Essay on "Uncertain Vision"

Essay 3 pages (1038 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Vision

What is real and what is not real can be an important theme in literature. Mistaken intentions, beliefs, and deeds can be the basis of a story, and, depending upon the story, the results can be happy, comical, or even tragic. Within the realm of tragedy, the result of not being able to differentiate between what is real and what is not, sometimes referred to as "uncertain vision," is often death, or worse. Two stories, originating in two very different times, are Sophocles' Oedipus the King and William Shakespeare's Othello, and while both share the common literature devise "uncertain vision," there is a distinct difference in the underlying cause of the uncertain vision of the main characters. While Sophocles' main character, Oedipus, was the victim of uncertain vision as a result of fate, the main characters' uncertain vision in Shakespeare's Othello comes from the influence of humans. In other words, Uncertain vision is an important theme in both stories, but the source of this uncertain vision originates in two very different places.

Sophocles begins his play as Oedipus is the King of Thebes, but the city is currently suffering a catastrophic plague, and Oedipus sends to the priests of the Oracle of Delphi to ask the god Apollo how to end the suffering. Apollo response begins a series of events and revelations that will put an end to the uncertain vision that plagues many of the characters with catastrophic results. Apollo demanded that the murderers of the previous king of Thebes, Laius, be discovered and that then "Punish his takers-off, whoe'er they be." (Sophocles, I, i) Oedipus agrees to undertake the mission to discover the identity of the murderers, but unbeknownst to Oedipus, he is the murderer. Oedipus lived for many years without being able to see what was really happening; he killed his own father, then went on to become the king of Thebes and unknowingly marry and have children with his own mother. Oedipus and his wife/mother Jocasta are the victims of their uncertain vision, their inability to discover their true identities and the meaning of their past actions. This ultimately leads to tragic events, Jocasta's suicide and Oedipus' blinding and banishment.

While Oedipus and others are the victims of uncertain vision, it is fate that is the creator of this uncertain vision. Oedipus did not know the real identity of the man he killed at the crossroads, he did not know that Jocasta was really his mother, and when he announced that he would punish the murderer of Laius, he did not know that it was really him. It was "supernatural" forces which drove the characters' inability to discover the truth about themselves, and it was the god Apollo's oracle that set in motion the events that would ultimately expose the truth. Unlike the Shakespeare's Othello, there are no human machinations which set in motion a series of events that leads to uncertain vision, the uncertain vision is the result of fate and it is intervention by the gods which exposes the fact that the characters have been living in this state for… READ MORE

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