White and black are complete opposites and are often seen as the difference between good and bad. The two have their own specific characteristics and can be contrasted easily. The authors of ancient works often used the different between light and dark to show the complete contrast between ignorance and knowledge: the light referring to the ignorance and the dark referring to knowledge. Ignorance is defined as, “the lack of knowledge or information.” The themes of “dark and light” relate to “ignorance and knowledge,” and appear in the ancient works Allegory of the Cave, Genesis, Matthew, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and Oedipus the King. The irony starts to appear in Oedipus and the King when we meet Tiresias. He is a physically blind man; however he is very knowledgeable about Oedipus and his past, present, and future. Oedipus, however, has complete physical eyesight, but is very ignorant about his fate. When Oedipus finally realizes just what is…show more content… They know only what they want and they will cry and fight until they get it. As they grow older, they become more knowledgeable about what is socially acceptable, and how important it is to treat others with respect. In Matthew, there is a less obvious parallel between light and dark. The whole first part of chapter seven talks about judging others: the golden rule being, “Do not do to others what you would not want done to you.” This idea is what distinguishes the good (the light) from the bad (the dark). The good live by the idea, “Do not judge others because you should not judge others unless you want to be judged yourself.” Similar to the phrase, “Treat others how you want to be treated.” Those who choose to treat other poorly are stuck in this state of ignorance where they do not understand how their actions can affect other people. The opposition of what is good and what is evil is a similar comparison to the opposition of light and
