I think Shakespeare was a fan of Greek writings. Oedipus the King in particular. I posted earlier in the semester about parallels between Oedipus and Perdita from Winter's Tale, and the recent blinding of Gloucester in King Lear brought my mind back to Sophocles' masterpiece. A lot of really interesting parallels can be drawn between Gloucester and Oedipus.
Although Oedipus blinds himself out of shame and Gloucester is blinded by an enemy, both find that they see better without their eyes. Gloucester reflects on the uselessness of eyes when he says, "I have no way and therefore want no eyes; I stumbled when I saw." Similarly, the blind prophet Teiresias declared to Oedipus, "thou hast eyes, yet see'st not in what misery thou art fallen, nor where thou dwellest nor with whom for mate." It is interesting that until Gloucester looses his eyes he does not realize that he has been mislead and mistreated his son, Edgar; and, upon realizing that he has killed his father and married his mother, Oedipus promptly blinds himself and his eyes become opened to the true horror of what he has done. Losing physical sight equals finding moral insight. Perhaps the message is that we can't truly look inward and find our faults until we stop focusing on everything else going on around us. Once Gloucester and Oedipus loose their sense of sight, they have nowhere to look but inside and at their own faults.
Another parallel between the two characters is their children. Antigone is faithful to Oedipus, her father, and wanders with him after he blinds himself. Edgar, likewise, is faithful to his father and leads him, though somewhat connivingly, when Gloucester cannot see for himself. Edgar even saves his father's life my not allowing him to jump off a cliff. The interesting thing about these faithful children is that both have been wronged by their father, but are still faithful to him. Antigone is the daughter of a messed up, incestuos marriage, and only days before Gloucester was sending hunting parties to kill Edgar. This is also seen in the Cordelia, who loves her father, Lear, even after he disowns and banishes her. Lear, as a foil of Gloucester, can be seen as metaphorically blind to the manipulations of his less loyal children. All three of these "blind" men needed exceptional circumstances to make them change their ways, and were fortunate enough to have children who could help them see the light. The fact that none of these faithful children had to loose their eyes to find a respectful, honorable way of life is comforting. Perhaps if we look inside ourselves and strive for a recognition of good before we have reached rock bottom we can avoid losing sight in a gruesome and bloody way.


Just a side note, I learned in my World Civilization class a few weeks ago that Roman actors, when portraying Oedipus the King, were actually expected to gouge their own eyes out on stage. Just makes me thankful to live in a slightly less bloodthirsty culture today.

Perdita-"lost one"

You have to admit, their stories are eerily similar. In the beginning, at least. Perdita, of Shakespeare's Winter's Tale, and Oedipus, of Greek mythology, are both cast off by cruel, paranoid fathers after the reading of an oracle. Perdita's father, Leontes, believes she is an illegitimate child of an adulterous queen. Born in prison, the babe is left in the desert to die, found, and raised by a humble shepherd. Oedipus' father, Laius, has been read an oracle that any son born to him will marry its mother and kill its father. Upon birth, Oedipus is given to a servant with the command to leave him somewhere to die. Instead, the servant gives the baby to a shepherd. Oedipus is passed between shepherds, until he is eventually adopted by the King of Corinth. Similarly, Perdita becomes involved with a royal family. She falls in love and runs away with Florizel, prince of Bohemia. Both Perdita and Oedipus eventually return to their places of birth.

Oedipus-"swollen foot"

Where their stories end, however, could not be more different. Perdita's return to Sicilia leads to the discovery that she is the Kings daughter, and rejoicing ensues. She rises to her true identity gracefully, and marries Prince Florizel. They presumably live happily ever after. Oedipus' tale does not end quite so happily. He fulfills the prophecy, unknowingly killing his father and marrying his mother. Upon discovering the truth Oedipus blinds himself and lives out the rest of his life in exile.

So what happened? These two characters, who started out so similarly, seem to have been slaves to fate. Their destinies were foretold before or shortly after their births. Perdita's predicted return to Sicilia would not have been necessary if Leontes had never gone into his jealous rage and thrown his daughter out to die. Even Oedipus' self-fulfilling prophecy would have been useless if Laius had not acted on it. Both Perdita and Oedipus' futures were decided by the actions of their fathers. Are we, too, cursed by the actions of those who have come before us?