Blindness vs Insight is a theme that runs through both Oedipus the King and King Lear
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Blindness vs. Insight is a theme that runs through both Oedipus the King and King Lear. Discuss this theme especially as it pertains to the actions and repercussions of these actions of the major characters of both works.
When analyzing blindness and insight in Oedipus the King and King Lear, blindness becomes a mental flaw and is the primary cause of the foolish and reckless decisions that Oedipus and King Lear make, and ultimately come to regret. In Sophocles' Oedipus the King, the theme of being blind is repeated over and over again. The blind prophet Teiresias is the most blatant example, and he will be the one to foresee Oedipus's future, adding an ironic pun to the tragedy. In Shakespeare's King Lear, the King is blind to Cordelia's love and supports his superficial and vicious daughters. He will come to regret this foolish decision as it will lead to her death, as well as his own. In Oedipus the King we shall see how Sophocles, at the time of ancient Greece, uses blindness versus insight as a tool of tragic irony. In King Lear we shall see how this theme of blindness is one of the main symbolic and physical vehicles through which Shakespeare depicts the horrors of ingratitude, insincerity, and hypocrisy...