Comparing Hubris In Julius Caesar And Oedipus The King

“Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.” says the writer C.S lewis. Indeed this is evident in Sophocles’ Oedipus The King. The rather disturbing events that takes place during the play. The pride of Oedipus, the tragic hero of the play, sets off a chain reaction of events that could have been avoided if Oedipus kept his pride in check. However, he can not and his ego inflates to the point his persona can only be described as a mental disorder. Through analyzing Oedipus’ behaviour and his interactions with the other characters in the play, it can be concluded that he suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

The theme of hubris can be seen throughout Oedipus The King, and is the reason for the downfall of more than one character. Oedipus’ parents, are the first to commit hubris; instead of letting destiny take its course, they acted as if they were more powerful. They attempted to destroy their child and change their fate. Oedipus’ adoptive parents also commit hubris, as they lie to him about his past. Like his parents, Oedipus’ believes that he can change his own destiny. His hubris leads to him being irrational, and jumping to conclusions without first analyzing things. This is what leads him to eventually kill his biological father. Oedipus might have been able to save his biological mother’s life, had he not been too

Hubris is Oedipus's tragic flaw. He is now overly full of himself because: he rescued the city of Thebes from the Sphinx, people admire him, the citizens worship him as if he were an idol, the citizens think of him as their hero, and the Thebans have such a high esteem for him, that they made him King. One instance that proves he is filled with overbearing pride is when he proclaims, "I, Oedipus, a name that all men know." (8) This statement also brings about irony. It is ironic because his name will be remembered and well-known everywhere--as a polluter, the

Throughout the tragedy by Sophocles, the king Oedipus relies on his personal glory to attain long lasting fame and balks when confronted with anything that might shatter this perception that he is the best. While both characters have done marvelous deeds in the past, their inherent arrogance, which is part of the tragic flaw of each of the characters,

Oedipus is a man of unflagging determination and perseverance, but one who must learn through the working out of a terrible prophecy that there are forces beyond any man’s conceptualization or control. Oedipus’ actions were determined before his birth, yet Oedipus’ actions are entirely determined by the Gods who control him completely. In the beginning of this tragedy, Oedipus took many actions leading to his own downfall. He tried to escape Corinth when he learned of the prophecies that were supposed to take place in his life. Instead, he

Through the character of Oedipus, Sophocles shows the consequences of defying the divine order. Oedipus served Thebes as a great ruler, loved by his subjects; but, like most in the human race, he slipped through the cracks of perfection. Oedipus had many faults, but it was primarily the tragic flaw of hubris, arrogance from excessive pride, which doomed his existence, regardless of the character attributes that made him such a beloved king. He was doomed for downfall since his very beginning, because "to flee your fate is to rush to find it" (Oedipus Rex).

My reason for my last example or hubris in Othello is he is very proud of all of his accomplishments and he feels like he is on top of the world and know one can knock him off. He has so much pride that it could mess up everything him and Desdemona had going on. He had so much pride that when Barbantio said he was going to annul the marriage between Othello and Desdemona that Othello said that “what he has done as the general for the Venetian army and for Venice will outweigh anything that Barbantio can say” This story is about how jealousy can make a man kill the woman he loves more than anything in the world.

Oedipus also displays this uncompromising attitude in his devotion to Thebes. Oedipus' loyalty to Thebes is another factor that led to the tragic figure's ruin. Aristotle explains that a tragic character is just and good, but fatal error, pride(possibly hubris), or frailty brings about his misfortune. Oedipus fits this description perfectly. Oedipus could easily have left the city of Thebes and let the plague take its course he “would be blind to misery/ not to pity [his] people kneeling at his feet”. When Apollo's word comes back in the hand of Creon, Oedipus could leave the murder of Laius uninvestigated as it had been for so long, but “rising in his pride, he protests: he pits himself in some way against whatever…seems to him to be wrong…”(Levin 178). Oedipus can not let this investigation be overlooked; he must solve the riddle of who killed King Laius because his pride overpowers him. Oedipus' pride also reveals itself again in his loyalty to the truth.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles is about Oedipus, a man doomed by his fate. Like most tragedies, “Oedipus the King” contains a tragic hero, a heroic figure unable to escape his/her own doom. This tragic hero usually has a hamartia or a tragic flaw which causes his/hers’ downfall. The tragic flaw that Sophocles gives Oedipus is hubris (exaggerated pride or self-confidence), which is what caused Oedipus to walk right into the fate he sought to escape.

Hubris is a commonly used subject in Greek tragedies, which means extreme pride or arrogance. Authors utilize hubris to showcase a character's downfall. Hubris has a huge part in plays like “Oedipus Rex” and “Medea”. The Hubris in Oedipus Rex and Medea, which leads to the eventual downfall of the characters and teaches the readers a valuable lesson by showcasing Jason’s ego and pride, Medea’s anger and pride, and Oedipus Rex’s arrogance and stubbornness.

In the scene where Oedipus sends for Tiresias, the blind prophet, Tiresias says to him, “So, you mock my blindness? Let me tell you this. You with your precious eyes, you’re blind to the corruption of your life” (Oedipus Rex Line 468). It is pretty ironic actually, that a blind man can clearly see Oedipus’s corruption when, Oedipus himself is left unaware. In most cases of hubris behavior the individual believes they are so prideful, they actually believe they’re on the same level with God. It is clear that Oedipus has the same perspective of his life, and of his power. Hubris behavior is a tragic flaw, in which the individual is only setting themselves up in order to fall.

Because of his pridefulness, as he is trying to avenge his father’s death, he consistently has the inability to act until the end of the novel. This is Hamlet’s fatal flaw. One of the best examples of hubris, other than Hamlet, is in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. In this novel, Oedipus suffers from excessive pride, this pride being his tragic flaw. Because of his extreme pridefulness, Oedipus tries to defy his destiny from the gods, but eventually he realizes that he could never escape his fate and does exactly what he was warned against. Hubris in real life can be reflected through the many dictators in our world’s history. Not only can many dictators be characterized with extreme pride, mainly because of their associates who provided constant praise, but with this trait leads to an inevitable downfall. Characters and people who carry a hubristic trait seem to be quite ignorant, while Oedipus and Hamlet may not have been in the same situation, the two have many similar traits personality-wise. Hamlet expresses his hubristic trait when it comes to someone other than himself, he tends to lack compassion and be more selfish than anything. Moreover, the use of hubris and hamartia in Hamlet,

Hubris is defined by the Webster-Miriam dictionary as “Exaggerated pride or confidence” (Miriam-Webster Dictionary) in Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, In Oedipus The King, by Sophocles, the onslaught of pain assailing the protagonist is a result of his tragic flaw. Sophocles often used a characters’ flaw to alter or influence the outcome or future of the hero. Oedipus' hubris influences him to fulfill the oracle and further intensify his punishment from the Gods.

The role of hubris, a theme commonly present throughout the works of Sophocles and particularly evident in Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus, not only exalts the Greek nationalism present at the date of composition but dictates the course of the story, evolving as its tragic hero works through his fated anguish. Hubris, defined as exaggerated pride or self-confidence, is the earmark character trait of Oedipus and perhaps Creon. However, it is the abandonment of his sanctimonious nature that distinguishes Oedipus as a true hero. The theme of the evolution and role in the downfall of men by this overly zealous pride may be traced throughout Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus, as it is only by his radical reversal of mind-set that one may deem Oedipus a hero.

Prompt: In a well-developed essay, consider whether hubris, fate or both are the use of Oedipus’ downfall. Use evidence from the text to support your support.