Oedipus And His Tragic Traits. In Sophocles Play Oedipus

But, Jocasta refutes this by attempting to persuade to Oedipus to, “Listen, please listen to me! Do not do this!.” (line 1030) Jocasta desires to delay the grief that will soon be put upon Oedipus and herself by urging him not to send for the shepherd. Oedipus desires to find out the truth about himself, as he aclaims, “Humble though it may be, I want to know it.” (line 1043) Even if the messenger and the shepherd both tell the same tale, Oedipus would rather accept his fate good or bad. Oedipus is ready to reach his greatness, to achieve this he learns the painful truth that his mother is also his wife and that he has murdered his father. “Oh, oh, then everything has come out true/Light, I shall not look on you again/I have been born where I should not be born/I have married where I should not marry/I have killed whom I should not kill; now all is clear.” (line 1144-8) When he accepts the truth Oedipus takes the responsibility for his father’s, mother’s, and the god’s action by stabbing himself in the eyes so that he is now unable to see. Oedipus chose to sacrifice himself so that Thebes would be replenished, and rid of the sickness of the plague. This act of complete destruction to Oedipus emotionally, ultimately led to him becoming a prophet, and achieving his peak of

As is true with characters of many other works of literature, the protagonist of Oedipus the King, must contend with the horrible reality of his past. This protagonist, Oedipus, killed his father and married his mother, and what is worse, is that he is not aware of this. Throughout the entire play, his relationship with his past is one of ignorance. His ignorance of past events is what causes the play to unfold as it does. Unaware of his own reality, Oedipus leads himself to his own demise by becoming overly confident and prideful, and by distancing himself from his supporters. Through the main character’s relationship with the past, Sophocles develops his central themes of fate, sight, and pride.

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.

About recognition, Aristotle writes, “…is a change from ignorance to knowledge…” (672). In the beginning of the play, Oedipus is ignorant and has no idea who the murderer of Laius is and consequently works diligently to find the murderer. Oedipus implores the blind prophet, Tiresias, for help first when he states, “I beg you, grudge us nothing now….Rescue yourself, your city, rescue me – rescue everything infected by the dead. We are in your hands” (351 – 357). Oedipus is using guilt and begging to try to get help from the blind prophet, he is trying so hard because he doesn’t know the eventual consequences of his action. Another tactic Oedipus uses to convince people to give him answers is torture which he uses on the Shepherd. Oedipus barks, “So, you won’t talk willingly – then you’ll talk with pain” (1266 – 1267). He then goes on to order “Twist his arms back quickly!” (1269). After the physical torture and a threat of death, the Shepherd tells Oedipus it was Jocasta who gave him the baby. Oedipus realizes he is the murderer of Laius and goes on to claim “I stand revealed at last – cursed in birth, cursed in marriage, cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands!” (Lines 1309 – 1311). Now Oedipus is knowledgeable of his actions and his fulfillment of the

It is wise to be careful of what you look for, because you might not like what you find. This would have been excellent advice for the main character in Sophocles drama, Oedipus the King. However, the drama was written as a result of Sophocles life and the influence of the humanistic culture in which he lived. Throughout Sophocles life, he gained military knowledge as the son of a wealthy armor manufacturer and received an excellent Greek education with emphasis on Homeric poetry (textbook). Furthermore, Sophocles was very involved in politics and served as a treasurer, a general, and inevitably as a member in a group for policy formation (textbook). Although Sophocles was deeply enmeshed with the political world of his time, his true calling in life was his writing of Greek tragedy, during the Golden Age movement of 477 B.C. to 431 B.C. (Berkhofer). Unsurprisingly, it is his portrayal of the Greek culture that has led to Sophocles unofficial title of the embodiment of Greek Spirit (Whitman, 4). Now, Sophocles’ Greek culture was humanistic and focused on the achievements of individuals, primarily their moral and psychological difficulties within the human experience. Although, philosophy and religion are a part of humanism, Sophocles demonstrated the political and social characteristics of ancient Greek humanism in his drama, Oedipus the Kings (Menning). Therefore, one can understand the life and humanistic culture of Sophocles through the illustration of the

Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, is about Oedipus who is the tragic hero with a tragic flaw of pride. Thebes has been put under a terrible plague, and King Oedipus is willing to do anything to cure it.Oedipus comes to realize it is himself who is causing the plague and killed the man who turned out to be his father, which shows Oedipus living up to the prophecy that he was given as a child. Oedipus’ tragic flaw, pride, causes him to do many terrible things. Throughout the play, he realizes he is not as great as he sees himself. Oedipus’ selfish acts of pride cause the destruction of Thebes and leads to his own downfall.

During the course of Oedipus The King, Oedipus sets off on a journey to free himself from a fate that he just can not stand the thought of. Along the journey Oedipus comes upon the city of Thebes. This city has just had their king (Laius) killed and now Creon is under control of the city. Oedipus is given the thrown after he helped free the city from a sphinx that has been been guarding anyone that plans on going in and out of the city. Oedipus is seen to be a hero because no one could solve the riddle that would get rid of the sphinx until he arrived at the city. As Oedipus enters the city he starts to realize the major plague and disease in

“Oedipus the King” is a tragic story written by Sophocles. Oedipus is a king that is trying to escape his fate. An oracle had predicted that he was going to be the killer of his father, and was going to sleep with his mother. When he was first born, his parents attempted to kill him yet he survived and was adopted. Instead of getting away from the atrocious future that was predicted, Oedipus walks right into his fate. This Greek tragedy is about transitions. He starts off as arrogant, unknowing, and full of ego but this drastically changes as we reach the end of the play. Oedipus becomes a wise man and has accepted how life is. No matter how much power or knowledge you have there is no way of tampering with fate, instead accept and learn from it.

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.

What ultimately causes Oedipus’ downfall as a tragic hero? Better more, what are his most crucial fatal flaws? In the play Oedipus Rex, also known by the title, Oedipus the King, is a Greek tragedy by Sophocles. Oedipus is the biological son of Jocasta and Laius, the queen and king of Thebes. But an oracle reveals that his son, is doomed to kill him and marry Jocasta barring children. Laius then binds the infant's feet together with pins, and orders a servant to kill him to avoid fulfilling the prophecy. The servant fails to obey Laius’s cruel orders, not aware of the greater good. A shepherd then finds Oedipus on Mount Cithaeron, leading to Merope the queen, and Polybus the king of Corinth, to adopt him as a baby. As time passes by, the truth unravels itself and the unspoken prophecy is fulfilled. Throughout the play, Oedipus exemplifies many fatal character flaws involving huber, anger and overdetermination.

Plot synopsis:Oedipus has a long soliloquy, which begins with him claiming that he suffers enough from his own punishment. He further states how if he could see (Oedipus gouges out his own eyes earlier in the play), he could not live with killing his father and marrying his mother. Oedipus also says that his children, the people of Thebes, and the gods would no longer accept him. Furthermore, he does not allow himself to receive the praise and admiration that he once had. Next, Oedipus realizes that if he were to stay in Thebes as king, the guilt from knowing his true fate would prevent him from leading the people of Thebes honourably. Oedipus then rants about his dark prophecy, and how everything he believed happened to him was just leading

One moment, Oedipus is brimming with hope; the next, he’s sure that he is the killer of his father, King Laius. Every time Oedipus thinks that it can’t possibly be him, evidence proves otherwise. His wife, Jocasta, attempts to prove his innocence but “lets out part of the dire secret by her allusion to the ‘triple crossroads’” (Haigh). By attempting to assist Oedipus, she

Oedipus the King is a tragedy written by Sophocles. The play starts out with Oedipus, the king of thebes realising that a disastrous plague has been causing harm and destruction to his city and its people. The king sends out his brother-in-law, Creon to investigate the cause of this plague. Creon came back stating that this curse is fallen onto the city due to the murderer of the former king, king Laius not being properly punished and exiled for his undoing. Oedipus decides to find Laius’s murderer so that the curse can be lifted. Oedipus questions the blind prophet, Tiresias about the murder, however he refuses to share his knowledge at first. Then Oedipus provokes and insults the blind prophet and even calls him the murder. Offended by this, the prophet reveals that the murder is actually Oedipus.

Unfortunately, this leads him to do a brutal acts in the future. After what the King had done the god’s, then use their power to prevent Oedipus fate to unknown himself. Although, Oedipus had a heroic imagine to Thebes that would hide the real him from the people he would worry about in the town. Oedipus had the ability to handle various situations. Eventually, Oedipus becomes king, which that makes him gain more respect from Thebes not only that, but he gets to marry his own mother. Furthermore, Teresa, the prophet, explained to him the reality of the scene about the destruction, which the reason was that Oedipus had been expelled from the Gods’ for killing his father and marrying his mother causing the god’s outraged to the plague. Oedipus becomes fully aware of the fault of those wrongdoings the ones that makes him show his attitude flaw. He accepted the answers he received, but with total ignorance. Not only

Sophocles’ Oedipus the King introduces Oedipus as a concerned ruler who openly expresses his sorrow for his plagued city of Thebes to his citizens. He affectionately addresses them as, “my poor children,” and claims that his “pain, / How great soever [theirs], outtops it all” (Sophocles, 59). Despite his royal social standing, he unashamedly reveals that he identifies himself with Thebes and cares for the well-being of its people; his deep character suggests that he is an exceptional king. Oedipus' bold actions seem to be a blessing from the Gods since they are utilized to benefit the city in its entirety. However, Oedipus’ determination to discover the cause of the plague results in some tragic discoveries of himself, and his respectful reputation gradually deteriorates.