##edragus The King : The Downfall Of Oedipus The King

Oedipus’ pride and a heightened sense of confidence is very conspicuous throughout the play Oedipus Rex. From the beginning of the play, Oedipus accepts the idea that he can avoid the prophecy given to him by the gods. Oedipus is also seen interrogating Creon and attempting to banish him with Tiresias towards the end of the play because they are saying facts corresponding to the prophecy. He tries to become like a god himself by thinking he could control his own fate. Although Oedipus’ pride can be justified by his accomplishments of being king; the tragedy of Oedipus is the pure result of his overwhelming pride because he killed his father, mocked Tiresias, and blinded himself.

Oedipus states, “ My fate was to be yoked in marriage with my mother and kill my father, Polybus who begot me and had reared me.” (46) In other words, those surprising facts leads to his downfall because he can’t escape what he did. He can’t repress the memories of what he has done that corrupted his whole lifestyle.

In Greek mythology, hubris means to have excessive self confidence or pride. In The Odyssey, we often see Odysseus getting into trouble because of his hubris. There are many examples where this flaw is exhibited. These include when Odysseus defeats the cyclops Polyphemus, when he and his crew sail past the sirens, and when he got the bag of winds from Aeolus. Hubris leads him to disregard the Gods, and make unwise decisions because his pride blinds him of his ability to see the consequences in making those choices. Odysseus’ hubris also makes his trip home harder and longer than it had to be.

The Greek drama “Oedipus The King” evidently leads to the unveiling of a tragedy. Oedipus, the protagonist of the play uncovers his tragic birth story and the curse he had been baring his whole life. Oedipus is notorious for his personal insight that helped him defeat Sphinx, which lead him to becoming the king of Thebes. He is admired by the people of Thebes and is considered to be a mature, inelegant and a rational leader. From his birth, his story began with a prophecy that Oedipus would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. Through out the play numerous people, who tell him of his unknown past, visit Oedipus. Blind to the truth he casts them away until a blind man named Therisis gives a sight of truth to Oedipus. As Oedipus learns the truth he realizes the great evil his life carries. After finding his wife and also mother hung in her bedroom, Oedipus blinds himself with the gold pins that held Jocasta’s robe. Oedipus blind to the truth is finally able to see when the old blind man visits him and tells him the truth about his life. Both metaphorically and physically sight plays a significant role in understanding the irony of a blind man seeing the truth while Oedipus who isn’t blind doesn’t seem to the truth that’s right in front of him.

Hubris is Oedipus's tragic flaw. He is now overly full of himself because: he rescued the city of Thebes from the Sphinx, people admire him, the citizens worship him as if he were an idol, the citizens think of him as their hero, and the Thebans have such a high esteem for him, that they made him King. One instance that proves he is filled with overbearing pride is when he proclaims, "I, Oedipus, a name that all men know." (8) This statement also brings about irony. It is ironic because his name will be remembered and well-known everywhere--as a polluter, the

Hubris is defined by the Webster-Miriam dictionary as “Exaggerated pride or confidence” (Miriam-Webster Dictionary) in Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, In Oedipus The King, by Sophocles, the onslaught of pain assailing the protagonist is a result of his tragic flaw. Sophocles often used a characters’ flaw to alter or influence the outcome or future of the hero. Oedipus' hubris influences him to fulfill the oracle and further intensify his punishment from the Gods.

In Oedipus Rex hubris, or excessive pride, is theme that is presented throughout the text. Hubris is the main reason for Oedipus’ downfall in the story because it clouds his judgement from the truth.

Talk about road rage! Oedipus is pushed out the way by a wagon, and he retaliates by killing almost everyone in the wagon, including his father! Sure, Oedipus was destined to kill his father anyway, but the manner in which he did so gives an insight into his demeanor. Oedipus could have killed his father in any number of ways, but to do so in a fit of rage set off by so seemingly trivial of an event is just not rational. Murder may not have been as big of a deal at that time, but if Oedipus had tried that in today’s world, he would have either been executed or have been spending the rest of his life in a mental institution. This incident goes to show that Oedipus is a very rash and impulsive man, and this carries over into his administration and decision-making.

The theme of hubris can be seen throughout Oedipus The King, and is the reason for the downfall of more than one character. Oedipus’ parents, are the first to commit hubris; instead of letting destiny take its course, they acted as if they were more powerful. They attempted to destroy their child and change their fate. Oedipus’ adoptive parents also commit hubris, as they lie to him about his past. Like his parents, Oedipus’ believes that he can change his own destiny. His hubris leads to him being irrational, and jumping to conclusions without first analyzing things. This is what leads him to eventually kill his biological father. Oedipus might have been able to save his biological mother’s life, had he not been too

Early on in the story, Oedipus is the proud and confident king of Thebes; he is a man that is not to be underestimated or degraded. This once undisputed fact becomes more debatable the longer the play continues, however. The conflict begins with Oedipus attempting to lift a curse that has been unleashed on the kingdom of Thebes. This curse was caused by the murder of the previous king, Laius, and the only way for it to be lifted is for the murderer to be exiled from Thebes. Oedipus works fervently to unravel the mystery behind who Laius’ killer was. However, each new discovery ends up incriminating Oedipus as the killer instead. Along the way Oedipus discovers that his supposed parents, the king and queen of Corinth, are not his true parents. This revelation pushes him to begin a new search for his biological parents, a search that eventually leads him to one of Lainus’ shepherds. It is this shepherd that reveals to King Oedipus that his mother is Jocasta, his current wife. Consequently, Oedipus falls into a fit of despair in which he stabs his own eyes out and confronts the consequences of his shameful existence. By the end of the play, Oedipus has not only lost his status as the king of Thebes, but has also been exiled from the kingdom and has become an outcast for all of society to hate. The transition Oedipus undergoes

Sophocles used Oedipus’ pride to characterize Oedipus as a tragic man. It showed that he was destined to make himself miserable because of the hubris he was born with. He also uses it to show that there is fate, but we are a part of it and it is only what might happen based on the person we are. Oedipus came about his tragic discovery not because of an evil act or an evil trait but because of the person he was. When the oracles stated that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother, he stated what could happen. Oedipus’ fate might have been avoided if Oedipus was not the type of person he was.

Though he was smart and quick witted, his temper was like a catalyst for every event. no other event in the story could support this better than the murder of his father. The murder of his father could have been prevented if he controlled his anger at the crossroads and acted respectfully instead of picking a fight. Moreover since it was anger that lead to Oedipus’s downfall it can be considered as his hamartia or tragic

Oedipus is the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes, but because of an oracle that predicts that Oedipus will kill his father, Laius and Jocasta leave him to die in “the mountains where Cithaeron is” (1472). Later, Oedipus is rescued by Polybus and Merope. He is raised as a nobleman because he is born into a noble family being that Polybus is the king of Thebes, and since he is noble, he has a sense of pride that is considered sinful. Also, his

The tragic hero suffers from a character flaw, a moral weakness in character. The flaw is what sets his actions and what inevitably leads to his downfall. The hero's downfall is partially his own fault, the result of free choice, not of accident or villainy or some overriding, malignant fate. Oedipus seems to make important mistakes or some "errors in judgment" that set the events of the story into action. Oedipus flaw is his pride and stubbornness. When a drunken man tells him that he is a bastard, his pride is so wounded that he will not let the subject rest, eventually going to the oracle of Apollo to ask it the

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