For the day ravages what the night spares" (Parodos.40). "Day" is substituted for truth here. For Oedipus, ignorance would have been bliss had he been able to avoid overcoming his blindness. Later, following Oedipus reversal, Creon sympathetically says to Oedipus, "Your misery, you are not blind to that. Would God you had never found it out!" (Exodos.124-125). This passage emphasizes the above theory as the king has, in essence, bartered his physical well-being for his knowledge.Light and darkness is a repeated image in the play, enforcing the devastating nature of the truth Oedipus reveals. Upon embarking on his quest, Oedipus says, "once again I must bring what is dark to light" (Prologue.134). When he achieves this, however, he finds that reality is blacker than he could have imagined. Another example of this occurs near the end of the play when Oedipus refers to his blindness: "O cloud of night, / Never to be turned away" (Exodos.90-91). This darkness, in contrast to the first, is real and cannot be overcome. He removes the offending part of himself; the eyes that failed him as well as his ignorance of reality.Oedipus sets out to discover the truth despite his possible ruin. He realizes a danger to himself in scene two: "You are aware, I hope, that what you say / Means death for me, or exile at the least" (138-139). While he does not consider the severity of his future suffering, he still risks a great deal by continuing his search once he is insinuated in Laius murder. This shows the extent of his desire for truth and prosperity for his people.The continuing agony experienced by Oedipus is apparent when, after blinding himself, Oedipus refers to the fact that despite being blind he sees the truth: "The flooding pain of memory, never to be gouged out" (Exodos.95-96). By ruining his eyes Oedipus has merely deprived himself of physical sight. The knowledge of his wretchedness lives on in his mind, and will live on despite the removal ...
