time in Oedipus the King, we can see how Sophocles’ effectively defends the prophet. Opposed to Oedipus, whose beliefs about religion are stagnant through the play, the chorus originally believes in God. But, once Tiresias condemns Oedipus, the chorus not only abandons their respect for the divine but also tries fruitlessly to find something or someone that solidifies its belief in Oedipus’ innocence. However, when trying to convince Oedipus (and itself) that he would be acquitted of murder in the morning, the chorus calls upon the power of prophets and says that, “…if I am a true prophet / if I can grasp the truth…at the full moon of tomorrow, Mount Cithaeron / you will know how / Oedipus glories in you— / you, his birthplace, nurse, his mountain-mother!” (1195-1199). However subconsciously it makes this comment, the chorus is saying that it would only trust a prophet to tell Oedipus when he will discover the story of his birth. By saying that prophets will provide Oedipus accurate information, the chorus not only recognizes the inescapable power of the Gods but also correctly predicts that these Gods will indeed tell Oedipus’ true story—even though it is likely not what the chorus wants to hear. In other words, while trying to avoid the religion that it once so fervently proclaimed faith in, the chorus is forced to go back to using prophecies in order to gain information—information that ends up being true. The inescapable nature of religion in Oedipus the King shown through the chorus’ forced return to faith allows Sophocles to successfully defend the Gods. This defense and support for the power of the Gods is what allows the reader to realize that the
Sincerely caring for his people, he desires to make Thebes lives better by revealing the death of Laius, meaning if he solves the problem, he will become a hero. He asks for the help of his brother in law – Creon, and he brings Tiresias, the blind prophet who can see from Apollo’s eyes, to answer Oedipus’ concern. Unfortunately, Oedipus has several weaknesses that lead to the outcomes. He fears of rebellion, subverts the laws when frightened, and refuses to listen to others when he is mad. He accuses Creon as a betrayer when Tiresias indicates that he is the killer and even wants Creon to die. He
Throughout Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, there are many references to sight, blindness, and seeing the truth. Characters, such as Tiresias, are able to accurately predict what Oedipus’ fate will be through their power to see the truth in a situation. Oedipus maintains a pompous and arrogant personality throughout the play as he tries to keep control of the city of Thebes and prove the speculations about his fate as falsities. Ironically, although Tiresias is physically blind, he is able to correctly predict how Oedipus’ backstory will unfold, while other characters, such as Jocasta and Oedipus are oblivious to the truth even though they can physically see. Thus, we can conclude that the power of “seeing the truth” deviates greatly from the power of sight in reality and can lead to an expedited fate or a detrimental occurrence.
In the play Oedipus the King, Sophocles affirms that the gods ultimately have the final say to control one’s destiny; however, an individual is solely responsible for the decisions he makes. Approaching near the climax, Sophocles sets up a fundamental conflict of the play, the need for Oedipus and Jocasta to perceive the immutable state of prophecy through the consequences that deliver itself when the gods fulfill their plans for one’s destiny. The messenger even describes the omnipotent power of the gods, and witnesses the augury of death proposed by the supernatural, finally stating: