Oedipus Rex and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave: The Illusion of Reality Essay

Sophocles was k straightwayn for his ferocity on the individuals strict search for truth, particularly in Oedipus Rex. In Platos simile of the Cave, he, as well as to Sophocles, illustrates military mans pursuit of truth and what that means. Plato suggests that truth is subjective to individu every(prenominal)y man. however what is truer? What is deceit and what is globe? Just because something is illusion for one man does not make it double-dealing for the new(prenominal). To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images (Plato). The story of Oedipus offers a lot of examples of the philosophy that Plato poses in his dialogue.In both(prenominal) deeds, the men first had to realize their ignorance before they could convey to acquire acquaintance and true understanding of the complexities of the human condition Oedipus in a literal sense and the man in the cave in a more(prenominal) theoretical sense. Oedipus discovers, after piercing out his midpoints, that he has finally arrived at the truth of his life sentence and that he now has a responsibility to share his story with his children, extended family, and citizens. And in Platos Allegory of the Cave, the prisoners difficulty discovering the truth lies in his unfortunate restricted life within the cave.And when he escapes, he feels compelled to en wakingen new(prenominal)s with the newly give truth he has stumbled upon. And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the cave and his faller prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the tear and pity them? (Plato) Oedipus Rex and Platos Allegory of the Cave are works s lightheartedly truth and falsehood, about destiny and cecity, about light and darkness all of which represent the great divide surrounded by illusion and honesty. Oedipus is blinded by the illusion that he has fled his fate, having overcome the prophecy.He moots he has escaped his parents, and thi s illusion is his reality. Throughout the undertake, Oedipus utters curse upon curse onto himself without knowing because he refuses to suck in reality of the irate truth before him. The contrast between what is truth and what is falsehood is a prominent guinea pig throughout both classical works. Oedipus is on the search for truth, no matter what the cost. He finds truth to be a worthyy cause, no matter what harsh realities it may show them. The emphasis on truth is seemn with more clarity in the dialogue between Oedipus and Teiresias.Oedipus rages at Teiresias for speaking out against him by dictating Oedipus fate. Oedipus yells, Can you possibly think you have some way of going free, after such rancor? Then Teiresias replies, I have gone free. It is the truth that sustains me. Oedipus retaliates, It seems you can go on mouthing like this forever. Teiresias indeed concludes by saying, I can if on that point is power in truth (Sophocles 889-890) Teiresias, a blind man, takes consolation in the truth, despite the harshness of the reality. Oedipus, though initially enraged at this proposition, then starts to understand its importance and power.This situation is very similar to what is seen in Platos work. The prisoner is bound by the illusion of his false sense of rest and security. When he is rel salved and emerges from the cave, he is overcome by the power of the light of the sun. The public eye will distress him, and he will be un fitting to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him? (Plato) Platos proposition of mans reaction to new and disclose truths, despite the harshness, almost perfectly parallels Oedipus reaction.And even the irony of when the prisoners mock their mate inmate for being delusional in his lack of belief in the realities of the shadows parallel the relationship between Oedipus and Te iresias. Oedipus, after being told the reality by Teiresias says, You child of endless night You cannot hurt me or any other man who sees the sun (890 lines 156-157) Oedipus is blinded by his illusions and perception of what is reality. There is glary irony in the contrast of piling and blindness in Sophocles play. Oedipus, age being able to physically see, is indeed blinded to reality.Teiresias, who is physically blind, sees the reality and accepts it and attempts to spread that reality to Oedipus who is obstinate to see. Teiresias rebukes Oedipus in his mockery saying, You call me unfeeling, if exactly you could see the nature of your own feelings Listen to me. You mock my blindness, do you? But I say that you, with both your eyes, are blind. You cannot see the wretchedness of your life (Sophocles 890-891). This aspect of the reality, the truth, is represented in Platos piece by the acclivitous out of the cave into the valet.Obtaining sight happens, as Plato moulds it, wit h the minds eye and the incarnate eye. But this conversion from being blind to being able to see does not happen to everyone and not very easily. Plato argues that the capacity of sight is in the soul already, the eyes of the mind just need to routine from darkness to light in order to see the military personnel. the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming into that of being, and of learn by degrees to endure the sight of being, and of the brightest and best of being, or in other words, of the good (Plato).The transition from blindness to sight, darkness into light, is not a quick or easy process. It is harsh and requires determination and a strong, intellectual mind. After Oedipus is brought into the light of reality, he longs for the epoch he was not burdened with the harshness and misery reality brings he wants to return to darkness, returning to the security of his illusion. If I could have stifled my audienc e at its source, I would have done it and made all this ashes a tight cell of misery, blank to light and sound so I should have been safe in a dark overrefinement beyond all recollection (lines 159-163).The darkness of the cave and the power of the light outside of it is the most vivid picture painted by Plato in his allegory. He then continues, taking the allegory to the next level the prison-house cave is the world of sight, the light of the fire of the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journeying upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world gibe to my poor belief (Plato) Plato is saying that the material world we live in is not the fullest reality.We live in a world that is but shadows of the chockful reality we cannot see. In the context of Platos world, Oedipus, then, at the end of the play is still stuck in the next level of illusion. That is why he is so depressed. He has lost all of his sensual pleasures that Plato warns huma nity about, and Oedipus is thus leave feeling hopeless and lost in darkness. The complexity of these two works is enormous and poses questions which seem almost unanswerable. Yet they complement each other very well, as you would expect given their mutual classical background.They both address the same characteristics of life and human nature truth and falsehood, sight and blindness, and light and darkness, all tied together by a theme of the seemingly relative divide of illusion and reality. Both works put an emphasis on the importance of truth and its always worth it, no matter what the cost. There are different types of sight material and mental. It seems that in order to have stronger mental sight, it is better to be bodily blind as seen with Oedipus and Teiresias.Escaping from the darkness into the light is escaping the illusions that the world and you yourself have created. The individual, correspond to Plato, must have his eye fixed, so that he may, in the world of knowle dge, see the idea of good, which is seen only with effort and with a wisdom which more than anything else contains a divine element which always remains Sophocles and Plato both see there is something missing in the reality of our world.There has to be more to this reality, we, therefore, must be living illusory lives and we need to emerge from the cave. If we do not, we are confined to a life lacking of meaning, true knowledge, and purpose. thereof the picture we have of Oedipus at the end of the play stuck in a life which is full of falsehood, blindness, darkness, and is an illusion? Alas for the seed of men. What measure shall I give these generations that breathe on the void and are void and exist and do not exist?Who bears more weight of joy than host of sunlight shifting in images, or who shall make his thought full stop on that down time drifts away? Your splendor is all fall O Oedipus, most royal one The great door that expelled you to the light gave at night ah, gave n ight to your glory as to the father, to the fathering son. All silent too late For I weep the worlds outcast. I was blind, and now I can tell why asleep, for you had given ease of breath to Thebes, while the false years went by. (911-13 lines 1-9 32-36 49-53)