Have you ever wondered how your past experiences contribute to your path in life? Whether you consciously realize it or not the but the experiences we have everyday are what mold our morals. Our morals on the other hand are what we use to make decisions. The morals of a hero is what constructs the universal conflict. Establishing key details from the hero's journey will ultimately push the hero through their trials and eventually leading to resolution. Key details is what molds the hero's morals and values, more importantly it's the hero's morals that will determine the end resolution. In the tragic play Medea we can see many examples of morals and innocence contribute to the tragic hero's journey, in this case this leading to a twisted resolution. …show more content…
In the play Oedipus we can see how Oedipus innocence leads him to his tragic destiny. The main universal conflict is man vs himself. Tiresias, or the wise old man plays a curtail part . Tiresias is ancient, but knows all...he appears in the story to advise Oedipus. As Tiresias said in a menacing tone, “How terrible it is to know...no good comes of knowing,”(Sophocles 14). If Oedipus just would just have put his curiosity to the side maybe things would have not taken such a harsh turn. Oedipus is the tragic hero who is blinded by his own innocence. In addition, his anger and stubbornness which is part of morals/personality is a key detail. This leads to him killing his father unknowingly at a young age fulfilling the prophecy and contributing to the resolution. Another archetype that is relevant is that of Laios and Jocasta which is bad parenting. They get rid of Oedipus as a child and by doing this they play out the prophecy. This shows their clearly shows how ignorant they are. Instead of taking on the “problem” they simply throw it away and let it grow up into a even bigger problem. This is prime example of a key detail contributing to the tragic hero’s journey. If it was not for abandoning Oedipus he would have not have been presented the same situations, thus leading to the end resolution. Since the key details were presented in this way they molded their morals thus giving us the tragic …show more content…
In the case of Hercules his determination guided him to his success. After being publicly shamed for killing his family he set off for a journey to redeem himself. Heracles set off to comple 12 impossible tasks, if it were not for his determination and mindset of to redeem to self to the gods he would not have made past the first labor. A example of Heracles morals can be see during the eleventh labor "Whatever," says Heracles "I can do anything," (Shmoop 11). This shows us how resilient he is. Even when this wimpy king tells him that he did not do good enough he has is ingrained in his head that he is going to be successful no matter what. Again, in the twelfth labor we see how Hercules morals push him through his trials and are ultimately what make him so successful. Cerberus bites, scratches, and puts up quite a fight, but Heracles refuses to let go. This is important because Heracles mentality through all of his trials is that he can not fail and will not fail. His moral principles are what push him to his heroic
The stories characters, Medea and Jason, can be seen as representations of two different responses to life. For hundreds of years, society has judged each others actions and reactions based on just cause. This story, to me, has a type of underlying theme that drags the reader into a moral debate, which forces you to really question your own belief system.
Over time, history has given society many to whom we call true heroes. There are many reasons these heroes have been looked up to such as: bravery, dedication, confidence, and inspiration. However, a tragic hero requires a few different qualities. Aristotle describes a tragic hero as a “member of royalty,” someone who “must fall from tremendous good fortune,” and someone who creates pity for him or herself (“Connections: A Theory” 2000). In Greek drama, Sophocles’ Antigone and Euripides’ Medea both contain several possible tragic heroes including Medea, Jason, and Creon. More specifically, in Antigone Creon exemplifies the qualities of a tragic hero best due to his prominent power as king of Thebes, the way he holds strong to his stubborn pride, and the sympathy felt for him in his tragic downfall.
... powerful, manipulative, and extremely smart, yet because she is a woman she has limited social power. She has no chance of being a hero because she acts out of hurt in her marriage and love turned to hate. In Aeschylus’ Oresteia, Agamemnon also kills his child, although it is not praised, he is still considered a hero after his death. Medea is portrayed as being a selfish and ruthless woman, making her unnatural. Nevertheless, the audience finds themselves uncomfortably admiring Medea and her strength as a woman. Medea’s madness portrays how one’s emotions can lead to detrimental results rather than using reason. She is driven by her desire for revenge and will stop at nothing to burn her husband Jason as he did her.
Oedipus Rex has so many problems for just one man. Starting with the prophecy he got when he was a baby. Then later became a king to a town named Thebis and after that, the town was cursed. Talk about bad luck. Oedipus’s character is played as a protagonist in the story in Oedipus the King. According to Aristotle to be a protagonist you need to have a hamartia. Oedipus has many tragic flaws, but which is his true downfall; there is killing his biological father, another one is that he slept with his real mother and has kids with her, or is it him really trying to run away from his prophecy and him actually believing he could. Which one is his true harmarita; making him the protagonist, by giving the audience pity and fear for him.
...ir own storyline of life, a life that already has a written ending and that is destine already to you. By the end of the play the audience is left with two facts, Oedipus fate is destine for downfall, and indeed Oedipus does fulfill his destiny. Nevertheless, the truth of the situation is that the path in which Oedipus’ ultimately takes is what leads him to fulfill the prophecy. If the audience choose to see the play from this prospective, then Oedipus’ the king will become much more significant, by doing so, giving the play a far better interpretation. Although Sophocles never clearly mentions in the play that Oedipus fate is due to his poor choices, the suggestion of the storyline is full with indication that the only person responsible for his own fate is Oedipus himself. Through his play Oedipus the King, Sophocles demonstrates to his audience the outcome of
So just as each one of us, go seeking for these truths on out heroic journey through life we must always try and under stand the hero. Because the path of the hero is known and all go through this. We must undoubtedly go through the cycle of life. Just as Odyssey, or Sir Gawain do, each person will have their own challenges and feats, yet we must prevail. We are called of God to come to this earth to overcome great challenges, trials, and tribulations to make us meek, humble and stronger. The Hero's of this semester have taught me a lot about literature and humanities. Yet they all have a divine path that they follow or some sort of morals and code they live their life’s by. So we must all go through these stages in our life to try and do whats right the first time and if we fall to not give up and always keep going.
First of all, Oedipus is determined to discover who he is, just like any person who is having problems. One explores the reason behind the problem to set their mind free and feel relief. They try to explore what is causing the problem and when it is discovered it is better left unknown. Oedipus can not accept things as they are and by investigating his past, he is his own worst enemy by destroying his relationships and himself. When he was a young man he heard that his parents were not his real paternal parents, from the oracle. He believed that his adopted parents were his real parents so he moved to Thebes so he would not fulfill what the oracle had predicted as his fate. Oedipus was a character that had a certain way of feeling sure about himself. Many people act this way, but this are the same kind of people that spend their time searching for the truth about themselves. I believe that his pride was his biggest character flaw and because of this, the conclusion of the play was tragic. He feels that he has to take responsibility for his actions even though he had no control over them and fate was to blame. Yet many aspects could have been avoiding with extensive research about his background from his adoptive parents, but because he avoided this, his circumstance determined his fate.
The Greek tragedy Medea is a tale of a woman scorn and the wrath that follows. The story is one of outright deceit, crippling revenge and questionable justice. It is typical of Greek tragedies in its simplicity, but atypical in the way it justifies horrific revenge. Medea is one of Euripides' most enduring plays. It and only a handful of others have survived the several thousand years since their conception.
Oedipus is a hero, as defined by Johnston. According to Johnston, ‘a hero is someone who confronts fate in a very personal manner and whose reaction to that encounter serves to illuminate for us our own particular condition’ (Johnston, Part 2). Oedipus definitely confronts fate in a personal manner. Among other things, he challenges the mysterious qualities of fate by pursuing the Shepherd despite warnings from Jocasta (Sophocles, 71). Oedipus follows through on confronting fate with his individual approach of uncompromising persistence and integrity (Johnston, Part 3). Even at the end of his downfall, Oedipus maintains that Kreon should banish him and that he must obey the curses he himself ordered for the murderer of King Laios (Sophocles, 89-90). Despite being so broken and publicly shamed, Oedipus still persists with his former way of interacting with fate : noble defiance (Johnston, Part 3). Although this quality itself is admirable, Oedipus takes uncompromising to the extreme, losing insight on everything else. Oedipus becomes ignorant to his surroundings, leading to his downfall (Johnston, Part 3). Oedipus’ story also challenges the fundamental belief that life should be rational and just. (Johnston, Part 3) His story illuminates that fate is arbitrarily cruel and will sometimes pick the gre...
If focusing on the play’s plot, much of the dramatic irony is based on lacking and searching for knowledge. This constant hunt for the truth, which only the audience knows and understands, causes the creation of mass disorder in Thebes. Not only are people already dying from the plague, but now they have this hunt for Laius’ killer. Fights and tension-filled discussions are occurring between all different characters from Oedipus to Tiresias to Creon, and chaos is continuing to spread in order to uncover the truth. Dramatic irony affects the audience by filling them with anticipation. They know the background knowledge of the play and are just waiting to see when Oedipus’ downfall will occur as each event happens. Sophocles’ use of dramatic irony also helped to portray a central theme that no single human can contain all of life’s knowledge without dealing with major chaos and consequences. If Oedipus stopped trying to learn everything about himself and the people of Thebes, he would not have had such a tragic ending to his life. Most of the things that the audience knows, Oedipus would have been better off without knowing. Since he digs deep to uncover every truth, he has to deal with the fact that he killed his father and married his mother. Jocasta kills herself upon hearing the news and Oedipus claws his eyes out, blinding himself. If he had just minded his business and went on with his life without needing to know every fact of it, it would have been much better than how it turned out to be. Dramatic irony plays a major role in driving the plot of Oedipus the King, conveying its theme, and leading to the tragic downfall of Oedipus
In life much of our future rest upon our decisions. These decisions come in all different shapes and sizes, and some have the potential to thrive our futures into greatness, while others can destroy our lives to the point of no return. In the play Medea, by Euripides he provides his audience with a dramatic story of a woman who will stop at nothing, to reach her goals of revenge. In Medea there are many significant decisions made throughout the story. The decision by Medea to let her desire for revenge rule her life, I believe is the most important. Medea is a tragedy, which shows the true destruction and horror that came from one decision.
Oedipus is the main character in the play Oedipus the King. Oedipus is thought of as a tragic figure because he was doomed from birth. Tiresias, an old blind prophet, told Oedipus' parents about Oedipus' fate. He told them that Oedipus would kill his father and sleep with his mother. So, his parents decided to have him killed, only it did not happen that way. He was passed off by two shepherds and finally to the King and Queen of Corinth, Polybus and Merope to raise him as their own. Oedipus finds his way back to Thebes and on the way kills his father, but Oedipus did not know that one of the men he killed was his real father. This is the beginning of the prophecy coming true. In short Oedipus obtains the throne, Marries his mother and has kids with her. Oedipus' fate has come together without him even realizing what is going on. Eventually he is told what has happened and asks to be banished by his uncle/brother-in-law Creon. The tragedy in Oedipus' life began with his birth and the realization by his parents that his whole life was doomed.
For Oedipus, prophecy is not the main source of his fall towards society; rather, his hubris blinds himself from recognizing his personal sin in the world, thus leading to his demise. Sophocles even skillfully uses a metaphor through the words “ as led by a guide” to further explain the “supernatural being” that ultimately decides the tragic fate of the family of Oedipus. In addition, through the death of Jocasta, the reader is immediately attuned of Oedipus’ raging moment of violence and will be petrified by the overwhelming power of the gods, thus realizing the importance of being cautious before making a final choice. Indeed, after an individual settles on a decision, the gods take control of the person’s fate, hurling numerous consequences to him if he makes the wrong decision. Moreover, as Oedipus suddenly becomes the unintended victim of the gods through his sinful decision to execute Laius, he is forced to relinquish his predominate impetus for pridefulness in exchange for a heart of deep realization and forgiveness. At the end of the play, Oedipus sacrifices everything in order to remove his guilt through the consequences of his atrocious actions witnessed by the gods. After Oedipus realizes the astringent fate he was destined to encounter through his sinful murder of Laius, he immediately attempts to take responsibility for his
The impetus for the downfall of Oedipus, "Known far and wide by name" (Sophocles, 1), is his anger. Enraged he slew King Laius and in anger he hastily pursued his own ruination. From the aforementioned recriminations of Tiresias to the conflict with his brother-in-law Creon (his ill temper again displayed - "Tempers such as yours most grievous to their own selves to bear,... .(Sophocles, 25); through the revealing exchanges with his wife/mother Jocasta and her slave (whose pity saved the infant Oedipus), damming insight grows in a logical sequence, all the while fueled by the Oedipal rage. Realizing the heinous nature of his actions, Oedipus blinds himself in a fit of anger and remorse - now, as Tiresias, he can see.
One major feature that all heroes must obtain is the talent to make reasonable decisions while pressured. When trying to make logical choices one must think of the future consequences that will come along with ones actions. Earlier in the school year my field hockey team wanted to go out to dinner the night before our big tournament game to celebrate the good season we had. That nice also happened to the night I had to study for a big math test. This math test would determine if I would get an A- or B+ for the quarter and I desired the A-. All my friends had told me to come out to dinner and that ere would be plenty of other math tests for me to ace. Just as I was getting ready to go out to dinner I started thinking about how I really want to start freshman year off with a good GPA. At first my friends were sad I would not come out to dinner but then I explained that there would be plenty other team bondings and that I was not going to miss too much. In the end, I got the A- that I needed to end the quarter and I was right when I had said I would not miss anything. By putting the results of my actions into perspective, I was able to choose the wiser path that would help me in the future. When faced with a...