Tragic Hero Oedipus

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The Tragic Hero: Oedipus Tyrannus There are many tales of people’s lives that don’t end well. Some are better than others, while some are worse. There are no tales more tragic than that of Oedipus. Fated to kill his own father and bed his own mother, Oedipus’s fate is one of tragedy and ill fortune. All the good that happened to him was a façade for what his true fate was to be. His actions while alive were not heroic, rather they were a means to push him ever closer to his true end. The back story of the play is that of King Laius and Queen Jocasta. Laius was told of a prophecy that his son would kill him and bed his wife. As a way to thwart this prophesy, he left his son to die on a mountainside. The baby was found by a shepherd and brought …show more content…

Oedipus feels much relieved, because he believed that Polybus was the father whom the oracle had destined him to murder, and he momentarily believes himself to have escaped fate. He tells this all to the present company, including the messenger, but the messenger knows that it is not true. He is the man who found Oedipus as a baby in the pass of Cithaeron and gave him to King Polybus to raise. He reveals, furthermore that the servant who is being brought to the city as they speak is the very same man who took Oedipus up into the mountains as a baby. Jocasta realizes now all that has happened. She begs Oedipus not to pursue the matter further. He refuses, and she withdraws into the palace as the servant is arriving. The old man arrives, and it is clear at once that he knows everything. At the behest of Oedipus, he tells it all.
Overwhelmed with the knowledge of all his crimes, Oedipus rushes into the palace where he finds his mother-wife, dead by her own hand. Ripping a brooch from her dress, Oedipus blinds himself with it. Bleeding from the eyes, he begs his uncle and brother-in-law Creon, who has just arrived on the scene, to exile him forever from Thebes. Creon agrees to this request. Oedipus begs to hold his two daughters Antigone and Ismene with his hands one more time to have their fill of tears and Creon out of pity sends

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