Oedipus Rex As Tragedy : The Philosopher Must Be Crazy

Discuss whether or not a hero who is tragic by trait and definition can exist within the structure of the monomyth.

Sometimes a man is in a middle of the worst of his life, not knowing what happen to lead to this or what he can do to salvage what little shrapnel of life that he can. Oedipus from Socrates’ great work Oedipus Rex knows this kind of feeling far too well, having the city of Thebes in which citizens worship him as king have their be under some sort of curse of unknown origin. The curse, sadly, had its origin in Oedipus himself and the parents which abandoned him, causing a string of events which include father murder, incest, self-doubt, suspicion, and a plethora of other events which sends Oedipus’ mind farther and farther down into the abyss and eventually lead to the stabbing of eyes and the exilement of the once sane king. The truly

Furthermore, Oedipus Rex is another piece of work that demonstrates how madness plays the role of influencing characters in destructive decision making, however, it differs from, The Dark Knight because the characters are driven to madness by themselves, not by an external force like The Joker. To begin, both Jocasta and Oedipus display madness when they deny that their pre-determined fate will occur and disregard any evidence that proves their false conclusions. The madness that they display is denying the existence of an idea and disregarding the apparent facts given against those beliefs. Their obsessive denial of the truth is a symbol of their insanity. Since birth, Oedipus has been doomed to marry his mother and murder his father, a

A tragedy is beginning with a problem that affects everyone, for example, the whole town or all the characters involved, the tragic hero must solve this problem and this results in his banishment or death. A comedy is defined as also beginning with a problem, but one of less significant importance. The characters try to solve the problem and the story ends with all the characters uniting in either a marriage of a party. Although these two genres are seen as being complete opposites of each other, through further analysis one can gather that though they are different certain similarities can also be seen.

Evidence: “ How i weep for you -- I cannot see you now… just thinking of all your days to come, the bitterness, the life that rough mankind will thrust upon you… such disgrace and you must bear it all! Who will marry you then? Not a man on earth. Your doom is clear: you’ll wither away to nothing, single, without a child. (Line 1625-1645)

Aristotle, the great fourth-century Greek philosopher labeled this tragedy as “an imitation of an action of high importance, complete and of some amplitude: in language enhanced by distinct and varying beauties…by means of pity and fear effecting its purgation of these emotions” (qtd. in Kennedy & Gioia 885). Aristotle was portraying the epic Shakespearean drama, Othello. Aristotle prescribed three main elements for a disastrous theater recipe: First is a hamartia, or a tragic flaw in the main character that leads to the demise; second, catharsis or an emotional release of the audience’s sensations derived from the actors, so they seem to have felt they have learnt something about the play; and lastly, anagnorisis or the character’s astonishment of something that may have not before realized (Kennedy & Gioia 856-857). The protagonist in Shakespeare’s Othello satisfies all of Aristotle’s necessities for a tragic hero, as Othello is the character of magnificent status, which falls from that status of power to one of shame because of his hamartia. Furthermore the plot of Othello contains an influential katharsis through its peak and deduction, and an anagnorisis when Othello comprehends that Desdemona and Iago are not who they appear to

In the play Oedipus Rex, Oedipus unknowingly murders his father and marries his mother. When Oedipus discovers this he is disgusted with himself and decides to go into exile. The Misanthrope is a play about the self-exile of the main character Alceste. Challenged in court, he refuses to take back the criticism of a sonnet written by a powerful nobleman. Alceste and Oedipus are both convicted by their knowledge of the truth. Although, the United States grants asylum to more refuges than any other country, there is one man who has decided to self-exile.

Throughout Poetics, Aristotle describes what traits a tragedy must have to be successful. To support these choices, he makes use of a small analysis of many tragedies, including many of Sophocles’ plays; Oedipus Rex is one of the plays mentioned in Aristotle’s Poetics. Some of these traits include a successful plot structure, recognition scenes, and a correct choice for its hero. In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles fulfills all of these requirements.

A tragedy is a style, usually used in plays, that begin with a problem that affects everyone, the whole town or characters involved. A comedy also begins with a problem, but not as important. The characters try to solve an issue and it usually ends in a joyful manner. Yes, these genres are seen as being different from each other, there are some attributes of the two that may categorize them as similar.

In the Poetics, Aristotle provides an outline of how the artist is to portray or represent the perfect Tragedy. A Tragedy, of course, was nothing more than a drama, in which the characters appeared "better" than in real life (in a comedy, they appeared "worse," according to Aristotle). Aristotle's Poetics makes several references to other dramatic works to illustrate his points, but he most commonly calls upon The Odyssey to support his argument for how a dramatic structure should be designed. However, along with the Odyssey, Aristotle extensively references Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Both poetic works were enormously popular in their time (the former had been passed down orally for generations, and the latter won the top prizes at the dramatic festivals). Therefore, Aristotle is comfortable using both to support his viewpoint concerning Tragedy and the Tragic Hero. This paper will analyze the standards that Aristotle sets out concerning the definition of the Tragic Hero and show how Sophocles' Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a Tragic Hero.

Tragedy as an element of the human experience has been the subject of many of the great works of literature written in the Western tradition. For some, tragedy embodies the highest form of humanity. It is through suffering that we are able to reveal ourselves most completely. Others see tragedy as an element of morality where we are to learn well the lessons of those who tempt the gods. The Ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, outlined a theory of tragedy as archetypal drama in his classic work, the Poetics. He uses the play by Sophocles, Oedipus the King (hereafter "Oedipus"), as the standard model by which all other tragedies are measured. In Aristotle's view, a perfect

Aristotle’s tragic hero is one of the most recognizable types of heroes among literature. A tragic hero combines five major points all of which have to do with the hero’s stature in society, his faults, how these faults effect him, the punishment his faults gets him, and how he reacts to this punishment. Aristotle explained that the story of Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, is a perfect example of a tragic hero. In the play, Oedipus is given a prophecy in which he is told that he will kill his father then marry his mother. As in many Greek plays, Oedipus tries to run from his prophecy and ends up fulfilling exactly what it is foretold. Through the play we see that Oedipus posses many of the characteristics

According to Aristotle, the aim of tragedy is to evoke the ‘catharsis’ of the audience, in order for them to feel emotions towards the plays being acted. What Catharsis mainly consists of is to help us understand that watching characters suffer is not only worthwhile but necessary too, in order to do this playwrights allow the audience to witness the main events occurring in the play, which will then create a very dramatic change in the way the action is being presented and therefor impact the protagonist by unfolding a reversal which will be continued by a discovery. In Hamlet, for example, we mourn the death of an intelligent and troubled young man but nonetheless we are reassured by characters such as Horatio and Fortinbras that his death was not in vain and that after all he will be an honourable man. By doing this, and having this sudden swift of action in the play the playwrights manage to capture and emphasise the degree of suffering of the main protagonist of the tragedy and it lends to their ‘fatal fall’. This is something, which is present in both Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ and Sophocles’ ‘Oedipus the King’, which is shown immediately after the main discovery of the plays.

In his Theory of Tragedy in the Poetics, Aristotle explains the characteristics necessary to create a good tragedy. He defines tragedy as “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude.” In other words, a tragedy must be focused and realistic. It must also evoke a “sense of fear and pity within the audience”, through its six parts, and end with a katharsis or cleansing of these emotions. The six parts of, a tragedy determines the quality and the most important parts include: plot and character. Aristotle also outlined the characteristics necessary in order to create an ideal tragic hero. Oedipus the King written by Sophocles, is an example of a perfect tragedy and Oedipus is a perfect example of a tragic hero.

"Oedipus the King" is a tragic play showing a shift from the belief of fate to freedom of choice. Therefore, Oedipus the king is a great example of those who run from fate ends up fulfilling their fate