What reference is Shakespeare making in Act 2 Scene 2 of Macbeth?

Question

In Act 2 Scene 2 of *Macbeth* there is this line. > What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes. Someone two days ago told me this is a reference to a different piece of literature. I didn't know how to spell the name of the reference so didn't write it down, and have forgotten what the reference was. I have no idea which piece of literature it is referencing, and wish to find out. This specifically refers to: > They pluck out mine eyes. What does this reference?

Answer 1

The most famous non-Shakespearean eye-plucking is probably Oedipus, from Greek mythology, and more specifically the tragedy by Sophocles.

Oedipus is the king of Thebes, which is suffering from plague. He learns that the reason for the plague is that there is a man in the city who murdered his own father and married his mother. Oedipus vows to find the criminal, put out his eyes, and banish him. Then he learns that he is the murderer (he was abandoned as a baby, and so never knew who his father really was), and, true to his word, he puts out his own eyes and banishes himself.

Soooo....let me turn it back around to you and ask why Macbeth is making this reference at this time?