To Blind Oneself or Another

Like Oedipus, Hecuba was born into privilege. She was a queen, who tragically lost her status and became a slave. Similarly, Oedipus was a king, who tragically lost all when he discovered he had killed his father and married his mother. Both Oedipus and Hecuba, as tragic characters, have stories, which evoke emotions ranging from pity to outrage amongst viewers. Aristotle explained that a tragic character “is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty.” Both Oedipus and Hecuba, from the beginning of their plays, are not horrible people. They do not seem capable of either incest or murder. But in the tangle of their stories, they both fall to these sins. I would argue that Oedipus fell accidently into his tragic state. Certainly, we may argue that Oedipus’s hubris or violence was the cause of his downfall. However, no matter his character flaws, Oedipus did not intend to kill his father and sleep with his mother. Likewise, Hecuba found herself in a destitute state. She did not intend to hold both of her children, as they lay dead. However, both Oedipus and Hecuba responded to their tragic states differently. Oedipus, disgusted by himself, the mistakes of his parents, and the messenger’s inability to kill him at birth, harmed himself. He could have taken revenge upon the messenger. But instead, he gouged out his own eyes. On the other hand, Hecuba declared herself to be the “most miserable of women,” and gouged out the eyes of the man, who killed her husband. She also killed the man’s own two children. Thus, Oedipus blinded himself in an attempt to hide from his tragic reality, while Hecuba blinded her son’s murderer, to find some shred of relief in revenge.