Oedipus The King Aristotle 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.

Aristotle's tragic hero is a man who is characterized by good and evil. He is a mixture of good characteristics and bad characteristics. For example, Macbeth was an honorable Thane of Glamis. He was a valiant fighter who had protected his country of Scotland well, but he wanted to be king. His "vaulting ambition" caused him to kill King Duncan which ended up in his fall.  Aristotle's tragic hero has a tragic flaw, or harmatia, that is the cause of the downfall.

The definition of tragedy is great suffering, destruction, or distress like a disaster. The term is commonly used in our society but where did it come from. Aristotle, an ancient greek philosopher, laid the foundation for the definition of a tragedy that we still use today. His idea of tragedy is a character who makes a judgment error that inevitably lead to his or her own destruction. He called this a tragic hero. Aristotle's’ idea was based on five specific characteristics. The characteristics were hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, hubris and lastly, the character’s fate must be greater than deserved. The book, Oedipus The King, written by Socrates, fits Aristotle’s idea perfectly. Oedipus is an ideal tragic hero because he goes through all the five specific characteristics throughout the book.

In the article, “Common Man as A Tragic Hero: A Study of Author Miller’s Death of a Salesman”, Kritika Nanda states, “… according to Aristotle a tragic hero has to be someone

Poetics, where he defines what makes a tragic hero. Aristotle suggests that a tragic hero is a

Tragic Greek dramas featured tragic heroes, mortals who suffered incredible 
losses as a result of an inescapable fate or bad decisions. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is a character, usually of high birth, which is pre-eminently great, meaning they are not perfect, and whose downfall is brought about
 by a tragic weakness or error in judgment. The three Greek heroes Oedipus, Medea and Agamemnon, who each killed a member of their family, carry most of the qualities that make up a tragic hero: being of noble birth, being surrounded by an extraordinary circumstance, and gaining self-awareness or some kind of knowledge through their downfall. There is an important need for the audience to identify with the Aristotelian hero through

Before beginning, however, it is necessary to examine the aim of Tragedy. A Tragic work, according to Aristotle, was simply one that showed men as better than they typically are in everyday reality. Tragedy served to show mankind at his noblest, without, however, depicting man as unreal or unbelievable. To represent a noble man

Aristotle also outlined the characteristics of a good tragic hero. He must be "better than we are," a man who is superior to the average man in some way. In Oedipus 's case, he is superior not only because of social standing, but also because he is smart ¬ he is the only person who could solve the Sphinx 's riddle. At the same time, a tragic hero must evoke both pity and fear, and Aristotle claims that the best way to do this is if he is imperfect. A character with a mixture of good and evil is more compelling that a character who is merely good. And Oedipus is definitely not perfect; although a clever man, he is blind to the truth and refuses to believe Teiresias 's warnings. Although he is a good father, he unwittingly fathered children

Oedipus is one of the most famous tragic heroes in drama history. His bizarre fate leads him to a tragic defeat that leaves the audience and reader feeling emotionally overwhelmed. According to Aristotle’s definition, Oedipus’ story makes him as a tragic hero. Oedipus is the personification of Aristotle’s characterization of a tragic hero through his ability to maintain and keep his virtue and wisdom, despite his shortcomings and situation in life. Aristotle’s observation of a tragic hero does not reveal the lack of morality or the evil of the character, based on an error in judgment. The tragedy and drama fit the Aristotelian characteristics of Oedipus.

A tragic hero in literature is a type of character who has fallen from grace, where the downfall suggests feelings of misfortune and distress among the audience. The tragic flaw of the hero leads to their demise or downfall that in turn brings a tragic end. Aristotle defines a tragic hero as “a person who must evoke a sense of pity and fear in the audience. He is considered a man of misfortune that comes to him through error of judgment.” The characteristics of a tragic hero described by Aristotle are hamartia, hubris, peripeteia, anagnorisis, nemesis and catharsis which allows the audience to have a catharsis of arousing feelings.

Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero is someone of great importance or royalty. The hero must go through something terrible such as a relative’s death. We must feel what this character is feeling throughout the story. Aristotle also said that a tragic hero scan be defeated by a tragic flaw, such as hubris or human pride. In Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone, both Creon and Antigone are tragic heroes.

A tragic hero, as defined by Aristotle, is a man who is great but also terribly flawed, who experiences misfortunes while still remaining admirable to the audience at the end of the play. One of Aristotle’s favorite works, Oedipus the King, a play by Sophocles, is a play that above all others, defines the meaning of what a true tragic hero really is. In the play, Oedipus the King, the story unfolds after Oedipus unintentionally kills his own father and goes on to marry his mother. The events of the play are tragic, but it is the way that Oedipus handles the tragedies that make him a tragic hero.

It is necessary to have a clear definition of a “tragic hero”. Aristotle defines a tragic hero as “a person who must evoke a sense of pity and fear in the audience. He is considered a man of misfortune that comes to him through error of judgment” and brings his downfall to evoke the feelings of pity and fear among the audience. Aristotle also names five key characteristics that make a tragic hero a tragic hero. They are as follows: hubris, anagnorisis, catharsis, hamartia, and nemesis. We can recognize these five stages by following Karenin’s thought process throughout this passage.

The character of Oedipus exemplifies these elements of strong personality embodied by tragic action. Lastly, Aristotle thinks that the fate of the tragic character must be reconciled with the audience. The suffering has some specific cause and purpose to reach a resolution, or in direct terms a "catharsis." Without this resolution, the suffering would be for nothing and the tragedy has less meaning.

According to Aristotle a tragic hero is not any normal man; they are born with outstanding abilities, and they all share a tragic flaw, known as hamartia. Two of the many tragic heros that share Aristotle's characteristics are the protagonist in Othello by William Shakespeare and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Overall, Othello’s and Oedipus’s already written fate and men’s will and words shaped their tragic endings.