Oedipus The King: A True Tragic Hero

Sophocles presented the world with Oedipus around 2500 years ago. Never-the-less, the story remains among the most riveting of all time. Unfortunately, today when we hear the mention of the name Oedipus we place negative connotations around it. Oedipus, after all, had an unnatural sexual relationship with his own mother! In actuality, however, this relationship emerged entirely innocently. Oedipus was not some misguided sexual pervert of an earlier time. He was, in fact, a man that was driven by a very high internal moral standard. It was that internal moral standard that ultimately entwined him in a sequence of events

Oedipus’s first characteristic of being a tragic hero is being talented and of noble birth. Oedipus was talented because during his journey to runaway form his curse, the oracle foresaw for him. He stumbled upon the Riddle of the Sphinx in Thebes; Oedipus solved the riddle and was rewarded to be king and was given the old kings wife. (“You freed us from the Sphinx; you came to Thebes and cut us loose from the bloody

When reading Oedipus the King, most people would conclude that Oedipus is an overall courageous character that, he belongs at the top of the list as the most courageous character. He was portrayed as a man well loved by his people. The love and respect that the people of Thebes have for Oedipus, is evident in some of the first lines of the play, in which the priest praises Oedipus as being the city’s “greatest power” (pg. 160-line 60). The chorus and the priest then go on to praise Oedipus for the noble and courageous things that he has done for the city of Thebes in the past:

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.

Considered one of the greatest dramas of all time, Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King follows the tragic life of Oedipus, king of Thebes. Considered a Satyr play, the Oedipus trilogy is perhaps the most famous of Sophocles’ plays. Oedipus the King, is an Athenian tragedy that was first performed somewhere around 429 BC in Athens, Greece. Originally, the Greeks referred to the play as simply “Oedipus,” as that was what Aristotle referred to it as in the Poetics. Perhaps what makes this play so memorable, is Sophocles’ uses of the tragic hero as the main theme. Sophocles uses characterization and conflict to portray Oedipus as an Aristotelian tragic hero.

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

his mother passed, Charles escaped his rickety and small home on the manor of his lord in the most suburban area of England. The two of them had both been serfs on the property, Charles working in the fields and his mother working closer to castle, spinning thread and weaving cloth. His parents were both born on the manor years ago, just like he was, but soon after his parents marriage, with the permission of his lord, and Charles' birth, his father died and he and his mother were left alone to work long days on the manor. The day that his mother's disease was identified as the bubonic plague, Charles had been planning his escape, he was only 16 but quite clever for his age compared to all the other boys his age. He had planned to escape while

A true hero does not merely wear a cape, but this individual possesses admirable characteristics. A hero inspires the people around him and he is honorable. Heroes influential individuals from fairytale stories and myths of a real-life hero. Yet, none of these influential people are perfect. The tragic hero is clearly defined by Aristotle as being a person of admirable character, yet completely human with noticeable flaws. Moreover, this individual is not exempt from suffering. In Sophocles’ tragic drama, Oedipus displays heroic characteristics as well as those which hinder him. “There remains then the man who occupies the mean between saintliness and depravity. He is not extraordinary in virtue and righteousness and yet does not fall into

Oedipus showed good qualities as a King. He was a good leader and has been their ruler for a long time. He inherited the kingdom at birth. Oedipus showed bravery and confidence when fighting. He has saved Thebes from a curse stating “Her I am myself the world knows my fame”. When the citizens of Thebes beg him to do something about the plague, Oedipus had already showed he cared by sending Creon to the oracle at Delphi for advice. He listens to his people and their problems. Oedipus cares deeply for his country. Oedipus is an honest man because he stated if he was the one to kill the king, then he would be punished as if he were anyone

First, Oedipus survived being nailed to a mountain as a baby, and grew into a great prince/king. Second, Oedipus saved Thebes from the Sphynx when nobody else could. He was smart enough to understand the riddle given to him and answer it correctly. Oedipus has some heroic moments and acts that make me believe he is an epic hero with a tragic life. His dispelling of the Sphynx can be classified as the hero trait of good versus evil. Next, we witness Oedipus’

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

Although a great and admirable king, Oedipus is a character who embodies hubris as his fatal flaw, which eventually leads him to his downfall as he finds out that he killed his father and married his mother. At the beginning of the play, Oedipus is presented as a strong and noble leader as the priest says to him, “On first arriving here, you rescued Thebes/ from paying the cruel musician’s deadly tax./ You didn’t get advice from us. Untaught,/ but with a god’s assistance, so it’s said/ and widely credited, you saved our lives” (Sophocles 35-39). Oedipus is adored and admired by all of Thebes as he single-handedly saved them from the Sphinx, which illustrates him as an ideal hero. Unfortunately, when Oedipus begins to relive a prophecy he heard many years ago, his perverse pride becomes responsible for leading him to his terrible fate. According to scholar Marjorie Barstow, because of his arrogant demeanor, “he has no clear vision which enables him to examine every side of a matter with unclouded eyes, and to see all things in due perspective” (Barstow 3). Oedipus’s pride overwhelms him, and it became a major weakness in his life as it blinds him from seeing any truth beyond what he believes at the moment. For example, he says, “But I am Fortune’s child. When she is kind,/ her gentle parenting brings no disgrace”(Sophocles 1079-1080). The pride

While he was trying to avoid his fate by getting as far away as possible from where his parents lived he was confronted by a few men on the road who commanded that he get off the road. When Oedipus chose not to listen to the men there was a scuffle and Oedipus ended up killing every single one of the men. In doing this, he was unaware that he had just killed the king of Thebes, his father. Unknowingly Oedipus then went on his journey to solve the riddle of the Sphinx and after doing so he became the king of Thebes, and then having four children with the queen. By doing all of this he fell in the trap of what was told to him as his fate. If Oedipus would have known his parents beforehand he most likely would have been able to avoid this fate, but it was ignorance that caused him to fail. Oedipus was a very good man who committed acts of injustice through

A tragic hero is defined as an influential person who holds a high position in society and maintains a strong hold on their life, but then suddenly falls into misfortune because of an error in judgment. At the beginning of the play, Oedipus was portrayed as a great and powerful king. The Choragos, which is the voice of the people of Thebes, praise their king and outwardly show their respect towards him throughout the whole tragedy. Oedipus is the archetypal Greek tragic hero in the play because he is the original hero who had everything in his life: the throne, a wife, a family, and his people who praised him, but then he loses it all.

In the greek drama, Oedipus the king by Sophocles, King Oedipus shows all the characteristics of a tragic hero. By definition A tragic hero is, “A privileged, exalted character of high repute, who by virtue of a tragic flaw and fate suffers a fall from glory into suffering”. That definition perfectly describes Oedipus and his life. Throughout this whole story we see the real Oedipus emerge. Oedipus starts out in the beginning by being the best king around but by the end of the story we see the ups and downs of his life and how it changed forever. In the story we here Oedipus say these words, “ah! My poor children, known, ah known too well, the quest that brings