Teiresias: uniqueness in him

When I was reading the play of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, I came across with the character of Teiresias. Dr.Edwin told us that Teiresias is the one who has the insight in the play. I was surprised to hear that as Teiresias is actually a blind man, so how come he could have the sight. This leads me to Google more about Teiresias.
He was the son of Eueres and Charicloa and born in Thebes. Teiresias is a blind prophet of Thebes. There are several reasons for his blindness. One of it was Teiresias accidentally saw goddess Athena bathing and she blinded him. However, she could not undo her curse, thus gave him the gift of prophecy and a life seven generations longer. He was also able to interpret the will of the gods by studying the fight of the birds. Another myth says, Teiresias killed one of the snakes which were coupling with a stick. So, Hera, the goddess of marriage and woman was displeased and transformed him into a woman. He got married and had children. After seven years, he met mating snakes again and struck it. As a result Teiresias was transformed back to a male. According to the third myth, there was an argument between Zeus and Hera about who has more pleasure in sex. Zeus thinks that the woman had more pleasure while Hera thinks it is the man. As Teiresias has experienced both as man and woman, he was questioned. He reveals that women enjoy greater pleasure compared to men. Hera instantly struck him blind due to his disrespect. Zeus could not do anything but to give him with a gift of prophecy and a life of seven generations.

In my opinion, the uniqueness in Teiresias that other men do not have is that he has experienced the life of both as a woman and man. Thus he has a better understanding regarding both genders. The gift in Teiresias enables him to have the insight and prophecy. an extra thing is, the life of seven generations allows him to be in a lot of Greek tragedies in the history of Thebes, such as The Bacchae, by Euripides; Oedipus the King by Sophocles; and Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes.

Another matter that I have realized through this character is that, it is not necessarily if we are having the sight we can distinguish on what is bad and good. There times we can be blinded from seeing the truth due to a few circumstances. Lesson through this character is we must also consider other’s view and opinion, and should not be merely ignorant.