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character analysis of the character oedipus
analysis of the characters if the tragedy oedipus the king
analysis of the characters if the tragedy oedipus the king
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Many Greek tragedies include a central character known as "the tragic hero." In the play, Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, the character Oedipus, portrays to the reader the necessary, central, tragic hero. According to Aristotle, "a tragic hero has a supreme pride" (Jones. Pg. 133). That pride is a reflection of arrogance and conceit that suggests superiority to man and equality with the gods. Students of religion are often taught that "pride Goethe before the fall." In Oedipus' situation, his pride, coupled with religious fervor and other human emotions like guilt, lead to what can only be described as a downfall of enormous and costly proportions, in other words, his fate.
The dictionary characterizes a downfall as, "a sudden fall (as from high rank)." The first few lines of the play show the reader that one reason for Oedipus' "sudden fall" stem from two serious flaws, conceit and pride. Oedipus' conceit and pride is apparent when he says to the priest, "Here I am myself--you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus" (Glencoe Literature. Pg. 264. Lines 7-9). The bragging nature in which Oedipus says, "you all know me," shows to the reader that Oedipus has a self-centered attitude toward life and towards others. This attitude stems from the fact that he and he alone solved the riddle of the evil sphinx, saving the city and the people of Thebes, and granting him kingship over the lands. Unfortunately for Oedipus, conceit and pride are only half his problem, the other half stems from Greek religion, and that means "the Greek gods," Zeus and Apollo. Once again, trouble reigns in the city of Thebes. The city's trouble and the gods' religious stronghold, lead Oedipus in a direction that can only be describe...
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...wer, choice, and fate; the four driving forces behind the character of Oedipus, and it is in those forces that Oedipus can assign the blame for his misfortune. "A Greek Tragedy shows how great men and women, although they may have fine ideals, sometimes end in failure and misery" (Schoenheim. The New Book of Knowledge. Pg. 351. Lines 35-38).
Works Cited
Hogan, James. A Commentary on the Plays of Sophocles. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2009.
Jones, John. On Aristotle and Greek Tragedy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Schoenheim, Ursula. "Greek Language and Literature." The New Book of Knowledge. Canada: Grolier Publishing Inc, 2002. Page 351
Sophocles. "Oedipus the King." Glencoe Literature: The Readers Choice, World Literature. Ed. Chin, Beverly Ann, et al. Columbus, OH: Glencoe, 2002. Pages 263-322.
Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Trans. Robert Fagles. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Maynard Mack et al. 6th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 1992.
Sophocles: A collection of critical essays edited by Thomas Woodward: Oedipus at Colonus. Whitman, Cedric H. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 1966.
Sophocles. "Oedipus Rex." An Introduction to Literature, 11th ed.Eds. Sylvan Barnet, et al. New York: Longman, 1997.
Sophocles. "Oedipus Rex." An Introduction to Literature, 11th ed.Eds. Sylvan Barnet, et al. New York: Longman, 1997.
Fitts, Dudley, and Robert Fitzerald. Sophocles: The Oedipus Cycle. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace & Com, 1977. Print.
Sophocles. "Oedipus the King." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. By Michael Meyer. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 1125-166. Print.
Sophocles. "Oedipus the King" Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 9th ed. Kennedy, X.J. and Dana Gioia, New York: Pearson Longman, 2005. 1365- 1433
Sophocles. "Oedipus the King." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 1999. 1902.
Benardete, Seth. ?Sophocles? Oedipus Tyrannus.? In Sophocles: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Thomas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
Sophocles. “Oedipus the King.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. 1289-1331.
The concept of tragic hero is very important in the construction of tragedy. It is the main cause of pity and fear. The tragic hero is a character between the two extremes; he is neither virtuous nor evil. At the same time, this character is better than the ordinary men or audience, he has some good qualities. Moreover, as a tragic hero, he is moving from happiness to misery by his downfall at the end. In fact, this downfall is caused by an error or a flaw in his character not by a vice or depravity. Another feature in the tragic hero is that he has good reputation and he is a man of prosperity. It can be said that Oedipus is a tragic hero because he has all the previous mentioned characteristics and the whole play is a classical application of this concept.
The underlying theme in Oedipus Rex is that fate is more powerful than free will. On this strong basis of fate, free will doesn't even exist. This was a popular belief among the ancient Greeks. Fate may be accepted or denied by modern society, but in Oedipus's story, fate proves inevitable. In the play, Oedipus Rex, the characters Oedipus, Iocaste and Laios try to change fate.
Sophocles. "Oedipus Rex." Trans. Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. The Bedford Introduction to Drama. By Lee A. Jacobus. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 73-94. Print.
Before the twentieth century plays were mainly written as either a tragedy or comedy. In a tragic play the tragic hero will often do something that will eventually destroy him. In the book Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the tragic hero. In this tragic play the main character, which is portrayed as Oedipus, will do a good deed that will in turn make him a hero. This hero will reach his height of pride in the story, and in the end the action, which he had committed earlier, will return and destroy this man who was once called a hero.
Oedipus is depicted as a “marionette in the hands of a daemonic power”(pg150), but like all tragic hero’s he fights and struggles against fate even when the odds are against him. His most tragic flaw is his morality, as he struggles between the good and the evil of his life. The good is that he was pitied by the Shepard who saved him from death as a baby. The evil is his fate, where he is to kill his father and marry his mother. His hubris or excessive pride and self-righteousness are the lead causes to his downfall. Oedipus is a tragic hero who suffers the consequences of his immoral actions, and must learn from these mistakes. This Aristotelian theory of tragedy exists today, as an example of what happens when men and women that fall from high positions politically and socially.