Why Is Oedipus A Tragedy

Oedipus Rex is one of the most renowned tragedies of all time in part because of its direct paradoxes but mostly due to it’s touching of several major themes. In this play, Sophocles chooses Oedipus as the hero (if he is to be called that) and manages to convey many of broad perspectives of Ancient Greek life. Oedipus deals with the oracle in many contrasting ways, which lead to this specific unfolding of events, which we will discover is not in his hands. The protagonist of the play Oedipus is the son of king Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. Oedipus is abandoned by his parents as they learned from the oracles that their son will kill his father and marry his mother. However, the fate hasn’t changed. Oedipus was saved by a couple. As Oedipus gets older he consults the oracle and they tell him the same thing. Not wanting to harm his parents, Oedipus runs away. On his way to Thebes where the three roads meet he gets into a quarrel with an old man and kills him without knowing that it was his biological father.

Oedipus the Tragic Hero Arthur Miller alters Aristotle 's definition of the tragic hero and tragedy; Miller suggests that the common man is capable of experiencing the tragedy of a king because they experience "similar emotional situations"(148). Miller points out that the tragic feeling is induced when the character gives up everything to try to guard his personal dignity. The character is flawed but not too faulty in order to be relatable to the common man. However, the character flaw that causes his downfall isn 't a weakness. After his downfall, the common man learns a lesson Although Miller redefines the tragic character, Oedipus is still a suitable example.

The Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, adheres to Aristotle’s definition of a tragedy. The first rule of a Greek tragedy is that the lead be a good person; they must have a good heart and have noble intentions. This is revealed immediately at the beginning of the play that Oedipus is this type of man. Another common factor in the Greek tragedy is that Oedipus is also an aristocrat. Oedipus was born to the King and Queen of Thebes, therefore, he is of true nobility. Oedipus, however believes his parents are the King and Queen of Corinth, this was made clear to the reader when we find out that Oedipus was abandoned as a baby and adopted by them. That information is only known to the audience, and not to Oedipus, so this proves to be a perfect example of tragic irony. The irony at this point is due to the fact that when he declares that he will find the murderer, he is in fact the man that he pursues.

Oedipus Rex a play by Sophocles can be looked at in two ways as or as not a tragedy of fate. Author Lionel Trilling states that much ingenuity has been used to show that it is not a tragedy of fate and those critics use Poetics by Aristotle to back their claim, “the protagonist of a tragedy should be a man worthy of respect and admiration but have some discernible weakness or fault of character to which his tragic disaster may be attributed. In some important sense, that is, he is to be thought responsible for what befalls him” (Trilling 5). Although this description would seem to be accurate of Oedipus who Trilling sees as being admirable, wise, and courageous with the flaw of his pride, Trilling ultimately says that the tragic disaster is not brought upon by Oedipus’ flaw. Closer inspection of the requirements for a hero in a tragedy shows that Oedipus does not fulfill the aspect of bringing the disaster through a characteristic of his own, and therefore Oedipus Rex is not a tragedy of fate. Oedipus’s pride caused him to kill Liaos and fulfill a foreseen prophecy, but he acted like any other hot headed and proud man. Thus proving Oedipus is not to blame for the tragedy of killing his father. Another perspective to look at Oedipus is to see his great tragedy as finding out about the truth which he does through his pride goading him to find the killer of Liaos. If Oedipus had stopped searching and overcame his pride all would be well, but Trilling disproves of this point, ‘A Oedipus who prudently gave up his search would be an object of condescension, even of contempt: the Oedipus who presses on to the conclusion that destroys him compels our awed respect” (Trilling 6). It is through his search that earns him the qualitie...

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

The story Oedipus Rex is a ghastly, heartrending story of three people who are being controlled by fate. Jocasta, Laius, and Oedipus try their hardest to avoid their fate that will ultimately destroy them. In the end Laius dies by the hand of his own son, Jocasta kills herself because she can’t bear the embarrassment that she slept with her son, and Oedipus becomes blind because of a curse and is left to wander his days waiting for death. Their destiny won and they are left dealing with the consequences.

Oedipus is widely known for being the man that killed his father and married his mother. After Oedipus finds out about what he has done he proceeds to jab both of his eyes out and remains blind for the rest of his life. By Oedipus doing this it means that his fate that was told to his parents at the beginning of the story had come true. With Oedipus jabbing his eyes out, this made it clear that this was a tragedy. Oedipus is the perfect fit of being a tragic hero. First of all by being born into royalty and throughout his life he held a royal persona. Also he makes some choices that leads him to his own destruction. For example, with him already marrying his mother and his mother had already had several of his kids their was nothing that he could do when he found out that his wife was also his mother. In the story as he went back to confront his mother/wife, she had already hung herself. As for being a hero, he done many heroic things throughout his life. For example, when he arrived at the city where he met his mother and father, there

Jocasta, Oedipus’s mother and lovely wife, tries to use her power over Oedipus to persuade him to give up on finding out the unavoidable truth. She tries to tell him that the truth cannot be possible. She says that not every prophecy comes true, that she and the former king Laius had a son that was prophesized to kill the king and sleep with her, that they had the son sent to be killed, and that her previous husband was murdered by a group of thieves, so there was no way that he can be the killer. However, Oedipus’s stubbornness and determination causes him not to

Oedipus thinks high of himself and lets his pride cloud his judgment so that he does not believe what people try to explain to him. When the messenger and Shepard arrive and explain how they found him he realizes the prophet was right all along. Oedipus’ wife, Jocasta, learns that Oedipus is her son and she runs into their home to hang herself. Oedipus, filled with grief and despair, gouges his eyes out and exiles himself from the kingdom and makes Creon the new king. If his pride had not gotten the best of him he would not have tried to chase down who the murderer was and find out so intently. These consequences were all apart of his downfall due to his overwhelming

In the play The Oedipus Play of Sophocles, by Paul Roche, the antagonist, Oedipus, unknowingly commits two dreadful crimes. One of the crimes was murdering his father and he unknowingly married his mother Jocasta. During the marriage, Oedipus, blindly searches for the dead king’s posse of assassins. Ultimately Oedipus begins to question his recalling of the murder he committed and and wonders if he actually killed the king himself. Although Oedipus’s destiny would remain the same his tumultuous past would alter his journey to the final outcome.