After tracing the word “eyes” through Oedipus, I saw eye imagery primarily employed to build assertions about literal v. figurative sight and their often mutually exclusive relationship. This could lead to a possible thesis or antithesis: The achievement of clear sight of the truth precludes literal sight of the physical world.
-Tiresius is literally blind, but figuratively sees all
-When Oedipus is ignorant, his physical sight remains intact. As soon as he gains sight of the real truth, however, he destroys his own capacity for literal sight because it is too much to bear. By taking her own life, Jocasta also strips herself of worldly sight after her enlightenment.
There was also another interesting connection that I noticed among the early appearances of the word “eyes” that I hope to incorporate. . . here are the passages:
Oedipus: Lord Apollo, let him come with a lucky word of rescue, shining like his eyes! (l. 93)
-talking about Creon and his high hopes for the news Creon will bring, which he equates with Creon’s “shining eyes”
Chorus: O golden daughter of god, send rescue radiant as the kindness in your eyes! (l. 217)
-the people hope for rescue from Athena, which they equate to the radiant kindness in her eyes
Chorus: Come with the lightning / come with torches blazing, eyes ablaze with glory! / Burn that god of death that all gods hate! (ll. 241-243)
- the people hope for rescue from Dionysus, which they equate to the glory that blazes in her eyes
The eyes in each of these cases are attached to a sense of hope, which grows increasingly intense and desperate. The diction moves from “shining” to “radiant” to “ablaze” which parallels the increasing intensity in the punctuation – the frequency of the exclamation points increases as the passages progress.
It is ironic that while the eyes are meant for seeing, Oedipus never actually saw the truth until he was physically blind. Your passages also indicate that the eyes are a way of showing feeling or emotion. The kindness in Athena's eyes give her character a more clear description and the description of the eyes as ablazed gives another emotion to the eyes. The eyes could be a symbol of hope, but Oedipus gauged out his eyes when he has lost hope.
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