Teiresais in the play of Oedipus Rex

I think Teiresais is a strong character in the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. He is an important character to guide the development of plot in the play. Although he just appear in one scene, but the words that he spoken in the scene influence all the later part of the story. Teiresais seems to control the final outcome of many characters lives, especially the fate of Oedipus. He is the prophet that Oedipus seeks out for guidance to solve the plague of the city, he is blind but able to “see” and understand the truth of Oedipus’s future while Oedipus has the sense of sight but is blind to the truth right before him.

Although Teiresias has physical blindness, he has the prophetic insight. However, both Oedipus and Jocasta portray types of mental blindness and shortsightedness. They do not believe that their fate is controlled by the oracle and ignore it; in fact, it is controlling them all the time. In contrast, Teiresais who mocked by Oedipus still remains strong in himself as a prophet, despite Oedipus' disbelief in him. Teiresais believe and have faith in what the God has reveal to him.

Teiresais experiences the moral dilemma whether to tell Oedipus the truth or not. As a prophet, Teiresias is ordained to tell the truth. Along with his prophetic insight, comes the responsibility and obligation to tell the truth in any circumstance. However, when Oedipus ask him to reveal the truth, he refused and asked Oedipus to leave him alone. Teiresais chooses not telling any prophecy and he said he will bear his own fate by not telling the truth. He also wants Oedipus to bear his own fate but Oedipus does not listen to Teiresais and force Teiresais with his authority as a king.

As a prophet, Teiresais knows the power of the prophecy. It will directly or indirectly influences the listener. Knowing the truth is not always a good thing or wise decision, because sometimes the truth will cause great pain to those who is able to see. I wonder what will happen if Teiresais is not the character of the play, if there are no prophet in the story, nothing will happen and no one will know the truth.

I personaly do not agree to find out fate. My aunt and uncle have this habit of going to temple to ask about their fate of the year during every chinese new year. Everytime when they come back, they will discuss about what they heard, when their fate is good, they will be happy but if something bad is going to happen, they can’t sleep well. They will think over and over again and try to buy many different type of crystal which believes that can protect them from bad thing. For me, God is God, man is man, if man wisdom can overcome God, there wasn't a God. Just be simple and believe what God has prepare for us is always the best for us, isn’t that good?

Simulated Teaching

Before we go for Chinese New Year holiday, we have done our simulated teaching on the theme of Oedipus Rex. The theme that I choose for my simulated teaching is the contrast of blindness and sight.

My activity for the set induction was showing the contrast of a blind person and a person with sight. My volunteer that day was Mohana, I blindfolded her eyes and asked her to draw a picture of a table on the board. The final outcome of her drawing is not like a table because she has not been train to draw without her sight. Then, I take away the towel that I used to blindfold her and ask her to draw a table on the board again. Well…of course this time she draws very well.

However, I believe the people with sight do not always do better than the blind one. I found a picture on internet that showing a blind child making basket, none of us can assure that we can do better than him. Like what Oedipus did in the play, he mocked at Teiresais’s blindness, instead he is the one who is lack of insight. This is irony that Teiresais really does see more than the seeing Oedipus.

It is important that we have insight to help us to have a clear mind toward what is happening around us. Oedipus failure should be a warning to us, a hero, and a king of a country experiences tragic fall due to his shortsightedness. He makes rash decisions without thinking about the future or consequences. He truly believes that he can move without the Oracle’s prophecy following him. However, this lead to his downfall. He does not realize that his destiny is solely in the hands of the gods.

Besides that, there are also some people that used the idea of blindfolded students in their set induction. For me, one of the most exciting one will be the activity prepared by Jasmine, she put three things in a paper bag and then blindfolded someone and ask them to guess what is inside the paper bag by touching the things inside. I enjoyed the simulated teaching by our course mate.