Oedipus Tragic Hero

The genre of tragedy first appeared in ancient Greek and Roman theatres, staring with Aeschylus, the father of tragedy, and followed by Sophocles, the writer of Oedipus. Tragedies became very popular with the people because they are entertaining and evoke cantharis, which mean to feel pity and fear and purge their emotions. According to Aristotle, a Greek writer, the play Oedipus Rex is the ideal tragedy. It is embedded with elements that are key to a successful tragedy. Key elements in a tragedy include a tragic hero, who is noble character with a tragic flaw that results in his down fall; the element of Catharism; inevitability and certainty, in which the audience is in on the action by knowing the outcome that creates the tension and expectation;

The term hero is defined as a person who faces adversity, or demonstrates courage in the face of danger. (Tragic Hero) However, sometimes he faces a downfall as well. Aristotle once said that “A man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” (McManus) When a hero confronts his downfall or tragic flaw, he is recognized as a tragic hero. According to Jacobus “a Greek tragedy focused on a person of noble birth who often had risen to the great height and then fall precipitately” due to a tragic flaw (Jacobus). Using Oedipus as an ideal model, Aristotle says that a tragic hero must be an important or influential man who commits an error in judgment, and who must suffer the consequences of his actions. (McManus) Oedipus’s tragic flaw that leads to his downfall is his excessive pride and self-righteousness that makes him blind to the truth. It is important for a tragedy to have a tragic hero with these certain qualities. The tragic hero should be neither better nor worse morally than normal people, in order to allow the audience to identify with them. This also introduces pity, which also is very crucial in tragedy, as if the hero was perfect we would be outraged with their fate or not care especially because of their ideological superiority. If the hero was imperfect or evil, then the audience would feel that he had gotten what he deserved. It is important to strike a balance in

As Aristotle proclaimed, this emotional attachment is further used as a means for the character of Oedipus to evoke pity or fear from the audience in the latter half of the play. (McManus) The purpose of a tragic hero is to evoke sad emotions such as pity and fear, which makes the audience to experience catharsis, the feeling of pity and fear, and relieve them of their pent up emotions. It also gives wisdom to the audience to avoid such things in their own lives. Oedipus learns a lesson from his own error in judgment, his tragic flaw, and become an example to the audience of what happens when a great men fall from this high social or political position. Being a tragic hero, Oedipus is on a quest for truth, during his quest he realizes that if he continues on his quest for truth he will cause himself great harm, yet he continues on his pursuit for truth. Knowing the outcome of the play, the audience is seized by the ironic nature of this play of Oedipus tries to escape his fate, but ends up fulfilling the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother. However, it is not Oedipus’s physical completion of the prophecy that causes him to fall, but rather it is the