Teiresias, the seer of Oedipus the King - Leeds International ...

3. Conclusion
HANNA M. ROISMAN, TEIRESIAS, THE SEER OF OEDIPUS THE KING
I would like to close the paper with some thoughts about the philosophical
implications of the revelations of the two Teiresiases. The revelations of Seneca’s
Teiresias are as opaque and incremental as those of Sophocles’ seer, and even less
informative. This does not arouse the consternation it had in Sophocles’ play,
however. Any possible annoyance, whether on the part of the inner or outer
audience, is deflected in advance by the depiction of Teiresias’ good will, his
frank if rather unseerlike admissions of confusion, and his shifting the
responsibility for his failure to provide a clear answer to the gods, whom he
describes as angry, ambivalent, and veiling their messages. Seneca’s Oedipus, for
his part, expects less of Teiresias than the Sophoclean king. While Sophocles’
Oedipus had explicitly asked the seer to reveal the name of the murderer, Seneca’s
Oedipus asks him only to ‘expound the responses’ (responsa solve, 292)—that is,
to perform a divination and explain the meaning of the signs. This is a more
modest request, which does not set up the expectation, as Sophocles had, that
Teiresias possesses complete knowledge, which he can share.
This difference in the expectations inherent in the two plays is related to a
fundamental difference in their attitudes toward the gods. Sophocles is concerned
about the injustice of Oedipus’ fate. His depiction of Teiresias, who may be
viewed as a representative of the gods, as gallingly irritating and intent on
separating knowledge from revelation, seems to be an expression of protest
against the cruelty of the gods, who the play repeatedly states forged Oedipus’
unavoidable destiny. There is no such protest in Seneca’s play. In Teiresias’
interpretations in the divination scene, the gods come across as confused and
ambivalent. Oedipus, for his part, has premonitions of guilt from the very
beginning of the play, and so takes upon himself complete responsibility for his
actions. All in all, Sophocles’ Teiresias is a fitting seer for the deeply pessimistic
world-view of the play, while Seneca’s Teiresias is the right seer for that play’s
more resigned and accepting attitude.
Bibliography
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London: Cornell University Press)
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G&R 26, 132-45
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Bloom, H. (1988) ed., Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex (New York, New Haven,
Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers)
Boyle, A.J. (1977) Tragic Seneca: An Essay in the Theatrical Tradition (London
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