The drama of Sophocles reveals that Teiresias and Oedipus are really two aspects of the same person: Oedipus in the dialogue represents repression and Teiresias the return of the repressed. The seer derives his ability from witnessing the primal scene and his blindness is the talio punishment for having seen it.

Analogies are found in European folklore as in folk tales of the language of snakes and birds. In classical antiquity the mantic art consists largely in observing the flight of birds, a coitus symbol. The seer and the primal scene in Hungary are represented by Alor and Yuma. The preoedipal roots of voyeurism—seeing and sucking—are observed in the natives of Normanby Island.