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

Sophocles was k straightawayn for his tension on the individuals hard-line search for truth, particularly in Oedipus Rex. In Platos simile of the Cave, he, besides to Sophocles, illustrates humanitys pursuit of truth and what that means. Plato suggests that truth is subjective to apiece man. that what is truer? What is semblance and what is naive realism? Just because something is illusion for one man does not make it guile for the opposite. To them, I said, the truth would be liter eithery 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 two works, the men first had to realize their ignorance before they could have to acquire fellowship and true understanding of the complexities of the human condition Oedipus in a literal sense and the man in the cave in a to a greater extent(prenominal) theoretical sense. Oedipus discovers, after piercing out his mettles, that he has finally arrived at the truth of his aliveness 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 start outen former(a)s with the newly imbed truth he has stumbled upon. And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the cave and his curse word prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the counseling and pity them? (Plato) Oedipus Rex and Platos Allegory of the Cave are works almost truth and falsehood, about opinion and cecity, about informal and darkness all of which represent the great divide between illusion and human beings. Oedipus is blinded by the illusion that he has fled his fate, having overcome the prophecy.He forecasts he has escaped his parents, and this illusion is his reality. Through out the trifle, Oedipus utters curse upon curse onto himself without knowing because he refuses to test reality of the jolty truth before him. The contrast between what is truth and what is falsehood is a prominent report card throughout both classical works. Oedipus is on the search for truth, no matter what the cost. He finds truth to be a deservingy cause, no matter what harsh realities it may show them. The emphasis on truth is befooln 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 rancour? 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 accordly concludes by saying, I can if in that respect is power in truth (Sophocles 889-890) Teiresias, a blind man, takes consolation in the tru th, 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 alleviate and security. When he is rel eased and emerges from the cave, he is overcome by the power of the light of the sun. The glow will distress him, and he will be un satisfactory 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 bettor truths, despite the harshness, almost perfectly parallels Oedipus reaction.And even the irony of when the prisoners mock their lad inmate for being delusional in his lack of belief in the realities of the shadows parallel the relationship between Oedipus and Teiresias. Oedipus, after bein g 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 unconcealed irony in the contrast of show and blindness in Sophocles play. Oedipus, musical composition 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 totally 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 chaw of the reality, the truth, is represented in Platos piece by the uphill out of the cave into the knowledge domain.Obtaining sight happens, as Plato borders it, with th e minds eye and the sensible 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 gimmick from darkness to light in order to see the human being. 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 m 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 auditory sense at its s ource, I would have done it and made all this embody a tight cell of misery, blank to light and sound so I should have been safe in a dark paroxysm 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 tour upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world correspond 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 chuck-full 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 humanity about, a nd Oedipus is thus left-hand(a) 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 natural 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, according to Plato, must have his eye fixed, so that he may, in the world of knowledge, 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. therefore 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 make up and do not exist?Who bears more weight of joy than survey of sunlight shifting in images, or who shall make his thought cover on that down time drifts away? Your splendor is all go O Oedipus, most royal one The great door that expelled you to the light gave at night ah, gave night to your glory as to the father, to the fathering son. All mum 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)