The Self-Blinding of Oidipous in Sophokles:Oidipous Tyrannos

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Abstract
Summary: (1) Oidipous' self-blinding appears to be an act of madness, linked primarily with his incest, rather than with his parricide.(2) Blinding for sexual trespasses is so common in tradition that its appropriateness cannot be discussed in the (3) Greek data confirm the clinical finding that the eyes tend to symbolise the male organs, and blinding castration.(4) This inference is further confirmed by the finding that blinding and castration aremutually exclusivepunishments.(5) Oidipous' total crime was a ritually patterned sequence of two crimes: the killing of the King (Father) makes incest with the Queen (Mother) possible—as it does also in infantile oedipal fantasies. In the Oidipous myth a patrilineal successionmodelis (temporarily) disguised as a matrilinealmethodof royal succession.(6) Though the blinding of the criminal isnotrequired by the Delphic oracle, and though Oidipous' final exiledoesexecute the oracle's command, this does not imply that the self-blinding does not punish (in part)alsothe parricide, for it can be shown that death, castration and blinding can, and do, symbolise each other. This means that Oidipous' self-blinding is a heavily overdetermined (multiply motivated) deed of frenzy.(7) The manner in which Oidipous blinds himself has a very exact clinical parallel which, together with other data, seems to suggest an unconscious nexus between sexual problems, self-blinding and a woman's breasts (or nipples, or brooches).(8) The ‘dramatische Technik’ explanation does not exclude the possibility of justifying a seemingly illogical detail in tragedyalsoby means of depth psychological considerations.

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