Oedipus King, Sophocles, Tiresias, power of truth, force of truth, power of power, Greek tragedy, ancient Greek literature, Oedipus, Jocasta, Antigone
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Abstract
Extract
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Abstract
Analysis of the dialogue between Oedipus and Tiresias in Sophocles' Oedipus King, exploring the stakes carried by the word and the legitimacy of discourse.
Extract
[...] To conclude, the stakes carried by the word in this excerpt are the silence of Tiresias, Oedipus's questioning of the crimes committed and his denial of reality and the legitimacy of the discourse in relation to two different forces: the power of power and the force of truth. We find this phenomenon of the legitimacy of the discourse according to the force of truth or the force of power in the great struggle of philosophers and sophists and more particularly in the dialogue of Plato between Socrates and Gorgias where Socrates is in search of truth for the truth and nothing more, it is the force of truth that animates him, while Gorgias, who is a professor of rhetoric, represents the power of power since he teaches rhetoric for purely material purposes and not for the search for truth. [...]
[...] Going to Thebes, Oedipus meets a caravan in which there is King Laius. He argues with them and kills almost everyone, including the king. Arrived in Thebes, he delivers the inhabitants from the sphinx that terrorizes the city. Following this, the king being dead, Oedipus is appointed king and marries Queen Jocasta and thus the second part of the prediction was fulfilled. Subsequently, Oedipus will seek who killed Laius because an oracle said that as long as the murder of the old king is not avenged, Thebes will sink into a dark evil. [...]
[...] In the excerpt, it is Oedipus who represents the power of power and the prophet Tiresias who represents the force of truth. In the work in general, we can see that the author gives the legitimacy of the discourse to the force of truth because, like any respectable tragedy, Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus blinds himself and goes into exile guided by his daughter Antigone, born herself from the incestuous relations of Oedipus and his mother Jocaste. It is the blind in mind who becomes physically blind in order not to have seen the truth. [...]
[...] We will ask ourselves what are the stakes carried by the word in this excerpt. In the first place, we will see how Tiresias wants to silence the word because he is the holder of a dark truth; in the second place, we will see how Oedipus wants to force this word to emerge even if he is in denial and finally, we will ask ourselves what legitimizes the discourse, the power of the power or 'the power of the truth'. [...]
[...] By this decree and this accusation, Tiresias wants to reduce Oedipus to silence because according to him, his word is a source of defilement. In this second part, we will see how Oedipus wants to force this word to emerge from the mouth of Tiresias even if he is in denial regarding the dark truth. Oedipus, on the other hand, represents the character of the word, both in the excerpt and in the work. For example, it is he who will solve the riddle of the Sphinx on man and free the inhabitants of Thebes from it. [...]
