Oedipus Tragic Hero Essay

Robert Anthony once said, "The problem with worry is that we attract the very thing we are trying to avoid." This quote directly relates to the Greek tragedy Oedipus the King by Sophocles. In this play, Sophocles gives Oedipus the tragic flaw, hubris (excessive pride in oneself), which eventually causes him to run into his fate that he wanted to escape.

Furthermore, he then try to exaggerate his victory over the sphinx for no purpose other than self satisfaction and raising himself above Tiresias. Similarly, he accused Tiresias of conspiring with Creon in order to take his throne. Essentially, Oedipus’ reaction was fueled through his narcissistic and haughty personality.

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.

“Oh my children, the new blood of ancient Thebes, why are you here?” said Oedipus when addressing his people during his first appearance (1-2). Flamboyant, yes, well in Oedipus the King, the main character Oedipus is a boastful and pompous character faced with troublesome pasts and future predicaments. In actuality, he is king of Thebes and the rightful ruler, but when a plague strikes he is quickly led into a misfortune of events that ultimately leads him to dig his eyes out in attempt to relieve him from the truth he discovers. It then becomes a revelation to distinguish the characteristic fault which leads Oedipus through such tragedy. Only to become apparent, Oedipus’s excessive pride is the main culprit behind his tragic ending. In

The altercation reveals a deep flaw in his character: his pride was greater than his self-control. Regardless of the reason for his attack, Oedipus benefitted from the gain of internal power which intensified his pride. Not knowing that he had murdered King Laius, he continued on his journey to Thebes where he became the king. When a blight destroyed the city’s welfare Oedipus was told that the key to ending the plague was to find Laius’s murderer. Oedipus proclaimed, “I’ll start again-I’ll bring it all to light myself...to turn our attention back to the murdered man. Now you have me to fight for you, you’ll see: I am the land’s avenger by all rights, and Apollo’s champion too” (Lines 150-155). The statement showed that he equated his strength with that of the gods’ and that he was the only one besides Apollo that can bring justice to the king’s death. “You pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers,” is another example of Oedipus demonstrating his arrogance and pride, telling the people who are suffering that he has the powers to ameliorate their problems (Lines 245-255). His hubris had him convinced that he did not need to rely on the help of the greater beings, so when the failures of the city and his life crumpled to pieces, Oedipus witnessed the demise of his

Oedipus displays flaws like hubris and até throughout the play an example being when he was quarrelling with Teiresias and yelled at him as abovementioned. Oedipus also made a bad decision of killing the man that got in his way, and anagnorisis occurs to him where he realizes his fate came true and killed his father. This caused Oedipus to be responsible for his fate because he was the one with the prophecy, and according to Teiresias is, “the man you’ve searched for all along… for the murder of King Laius” (Sophocles 27). These traits all meet the traits for Oedipus to be considered a tragic hero in Oedipus the King by

There are certain elements present in tragic stories that qualify them to be identified as tragic. Because tragedy as a genre was not an inexorable matter, authors have been able to take it into their own hands, diverting from the traditional styles as they desire. Among the traditional elements of the genre is the inclusion of a tragic hero who finds defeat through his fatal flaw. While still confining to certain attributes of tragedy, these remodeled stories portray tragic heroes in an especially unique way. Two such tragic tales that modify the idea of a tragic hero are Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Euripides’ Medea. The characters Oedipus from Oedipus Rex and Medea from Medea alter the perception of tragic heroes evident in their many differences and few shared tragic hero qualities.

As we journey through life, there are people we come across who remind us of the characters in the Oedipus Plays of Sophocles. There are heroes and there are tragic heroes in life. Heroes don’t think of themselves first but act quickly to help others in dangerous situations. Tragic hero are those who act before thinking about other consequence and the final outcome. Aristotle suggests that a hero of a tragedy must make one remember of the things he does to stir up trouble and bring strong feelings of memories of the past. “Oedipus is a tragic hero in the plays of Sophocles.” A tragic hero has self-confidence and pride and does not always see the truth in every situation. “Oedipus cannot be considered as a tragic hero.”

Oedipus’ pride and arrogance are obvious from the very beginning of the play when he says “I, Oedipus, who bear the famous name (Oedipus Prologue. Lines 5-10).” It’s easy to understand why he possesses these traits. After all, he did solve the riddle of the Sphinx and now the residents of Thebes worshiped him and looked to him to save their city. It’s easy for any of us to allow that kind of power to go to our head. When people constantly tell

According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is a protagonist in a play who has his misfortune come to him not through, “vice or depravity, but rather by some great error or frailty” (Roberts and Zweig 1031). That being said, Oedipus the King, written by the great Sophocles was a tragic play. Oedipus was told that the only way to rid Thebes of the curse was to find the man who murdered Laius. Throughout the play, Oedipus uses clues to find the murderer. However, in doing so, he discovered that he was Laius’ murderer and had fulfilled a great prophecy. By having a close emotional connection to the audience, a horrible hamartia happen to him, and have the audience feel pity for him during his downfall, Oedipus is considered a tragic hero.

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

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

“Now I am the source of grief for myself and all who love me.” (Sophocles 75) The downfall of Oedipus was caused by his lack of humility. He himself who killed his father and married his mother unknowingly, blames this situation on himself. Oedipus was a great King towards the people of Thebes, but because of his flaw for the lack of humility and modesty it ended up with him blinding himself because death alone is just not enough. Ignorance and pride is what caused the downfall of Oedipus which ended up with Oedipus blinding himself, and being exiled from Thebes. If Oedipus just listened to the warnings from several people such as Tiresias, Jocasta, and the Shepherd telling him to stop searching for answers then Oedipus would not have to bear the burden from having so much pride and being so ignorant.

Tragedies have been written, told, and acted out for a number of years. Aristotle defined in his book, Poetics that a tragedy is to arouse the emotions of pity, fear, and finally a catharsis, or purging of emotions. A tragic play that perfectly completes this cycle of emotions is Oedipus the King by Sophocles. This play follows a king of the town of Thebes through his journey of the emotions of pity, fear, and finally a catharsis. It is a tale of a man who unknowingly kills his father and fathers the children of his mother as well. The audience is pulled into the play and experiences the plot along with Oedipus.

During the transition from the beginning to the end of his rule the hubris, or the excessive amount of pride in one’s character, expressed by Oedipus has transformed into what may be- ironically- identified as a god complex. The expression of admiration from Theban citizens towards Oedipus in recognition for being the king and hero of Thebes has inflated Oedipus’ self-worth to the point where it is not pride, but arrogance. “Here I am myself- you all known me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus.” (7-9, Oedipus Rex) While his ego escalates from the relentless devotion of his citizens Oedipus establishes a god complex of his own design, no longer caring about the gods nor fate, instead believing that destiny and the future are under his own control rather than being something predetermined.“You pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers.” (245, Oedipus Rex) “You can’t hurt me or anyone else who sees the light- you can never touch me.” (427-8, Oedipus Rex) Oedipus even displays his authority when he refers to the chorus as his children, donning the role of a patriarch who assumes power over those he perceives as inferior or unworthy. In spite of this, the honorable life Oedipus built for himself in Thebes shifts into one that is unrecognizable, as the truth