Watch self-blinded Oedipus confer with chorus leader about fulfillment of Apollo's prophecy in Oedipus Rex
Oedipus, demonstrating an excess of presumption (or hubris) in his confidence that he has escaped the prophecy of Apollo's oracle, sees that he has been mistaken and that—just as foretold—he has married his mother and killed his father. He therefore blinds himself. In this excerpt from a 1959 production by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation of Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex, the blind Oedipus is conferring with the leader of the chorus.
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Transcript
OEDIPUS: Darkness, cloud of darkness all around me, enclosing me. Unspeakable darkness. Irresistible. You came to me on a wind that seemed favorable. I feel the stab of these sharp pains and the memory of my sorrows.
CHORUS: In such torment, it is no wonder that your pain and mourning should be doubled.
OEDIPUS: My friend, you are by my side, you alone. You still stay by me. Though I am blind, I know you are there. I am in the dark, but I can distinguish your voice clearly.
CHORUS: You have done a dreadful thing. How could you bring yourself to put out the light of your eyes? What superhuman power urged you on?
OEDIPUS: It was Apollo, friend, Apollo who brought fulfillment to all these sufferings of mine. But the hand that struck my eyes was mine and mine alone. What you said, eye for eyes. Nothing I could see would bring me joy.
CHORUS: It was just as you say.
OEDIPUS: What was there for me to look at, to speak to, to love? What joyful word can I expect to hear, my friend? Take me away out of this country quickly. Take me away. I am lost, accursed, and hated by the gods beyond all other men.
CHORUS: I am moved to pity by your misfortunes and your understanding of them, too; but I cannot say that you made the right decision. You would be better dead than blind.
CHORUS: In such torment, it is no wonder that your pain and mourning should be doubled.
OEDIPUS: My friend, you are by my side, you alone. You still stay by me. Though I am blind, I know you are there. I am in the dark, but I can distinguish your voice clearly.
CHORUS: You have done a dreadful thing. How could you bring yourself to put out the light of your eyes? What superhuman power urged you on?
OEDIPUS: It was Apollo, friend, Apollo who brought fulfillment to all these sufferings of mine. But the hand that struck my eyes was mine and mine alone. What you said, eye for eyes. Nothing I could see would bring me joy.
CHORUS: It was just as you say.
OEDIPUS: What was there for me to look at, to speak to, to love? What joyful word can I expect to hear, my friend? Take me away out of this country quickly. Take me away. I am lost, accursed, and hated by the gods beyond all other men.
CHORUS: I am moved to pity by your misfortunes and your understanding of them, too; but I cannot say that you made the right decision. You would be better dead than blind.