Oedipus Tragic Hero

By definition tragic heroes can be considered one who is held up high by society for the good deeds they bring, but is then slowly or quickly taken away from that grace and placed in a world far below what they were originally. An example of this is the excerpt and the tragedy of Oedipus the king. The play shows that the faults humanity can fall through when put into a very stressful situation. Oedipus is a tragic hero because he wants to improve the lives of his citizens, he has a major human flaw of being impulsive and easily irritable, Oedipus takes more punishment than what the play told, his life and fate was not fully under his control, and he makes a vast realization with an equal amount of change.

Oedipus from the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex and Gilgamesh from the epic of Gilgamesh both heroes in their own stories however they also very drastically. Gilgamesh is a quest hero who loses his closest friend, Enkindu, and is inspired to go on a journey in the wilderness to search for immortality. like Gilgamesh, Oedipus is a hero also, however he is a tragic hero. Oedipus, in the play, is praised for ridding the town in which he rules, Thebes, of a plague. The characters Oedipus and Gilgamesh both are strong characters in their own story and plot, both can be considered heroes however they are very much different types of heroes and characters.

A tragic hero is a character, that no matter what they choose to do, whether it is to run and hide or fight, their fate is sealed leaving them destined for downfall some point in their life. No matter what happens to the hero, whatever the gods have decided, it will happen. Oedipus tries to escape his dreadful fate which has been bestowed upon him; his horrible feud with his fate is his ultimate downfall and was always meant to be his demise. His fight is the good and evil he has to battle through. The prophecy of Oedipus; when he is born, his parents are told of the fate bestowed upon them all. “Shortly after Oedipus’ birth, his father, King Laius of Thebes, learned from an oracle that he, Laius, was doomed to perish by the hand of his own son” (Maston). Oedipus is to kill his father, Laius, and wed his mother Iocasta. Afraid of what was said, Laius gives his son to a herdsman who is to take the child and murder him, but he then pities the child and decides to pierce Oedipus’ feet, hence his name Oedipus, and send him with another herdsman far away. Fortunately for Oedipus, the

Oedipus Rex would be considered a tragic hero because he possesses hubris and hamartia which is shown throughout the story. Oedipus’s downfall was caused by several things acting upon him like hamartia and his sins. Hamartia is the major flaw in a character that causes their downfall which for Oedipus was his pride. Hubris is the flaw of excessive pride which Oedipus shows tremendously in the story. The definition of a tragic hero is “an extraordinary man brought down by some tragic fall or weakness, and his downfall, in turn, weakens the fabric of his society” (“A Flawed Presidency”).

The first reason why Oedipus is a tragic hero is because he is a middling character. A middling character is someone who is not wholly good or evil. Oedipus commits sins, but he isn’t aware of it. He does not know that the man he kills on the road is Lauis, his father, or that the woman he soon will marry is his mother, Jocasta. Teiresias, the blind prophet, says, “I know, as you do not, that you are living

Oedipus is viewed as a tragic person according to the play without his awareness that he was the cause of the trouble. The tragedy of Oedipus is because of his lineage which he does not have much information about it and that is why he is a troubled man. In the play the people believe in prophecy that is why Oedipus became famous because in the past he had been abler to explain the reason why the plague was in the city. The fact that he was able to be trusted by people in the community in the event of strange supernatural happenings clearly shows that he was not a tragic person but also a hero. People viewed Oedipus as a person who was favored by the spiritual world and this was a sign that he was a hero. When a second plague arises the

Oedipus is a tragic character, but at the same time, a pathetic one. He is a tragic because he suffered so much especially when he learned that he is the murderer whom he seeks. He possesses wisdom, power and wealth but because of the crime, all of it went to waste. But Oedipus is also pathetic because he attempt to escape Corinth to avoid the prophecy, yet he ended up fulfilling the prophecy. It is because he did not first confirm if the mother and

Picture yourself going from being the King of Thebes to a widowed, motherless man who is forced to exile and fend for himself without sight. This is what occurred in Sophocles’ play, Oedipus Rex. A tragedy is composed of six elements that determine the quality of each part. It starts off with a flaw that leads to a hero’s passing, the acknowledgement of these flaws, and lethal punishment of the tragic hero. The play, Oedipus Rex, is about a king who finds out that he killed his own father and married his mother. Throughout the discovery, he doubted the citizens and a new side of Oedipus arose. Aristotle, the creator of the tragic hero cycle, thought Oedipus was the ideal example of a tragic hero. The six elements are present within Sophocles’ play beginning with the hamartia, leading to the anagnorisis, and concluding with the nemesis.

From the start of his life, Oedipus was thrown into series of tragic events that would shape not just his life but the lives of everyone he was associated with. The story of Oedipus has received worldwide acclaim and has been praised as one of the "greatest achievements of Greek dramatic art". When Sophocles wrote Oedipus, he did so in a way that pioneered what a true tragic hero should be and it was written in way that has continued to impact the moral compass and emotions to those that read this epic tale, still to this very day.

I do not consider Oedipus to be heroic in any sense. He may have perceived himself as a hero with his inflated ego and gave off the sense he cared so much for his people holds up nothing when comparing his actions to his words. Actions speak louder than words and within the play he speaks a lot to feed his ego and generate a mask of care towards his people while all he apparently did in the past was answer the riddle of the sphinx which leaned more to self serving in that it made him the king. The main problem of the plague within Thebes which begins this story ultimately becomes a selfish quest as well in the sense that he was uncovering

When there is the mention of a hero in literature, the image of a tall, strong man on a pure colored horse, with a sword drawn and the shield held up, crying out to his men the honor and good they will bring in defense of their homeland, may come to mind. This, though, is not the image Sophocles gives to Oedipus, yet Oedipus is considered a true hero. Even if he is not depicted as a great war hero, or one who does some great deed to the benefit of humanity, he is the image of the perfect tragic hero, having normal, imperfect qualities, yet facing the consequences of his actions with dignity.

In the reading it’s clear that the greeks view the Sophocles play “Oedipus the king” a hero. A tragic hero is defined as a person of noble birth with heroic qualities. The person who considered a tragic hero is either fated by the Gods, by a supernatural force, or is doomed from the start but must encounter suffering in some form. They must also have positive parts in their character. Meaning as they may have faults they out way their faults with their positive ones making them a true tragic hero such as Oedipus.

Oedipus is a tragic hero because he started with noble statute. When queen Jocasta and King Lais heard about the prophecy they got rid of oedipus and he

Like most greek tragedies, Oedipus the King had a tragic hero whose downfall was the result of a tragic flaw. Oedipus, like other greek characters, did not see his errors until his reign was coming to an end. Oedipus, the man who saved Thebes did not understand that every good thing must come to an end. A tragic hero defined by Aristotle has five characteristics that lead to their downfall and their understanding of why the situation happened. Oedipus is the ideal tragic hero because his downfall followed the five characteristics.

The story of Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles and generously translated by Robert Fitzgerald and Dudley Fitts, is a greek tragedy that evokes strong emotions from even the most apathetic readers. The main character, Oedipus, may seem to have a picturesque life with 4 children, a loving wife, and respect from most, but be wary because all is not as it seems. In attempt to rid Thebes of a plague of infertility, he uncovers many truths that turn out to be a poison chalice for Oedipus. As described by Aristotle, a tragic hero is, “A virtuous man whose misfortune is brought about not by depravity, but by some error or frailty.” Oedipus is the perfect example of a classic tragic hero because he is a waning king who lets his hubris get the best of him, which eventually leads to his reversal of fate and inevitable downfall.