Oedipus And Aristotle 's Definition Of A Tragic Hero

In order to gain a proper perspective on the concept of what a tragic hero is, we must synthesize information from the following play’s, “The Death Of A Salesman”, and “Oedipus The King”. Both plays takes the stance on the idea that validates the ultimate notion,  “tragic hero. From Willy’s hubris personality to his questionable and mysterious death, to Oedipus dynamic and complex choices and kingly personality that determines his fate. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement that leads to his/her downfall. In other words, even though both characters made incredible contributions and left a very noble legacy, their choices and decisions determined their ultimate fate. In today’s world tragic heroes are commonly present,

The play, Oedipus the King by Sophocles presents a grim hamartia caused from a terrible deed of long ago. Oedipus the protagonist is the powerful King of Thebes and held of high estate by the people of Thebes. As the terrible deed of Oedipus’s becomes apparent to both Oedipus and the City of Thebes his tragic flaw is slowly realized. The play will show “tragic power resides in human failing, hamartia, constantly underpinning any sense of the inevitable” (Walton). The play will show the author’s view of a tragic hero as seen in the play Oedipus the King does exemplifies Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero.

In literature, tragic heroes are described as otherwise perfect protagonists except for a tragic flaw that leads to their downfall in the end. Such examples include Othello in Shakespeare's Othello; Prince Hamlet is a tragic hero in Shakespeare’s Hamlet; the Salvatore brothers from The Vampire Diaries are both tragic heroes; and Oedipus in Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex is a tragic hero. Oedipus is the tragic hero who, mixing fate, pride, and lack of judgement, bring about tragedy to him and others. Oedipus Rex is a Greek drama about moral responsibility, nature of innocence and guilt. The protagonist, Oedipus, is a young Sheppard in Corinth, who fulfills the very destiny he was attempting to flee from.

A tragic hero exhibits both tragic and heroic qualities, and Oedipus was no exception. Oedipus conquered the Sphinx and earned his title as King of Thebes. He humbly placed the people of Thebes first and was considered very selfless. Moreover, Oedipus stood with integrity and justice. Oedipus was courageous in trying to change his fate the gods had cursed him with. And finally, he embraces truth of who he is and

Thesis Statement: Oedipus is the embodiment of Aristotle’s characterization of a tragic hero through his ability to preserve his virtue and wisdom, despite his flaws and predicament.

Sophocles' play Oedipus the King has endured for over two thousand years. The play's lasting appeal may be attributed to the fact it encompasses all the classical elements of tragedy as put forth by Aristotle in Poetics nearly a century before it was written. According to Aristotle, tragedy needs to be an imitation of life according to the law of probability or necessity. Tragedy is serious, complete, and has magnitude. It must have a beginning, middle, and end and be spoken in language that is fit for noble characters. Furthermore it must be acted, as opposed to epic poetry, which is narrated. Tragedy shows rather than tells. Finally it must result in the purging of pity and fear, or a catharsis. Tragedy is based in the fundamental order of the universe, it creates a cause-and-effect chain that clearly reveals what may happen at any time or place because that is the way the world operates. Tragedy arouses not only pity but also fear, because the audience can envision themselves within this cause-and-effect chain. Tragedy as a whole is composed of six elements: plot, character, language, thought, spectacle and melody. Melody and language are the media by which the effect of imitation of action is carried out, spectacle is the manner or way the tragedy is carried out, and plot, character and thought are the means that initiate the action. Oedipus the King possesses all of these elements.

A Tragic Hero is a great or virtuous character who is destined for downfall, suffering , or defeat. Oedipus illustrates error of judgement, a reversal of fortune brought about because of Oedipus actions, the discovery that the reversal was brought about by Oedipus owns actions, excessive pride, and his fate must be greater than deserved. Oedipus illustrates the error of judgement because it

Thesis statement: Aristotle’s tragic hero is represented in Oedipus through embodying the main three concepts of his theory: he is virtuous but not overly good, his errors in judgment bring about his misfortune, and he evokes pity and fear from the audience.

Oedipus is an excellent example of a tragic hero, according to Aristotle’s definition of this. Two of the main reasons why are because of him

When Aristotle argues that tragic “is brought about not by vice or depravity” you can’t help but to think about Oedipus and his character. His impatience, his displeasure at just everything and anything, and for a minute you question whether he was a good person or someone who was completely driven by anger. But then all of those

The ultimate tragic hero is presented in all its glory in the play “Oedipus the King.” Rather than being a typical tragic hero, “Oedipus,” has gone beyond the traditional into the unbelievable. “Oedipus” when we come to him in this play has already taken three noble positions. He was born the babe, and prince of one Royal Family, then discarded because of an oracle. This cast off prince, was then brought low to die, facing the flaw of naivety, which a babe only knows. A shepherd discovered him and took him to another royal couple, to which he became a prince once more. Later, as he became older another oracle was spoken of him and in his flaw of fear, he fled from the second royal family, becoming of no account once more. The purpose for this qualification. Following this, on the way he killed several men in ignorance, impulsiveness and anger. Later, when he would sit in his own father’s throne, sleeping with his mother, who bore children of this ungodly union, his tragic flaws would strike at his core and be brought lower than a man could ever or should ever know. Thus, the identification of “Oedipus” as a tragic hero is fulfilled and demonstrated three times over in this heartbreaking tale of woe.

The story and life of Oedipus is one of misfortune and misunderstanding. Oedipus is generally percieved as a tragic hero, but I think that theres more to him. I believe that Oedipus can be considered an epic hero on top of already being a tragic hero. There are a few reasons why I think this.

Tragedy and truth. Sophocles’ famous play Oedipus the King, shares the destined fate of King Oedipus who embarks on a journey of self discovery, only to reveal a wicked truth about himself. A tragic hero can be identified as someone who contains five traits which are: larger than life, driven by an impossible dream, expecting more then the world can return, having a tragic flaw that leads to downfall and lastly, doomed to fail. Throughout the story of Oedipus, there can be many connections made that he, by definition, is a tragic hero and can apply to all these traits. As Oedipus tries to discover who he is, he realizes that in the end he was always doomed to fail, led by his dream of being

Oedipus is a good example of a tragic hero because he believes that he is helping the citizens of Thebes, but he is making it harder on the citizens. In the article,” Toppling the Hero: Polyphony in the Tragic City”, Aristotle “praises Sophocles’ Oedipus, beginning a long tradition of focus on the play, and argues that the best sort of tragedy concerns the mean between worthy and wicked persons, who through some hamartia,

A Greek tragic hero is a character who is destined for downfall or destruction. In King Oedipus, Oedipus is a Greek tragic hero. Three of the characteristics that he fits into are being a middling character, having a moment of recognition, and having a reversal of fortune. These characteristics prove that Oedipus is a Greek tragic hero.