Truth and Tiresias in the Oedipus the King by Sophocles and Oedipus the King by Al-HakimIn “Oedipus the King” and “Oedipus the King”, Tiresias is defined by its relationship with the truth: in the play of Sophocles as courier, in that of Tawfiq Al-Hakim as manufacturer. Sophocles Tiresias is a conduit, a vessel through which the truth of a future created by the gods can be revealed, while the modern Tiresias is actively engaged in creating, shaping truth from a void supposed spiritual. These different roles place the two characters at a certain distance from their actions and their sense of responsibility. Relying largely on this proximity, each Teiresias develops a radically different conception of truth. Although the characters themselves are in many ways philosophically opposed, the function that Tiresias serves in each play is not different at all. The sense of truth as a source of destruction as well as possible redemption is ultimately reinforced by the presence of Teiresias in each room. Oedipus accuses Tiresias in every play of withholding critical information. Both characters make similar decisions in an attempt to remove themselves from the situation. Their motivations, however, are clearly different. Understanding these motivations paradoxically points to the fundamental individual differences between the characters as well as their possible thematic similarities. Sophocles' Tiresias is a reluctant prophet. He is impressed by the truth because he is powerless to change it. Teiresias does not possess the truth; it was never his to possess. Instead, he exists as a passive agent, an intermediary between the present and the future, the gods and humanity. Because the truth is brutal, cruel, and perhaps sometimes excessive and even unjust...... middle of paper ......rather refers to seeing on a more figurative level. Sophocles speaks of this kind of “blindness” when Teiresias declares: “You whose vision is right, you will be blind” (ln 419, p. 127). Achieving this level of understanding may well prove an impossible task. In our attempt, we can still hear the laughter that torments Al-Hakim's Teiresias, the mocking laughter that fell from heaven "since the beginning of creation" (124). Understanding Tiresias' relationship in each play to truth (its transmission, its creation) can help us determine our own proximity to that same elusive and dangerous goal, truth. Works Cited Al-Hakim, Tawfiq. Plays, prefaces and postscripts by Tawfiq Al-Hakim. Trans. WM Hutchins. Washington, DC: Three Continents Press, 1981. Sophocles. “Oedipus the King.” Rep. in Ten Greek Plays. Ed. LR Lind, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1957.