The Chorus’ Role in Oedipus Rex

The Chorus in Oedipus The King is composed of the townspeople of Thebes. These people are living in very bad conditions; they are starving, their crops are not growing, and they are very poor. This chorus has several very important roles in the play. The chorus’ roles are: to urge moderation for Oedipus, to steer him in the right direction, and to intensify the reader’s response to Oedipus by making him seem like a terrible person and king.

One of the chorus’ roles in the play is to change the plot and affect the main characters’ thoughts and actions. The chorus urges moderation for Oedipus and tries to steer him in the right direction. While Tiresias and Oedipus are fighting the chorus tries to stop them and solve the problem, “If we may make a suggestion-both his words and yours, Oedipus, seem to have been spoken in anger. This sort of talk is not what we need-what we must think of is how to solve the problem set by the god’s oracle.” (27). Although the chorus gives good advice throughout the play, Oedipus does not listen, but tries to prove Tiresias wrong and evade his fate by proving he did not kill Laius. One of the roles of the chorus is to try to help Oedipus, but he does not listen.

While Oedipus is changing throughout the play as more of his past is revealed to him, the chorus changes in the same ways. In the beginning of the play, the chorus disagrees with Oedipus and tries to persuade him otherwise, but he pursues his fate. Near the end of the play when Oedipus learns his fate and gouges out his eyes, the chorus feels pity for him, because he pursued his fate, found it, and learned he lived a very terrible life, “O suffering dreadful for mankind to see, most dreadful of all I ever saw…I pity you.” (95). The chorus also changes in that they feel bad for Oedipus and are relieved that he finally found his fate, “And Oedipus-poor wretched Oedipus- has he now some rest from pain?” (94).

The chorus also acts to evoke emotion from the audience, and to intensify these emotions. Since the chorus is starving, poor, and plagued, they evoke a feeling of pity from the audience. They also evoke hatred or anger towards Oedipus and intensify the audience’s dislike of him because he is the ruler of a kingdom whose people are living in terrible conditions, “There is no way to count the pains we suffer. All our people are sick. There is no sword of thought which will protect us. The fruits of our famous land do not ripen. Our women cannot ease their labor pains by giving birth…The city is dying, the deaths cannot be counted.” (12).

The chorus plays a large part in shaping the plot of this play, and evoking emotion from the audience. They change alongside the tragic hero, cause the audience to dislike him, and try to help Oedipus to do the right thing.

The theme of sight vs. blindness is a very prevalent theme in Oedipus the King. The two most affected characters by this main theme are Oedipus, the king, and Tiresias, the blind seer. Oedipus is affected because while he is not literally blind, he is blinded by ambition to find the killer of Laius, and blind to what is happening around him. Tiresias, who is actually blind, is a prophet and understands what is happening around him. Oedipus does not understand what is happening around him, but can see, while Tiresias is the opposite.

Oedipus, whose eyes are fully functional, does not see how corrupt the life he has been living is. Tiresias, a seer, tells him his destiny, and he fails to see that it is the truth. Tiresias also says, “You do not see the evil in which you live.” (25). Oedipus questions Tiresias and calls him a liar, “You have no power or truth. You are blind, your ears and mind as well as eyes.” (25). Oedipus and all of the other characters in the play who can see with their eyes, are blind to their current circumstances and cannot see the truth.

Tiresias, who is blind, but knows the truth, is the only person in the play who can figuratively “see.” When Tiresias gives Oedipus his prophecy, Oedipus is flabbergasted and ignores what Tiresias says, “Say what you like. It will all be meaningless.” (25). Oedipus accuses Tiresias of making up his prophecy, showing how blind to the circumstances he is, “Was it Creon, or you, that invented this story?” (26). Tiresias, the blind man, sees and understands the circumstances of the kingdom Oedipus is living in, while Oedipus, who can see and lives there, does not.

The theme of sight vs. blindness also creates a very ironic situation in the play. Tiresias, a blind seer, sees and reveals the truth to Oedipus, who can see, but does not understand what is happening around him. Tiresias provides a very clear example of this ironic situation in saying, “I am what I am-a fool to you, so it seems, but the parents who brought you into the world thought me sensible enough.” (29). Tiresias is a prophet and he speaks the truth, so most people believe him, but Oedipus does not because he is blind to the world around him. The irony Tiresias is involved in is one in which a blind man reveals the truth to a man who can see.

In the play Oedipus The King people who can physically see are blind to the truth and what is happening around them. People who are physically blind can see the truth.