Oedipus Flaw Essay

Oedipus is a very ignorant character. The play reveals that he killed his father and slept with his mother. To make matters worse, he has no idea that he has done either of these things. As the play progresses, hints of Oedipus’s wrongdoings pop up sporadically, yet he does not catch on until the end. Other characters realize what is going on before Oedipus does. It is Oedipus’s ignorance that prolongs his search for King Laius’s killer and his realization of his

As the play continues, we start to see a shift in Oedipus’s personality. This was due to the conclusion he makes based on the conversation him and the prophet Tiresias has. It mentions how Kreon, Oedipus brother-in-law, is plotting against him. “So? You come here? You have the nerve to face me in my own house? When you’re exposed as its master’s murderer? Caught trying to steal my kinship?” (Sophocles 500). Now, Oedipus is arrogant, he blames Kreon based off of the conclusion he jumps too. He gets discouraged from his role as a leader, he is irrational, angry and hot tempered, whereas, in the beginning,

The final discussed characteristic that Oedipus possesses is that his punishment was not wholly deserved. There are three main punishments that Oedipus has to go through because of his crime. Those punishments are his exile from Thebes, the suicide of Jocasta, and the loss of his sight. However, the punishment that pushes everything over the edge is when Oedipus strikes out his own eyes. When he appears to the Chorus he comes out and speaks of how horrid he feels for everything in saying, “The blackest things/a man can do, I have done them all!” (1541-1542). During this very scene the Chorus speaks, not to Oedipus directly, but to each other and the literally shrink away from him. It is obvious that they don’t believe he deserves this through their words, “O the terror--/the suffering, for all the world to see/the worst terror that ever met my eyes,/what madness swept over you?” (1432-1435). The Chorus continues to

Oedipus, the main character of Sophocles’ play, Oedipus Rex, has a tragic flaw that leads to his downfall. A tragic flaw is defined as “an otherwise good trait that turns destructive when taken to an extreme” (Stary). In a tragedy one can see the suffering of the main character, which is evident in Oedipus’ case. Oedipus’ tragic flaw is his determination, when he intensely seeks to find Laios’ murderer, forces the unwilling blind prophet Teiresias to reveal the truth, and when he stopped at nothing to prevent the prophecy from becoming true.

Oedipus’ flaw would be that he was overconfident and short tempered, and these characteristics brought him to his downfall. When the city calls for his help, this makes the reader think he is a reliable person that the city trusts. The only explanation of why Oedipus would end up in his tragedy is because he trusted himself making the right choices since he once solved the big riddle. He trusted himself so much, that he ended up being stubborn instead of trying to figure out the correct steps. This flaw can be overlooked since a characteristic of a king is to have a confident and

Oedipus flaw is he does not know who he is this ignorance leads to him bringing about his own downfall.

He thought he was preventing something bad from happening, but it still happened. In a way, Oedipus brought that fate on himself because he was told by the oracle that he was going to kill his father and marry his mother, but he goes and kills someone who he thinks has no relation to him or anything. Throughout the play the audience can see that Oedipus is changing, and losing the honor he once had, the good kind of fame that he had, and the excellence about him helping Thebes is gone. His bad actions that he committed are what is in the light as the play

However, Oedipus’s major flaw is his denial of the prophecy. He is constantly doubting the prophet teiresias, saying he was better than that of the prophecy and calling him and the gods liars. His opinion does not change about the prophecy until it basically hits him on the head. The disrespect he shows the gods from calling them liars is enough to give him a punishable death. In the last scene, he finally realizes he is the one in the prophecy.

Oedipus Rex, or Oedipus the King is Sophocles’s first play of “The Theban Cycle.” It tells the story of a king that tries to escape his fate, but by doing so he only brings about his downfall. Oedipus is a classic example of the Aristotelian definition of a tragic hero. Aristotle defines a tragic hero as a basically good and noble person who causes his own downfall due to a flaw in his character.

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.

     The heart of the story unravels when Oedipus apparently begins to suffer a reversal of fortunes. At the beginning of the play, Oedipus is referred to by the priest as the “king of the land, [the city of Thebes’] greatest power” (16). Through all of Thebes he is thought of as a hero, a man who saved the city from the Sphinx and in his bravery has promised to find the killer of King Laius in order to save the city from doom and death. However, at the climax of the story Oedipus learns that he has been “cursed in [his] birth, cursed in marriage / and cursed in

Fate chose him to kill his dad, marry his mom, and discover it all in Oedipus Rex, Sophocles’ tragedy. Oedipus was so determined to save Thebes from the plague bestowed on them by Apollo. But little did he know that he was the source of it all. His constant reversal of fortune, neutrality, and suffering make him the perfect example of a classic Greek tragic hero.

Hans Rockwell 8/26/17 Question 1 Question 1.) One of the responses people usually have about Oedipus is if he really deserved the fate that he ended up with. It’s not his fault that Jocasta and Laius tried to outsmart fate and dispose of him.

Oedipus displayed his faulty character throughout the play by showing how he is filled with ill-temper and pride, especially during his confrontation with Apollo’s blind prophet, Tiresias. He allowed his own hubris to take over him, eventually leading to his disaster at the end of the story. Now, some critics may argue that Oedipus did not actually go through a downfall in the play, but when looking back at the definition of a tragic hero, it can be seen that there are evidence to prove that Oedipus is a tragic hero.

Although he is clever man, he is blind to the truth. Even though he did not know that Laius and Jocasta are his parents, He still kills a man old enough to be his father and marry a woman old enough to be his mother. One would think that a man with a disturbing prophesy over his head as Oedipus should be very careful about whom he marries or kills. The fact that a tragic hero is not perfect evokes both pity and fear. Oedipus although being a good father, husband, and son, he unwillingly destroys his parents, wife and children. Oedipus is human, regardless of his pride, his intelligence or his stubbornness and the audience recognize his humanity in his agonizing reaction to his sin. Watching this, the audience certainly moved to both pity and fear, pity for this broken man and fear that his tragedy can be their own.