Oedipus a 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.

This statement made by Oedipus indicates that he truly believes that Polybus is his father and that the prophecy is wrong. This proves that he tried to find the truth, but could not.

This information makes Oedipus uneasy. He recalls having killed a man answering Laius' description at this very spot when he was fleeing from his home in Corinth to avoid fulfillment of a similar prophecy. An aged messenger arrives from Corinth, at this point, to announce the death of King Polybus, supposed father of Oedipus, and the election of Oedipus as king in his stead. On account of the old prophecy Oedipus refuses to return to Corinth until his mother, too, is dead. To calm his fears the messenger assures him that he is not the blood son of Polybus and Merope, but a foundling from the house of Laius deserted in the mountains. This statement is confirmed by the old shepherd whom Jocasta had charged with the task of exposing her babe. Thus the ancient prophecy has been fulfilled in each

Oedipus attempted to escape Apollo's prophecy, but in doing so he accidentally fulfilled Teiresias’s prophecy that he would kill Laius. The relationship Sophocles establishes between Oedipus’s actions and prophecy is that Oedipus tried to avoid the prophecy because he did not want it to come true, but when he ran away he ended up killing a man who was probably Laius. Teiresias prophesied that Oedipus killed Laius, so it seems that Teiresias’s prophecy is coming true.

"A man doesn't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall." -Aristotle No one wants to be a tragic hero. A great or virtuous character, but sadly they are destined for downfall because of their own judgement. Sophocles’ Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero.

On the way he came to a place known as the place where the three rogues meet. Over there, he fell into a conflict with a person on a chariot concerning the crossing of the bridge as to who should be first. Due to this small tussle, Oedipus got enraged and in the fight that followed, he killed the person. That person was King Laius of Thebes, Oedipus’ true father. In this manner he fulfilled a part of the prediction. Following this, Oedipus made his way to Thebes, and saved the people from the riddles of the Sphinx. In thanks, Oedipus was made king for being the savior of Thebes, and so was bonded in matrimony to Jocasta, King Laius’ widow, and in true form, Oedipus’ mother. Years later, they also had children borne to them. Hence, ignorantly, Oedipus had completed all the conditions Apollo's prophesy and had proved the oracle right too. But all this had happened in ignorance, but it was now, towards the end that the actual beginning resurrects itself from its grave and begins to sing out the symphony of destruction to Oedipus. The unfolding of this plot, arrives with the arrival of the messenger, from Corinth to tell Oedipus that his ‘father’, king Polybus of Corinth was dead. On this Oedipus was both happy and sad for he lamented the death of his father, still ignorant of the conditional time, but also glad that he was not responsible for it and had proved Apollo wrong. But as soon as his soul had soared, so did it come crashing down as he was told all about

Oedipus Rex “I have consorted with whom I should not have consorted, killed whom I should not have killed” (Lines 1142-1144). In Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Oedipus ends up doing what he feared most, killing his father and marrying his mother. Oedipus is trying to find the murderer of the old king of Thebes because the city is hit with a plague. The investigation leads Oedipus to find out that killed his father and married his mother, fulfilling the prophecy, and when Oedipus learns the truth he blinds himself and is exiled. Oedipus thought that he was the best of men for which reasons the city of Thebes had been placed in his hands.

Oedipus was clever enough to solve the riddle, and then took on the throne of Thebes. When he began ruling Thebes, Oedipus thought that he had beaten his fate; he thought that his father would live and that he would not marry his mother. Instead, it is revealed to Oedipus that he is really the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta. When Oedipus was a baby, Laius went to the oracle and his future was revealed to him; his son who would later marry his mother would kill Laius. Perturbed by this, Laius ordered the death of his son, so a shepherd took the baby to a mountain to dispose of the baby, but he couldn’t do it. Instead he gave the baby to a messenger of King Polybus. Oedipus, while trying to avoid his future kills King Laius in self-defense, and then takes on the throne of Thebes. Inadvertently, Oedipus kills his father and marries his mother.

Oedipus was a tragic hero. Sophocles, instead of killing Oedipus in the end of the novel, chose to give Oedipus a fate worse then death. Oedipus found out who he was and that he killed his father and slept with his mother. His tragic end was a result of his hamartia, hubris. His pride was what caused him to attack the carriage and kill his father, which led to him marrying his mother. He

Oedipus decides that he does not want to look upon the misery that he has caused and gauges his own eyes out with pins from a dress. He then banishes himself from the city of Thebes. Oedipus takes the responsibility as king and does not want his children shunned upon. As a consequence, Oedipus will live the rest of his life in blindness, as a punishment far worse that what he deserved. When Oedipus had vision he was in the dark for not knowing the past. However, when Oedipus blinded himself, he was brought from the darkness into the light because he finally knows of his destiny.

exercising his free choice by making bad decisions . Oedipus certainly meets these portrayals of a tragic hero. The dialect of tragedy consists of two circles: one is a relative point and the other is impacted and the effect on its audience. Sophocles and Aristotle’s achieve that task with absolute clearness. The modern reader, coming to the classic drama not entirely to the enjoyment, will not always surrender himself to the emotional effect. He is apt to worry about Greek ‘fatalism’ and the justice of the downfall of Oedipus, and, finding no satisfactory solution for these intellectual difficulties, loses half the pleasure that the drama was intended to produce . In dramatizing stories, there will dependably blends of passionate sentiments, suspense, and fervor to discover what’s

Sophocles ' play “Oedipus Tyrannus” is an enigma. His play includes incest, murder and self-enlightenment all leading into the main theme of fate. Athenians believed that fate is not left up to man, but that is provided solely on the whims of the gods. Because of his dramatic approach to his plays Sophocles was considered one of the most brilliant and creative writers of his time.

In the Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King, Oedipus struggles to accept the truth and he lets his temper over power him. Throughout the tragedy, he displays all the necessary elements to be categorized as a tragic hero as defined by Aristotle. His refusal to accept the truth led to Oedipus’ downfall. A tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle, “is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction.” Based off this definition, Sophocles’ Oedipus clearly exemplifies Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero.

In the end, however, Oedipus’ hubris ways led to his tragic reality. He lost his wife. He lost his eyesight. He lost his children. He lost his kingship. With all his confidence and his persistence, he uncovered the riddles of his life and found out that he was the boy born of Laius and Jocasta who was the subject of the prophecy. His intelligence, pride and confidence led to this discovery, which resulted in him losing everything that he had which in the end he fulfilled his fate.

Thesis: In Sophocles’ “Oedipus”, Oedipus is exemplified as a tragic hero according to Aristotle’s definition because his story appeals to the reader’s humanity in the way he maintains his strengths after inadvertently causing his own downfall.