Tiresias is the blind prophet of Thebes appears in Oedipus the
King and Antigone. In both plays, he represents the same force — the
truth rejected by a willful and proud king, almost the personification of Fate
itself.
Tiresias comes to Oedipus
against his will, not wanting to explain the meaning of the oracle to the king,
but he goes freely to Creon in Antigone, with news of his own augury. In
both cases, however, after a courteous greeting, Tiresias meets with insults and
rejection. Never surprised by abuse, Tiresias does not back down when
threatened. True to the gift of prophetic power, he stands unflinching before
the fury of kings. His speech may be barbed, his message horrifying, but
Tiresias' dedication to the truth is uncompromising. “Blind who now has
eyes, beggar who now is rich,/ he will grope his way toward a foreign soil,/ a
stick tapping before him step by step.” For his suffering, his piety, and
his devotion to prophetic truth, Tiresias emerges as a powerful — even
admirable — character in the Oedipus Trilogy.
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