You are the king no doubt, but in one respect,
at least, I am your equal: the right to reply.
I claim that privilege too
I am not your slave. I serve Apollo.
I don’t need Creon to speak for me in public.
So,
you mock my blindness? Let me tell you this.
You with your precious eyes,
you’re blind to the corruption of your life,
to the house you line in, those you live with—
who are your parents? Do you know? All unknowing
you are the scourge of your own flesh and blood,
the dead below the earth and the living here above,
and the double lash of your mother and your father’s curse
will whip you from this land one day, their footfall
treading you down in terror, darkness shrouding
your eyes that now can see the light!
This response by Tiresias to Oedipus’s tirade against him (Tiresias) captures the struggle and lesson in the play succinctly. The issue of power and authority is examined here. Tiresias says, “You are the king no doubt” (464) -- indicating the importance of kingship. In the world, who or what has authority and power over men is a serious issue. One reason our president and his peers in political power around the world are so examined and watched is because the question of political power is central to the social structures of every society. Yet the Oedipus story directly questions why social/political figures are so respected. It is common in our contemporary society to find the imperfections of anyone—in authority or next door. In fact, we live in a time all too willing to find what is wrong and weak rather than what is special and worth protecting about our leaders and each other.
But here Tiresias launches right into the king and points out that he (Tiresias) is his equal. This is partly what Sophocles is arguing. No matter how exalted a figure may be, how lofty, what noble stock he comes from, he is just another mortal according to Sophocles. This is a theme which seems clear. Oedipus is “All unknowing/you are the scourge of your own flesh and blood” (473-475). This is far from a noble assessment of a monarch. Sophocles is building a case for the common man as much as he is building a case for self-knowledge, which Oedipus apparently doesn’t have much of, at least yet.
