Ignorance In Sophocles 'Oedipus The King'

886 Words4 Pages
In the world there are numerous lessons that can be learned either from experience or out of curiosity. People who are ignorant are the ones who do not know the essential, practical knowledge that they need to know in order to keep their position as thoughtful, social beings. Therefore, the quote, "ignorance is bliss," by Cypher in the movie The Matrix cannot possibly be true. Ignorance is not bliss, because ignorance causes conflicts between people, makes chances become a big part of life, and makes fallacies into truths. Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, and Peter Weir’s motion picture, The Truman Show, both exhibit the connotation that ignorance is not bliss through their protagonists and their parallel plots. The main character in Oedipus…show more content…
Teiresias is called upon by Oedipus to reveal King Laius's murderer. Although physically blind, Teireisias is not blind to the truth. Teireisias attempts to avoid revealing the identity of King Laius's murderer, knowing that Oedipus is the culprit, however the attempt to conceal is thwarted when Oedipus demands an answer. Teireisias then tries to unseal Oedipus's eyes to the truth as he declares "you are the lands pollution" (Sophocles 390). Later he tells Oedipus “you have your eyes but see not where you are / in sin, nor where you live, nor whom you live with" (Sophocles 467-468) basically saying that although Oedipus is physically sighted, he is blind to his own wrongs. He is ignorant of his relationships to the former King Laius and his wife, Jocasta. Teireisias tells Oedipus “… you are an enemy to kith and…show more content…
Truman Burbank is the unsuspecting star of “The Truman Show”, which is a reality TV show that has been showcasing Truman’s life since birth through thousands of secret cameras. The show runs twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, and is broadcasted live around the world. The show's creator and executive producer, Christof, is able to capture Truman's real emotion and human behavior because Truman's family and friends are all played by actors, allowing Christof to control every aspect of Truman's life. In Christof’s mind, human beings “accept the reality of the world with which we're presented” (The Truman Show), so if a person was placed in a false world, but that person has been accustomed to that world for their whole life, then it will appear to be reality. Truman is an example of an individual who is placed in this exact situation. Truman has acclimated to Seahaven, which is Chrisof’s fake world for Truman, and Truman believes that Seahaven is reality. Now, throughout the movie, ignorance appears to be bliss because Truman appears to be happy with the situation that he is accustomed to. However, Truman realizes Seahaven is not the real world and is set on trying to fathom the truth. Truman’s ignorance is not bliss because all he ever wanted was to know the
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