More handpicked essays just for you.
Oedipus,a tragic hero reference book
Oedipus,a tragic hero reference book
Oedipus,a tragic hero reference book
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Oedipus Rex is considered to be one of the greatest tragedies. It has all the hallmarks of Greek tragedies. This includes the downfall of the character of high status or power, the hero’s suffering because of hamartia, and his hubris that causes the error. Oedipus, the tragic hero, was prideful. It could be argued that because of this trait; he makes the mistake of trying to escape his fate; thus making sure it would come true. Although Oedipus was flawed, this is not the complete reason for his downfall. The gods, not surprisingly, had a hand in Oedipus’ horrible fate. Apollo engineered the events that would ultimately end in Oedipus’ catastrophe. Oedipus used to be content with himself and his situation. It was only until after a drunk man told him that he was not really Polybus’ son. This angered him greatly and he went in search of answers from his parents. Unsatisfied, Oedipus resolved to go to Delphi to get his question answered. Apollo concealed information from Oedipus. He did not say who his parents were and …show more content…
Oedipus, Laius, and Jocasta believed they could cheat fate and that it was impossible for these prophecies to come to fruition. In their belief in what they had seen and observed, it was clearly shown they were always blind. They were unaware that they were ignorant and Apollo selectively gave them information, which guided them toward their demise. Once Jocasta realized that she married and had children with her son, she hung herself. Oedipus found out, which was the recognition in the tragedy, he ripped golden brooches from a gown and plunged them into his eyes, which was the reversal in the tragedy. This act of blinding himself was Oedipus’ catharsis. He was blind all along it was never luck guiding him to his rise in success. Oedipus was always guided by Apollo to reach great heights and then to plummet to the lowest of lows; making Oedipus the quintessential tragic
Oedipus's pride leads to the story's tragic ending. He is too proud to consider the words of the prophet Teiresias, choosing, instead to rely on his own investing powers. Teiresias warns him not to pry into these matters, but pride in his intelligence leads Oedipus to continue his search. Oedipus thinks he can change fate. He just tries to ignore it, because he counts on his own ability to root out the truth. Oedipus is a clever man, but he is blind to the truth and refuses to believe Teiresias's warnings. He suffers because of his hamartia. I t is this excessive pride fuels his own destruction. I would just say Oedipus is a tragic hero.
Throughout the play, Oedipus is faced with the truth and fails to acknowledge it. He is first told by the drunk at the party, but he dismisses it as just something said by an ignorant drunk. He then visits the oracle and is told his fate determined by the gods and believes he can escape it by fleeing to Thebes. On his way he carries out the first part of the fate by killing his father. He then makes it to Thebes and marries Jocasta, unknowingly fulfilling the fate. Teiresias finally tells Oedipus the horrible truth, but Oedipus calls him a liar and fails to recognize the truth again. When Oedipus finally figures that what the oracle, drunk, and Teiresias was all true, he cannot handle it and blinds himself while Jocasta kills herself.
Oedipus' downfall was partially his own fault, although it was not entirely deserved. Oedipus made the choices in his life that brought him into contact with his parents. He also choose to kill a man in a fit of rage. He had control over all of these factors, but it can be argued. that he was destined from the beginning to commit these deeds no matter how Oedipus tried to prevent them from happening....
The last example of when Oedipus’ pride gets the better of him was when he is demanding that the messenger tell him all he knows about who his real parents are. Again the messenger is trying to tell him that things would be better left untold, but Oedipus has to keep going on and on and find out. Finally the messenger tells him that Polybus is not his father, already Jocasta has figured out that she is his mother. Oedipus asks the messenger who his real parents are. Jocasta is begging Oedipus to pay no attention to the messenger and tells Oedipus, “Never find out who you are';(1073). Oedipus, of course, goes on ahead anyway and sends for the shepherd who know where Oedipus came from. Once again Oedipus pride got in the way.
Oedipus was blind in more then one way. He was blind to the truth about his own life. Oedipus had no idea that his real parents were Laius and Jocasta. He was so blind that he got mad at anyone who was foolish enough to suggest such an idea.
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...
In conclusion, the gods, Apollo in particular, played a major part in the overall circumstances of Oedipus. Oedipus’ destruction influenced his family, and thus the gods demolished an entire family. As a result of this terrible destruction of a man’s life and his family, the reader would consider the gods guilty and evil. The gods followed four steps to destroy Oedipus completely. First, they controlled his fate and led him to murder his father, and marry his mother. They provided people with the power of prophecy to make Laius and Jocasta give away their child. Not only that, but Apollo’s oracle told Oedipus about his terrible fate that involve his parents to make him move to Thebes. Finally, they send a plague to the Thebans for not punishing the murderer of their king, which results in Oedipus’ exile or execution. Oedipus, the wise king, has never been destroyed by an evil man, but he was totally destroyed by what they call merciful, just gods.
Many things can describe a tragedy. However, according to definition of a tragedy by Aristotle, there are only five. The play has to have a tragic hero, preferably of noble stature. Second, the tragic hero must have a tragic flaw. Because of that flaw, the hero falls from either power or death. Due to the fall, the tragic hero discovers something. Finally, there must be catharsis in the minds of the audience.
Sophocles’ tragic drama, Oedipus Rex, presents to the reader a full range of conflicts and their resolution after a climax.
The play starts at the doors of the king’s palace with some beggars at the door steps and the priest gathering branches of olives for wreath. Oedipus, who is the king of the place, asks them why they are grieving and praying all the time. People who had come to the palace wanted to have a word with the king concerning the things that were happening in the palace (Foster 35). The king, on the other hand, promises them that he will help them in whatever they want. In addition, citizens of this land had found themselves in a number of calamities; the reasons as to why the land had plunged into plagues was as a result of Oedipus having killed his father and ended up marrying his mother. This play is taken as an indication of human blindness; this is shown by Oedipus’ not taking into consideration the fact that what he has done could be the reasons as to why there is a plague in the land.
Oedipus and Jocasta both share a bondage of love and partnership that soon gets taken away because of Oedipus’s blindness to Jocasta’s warning. Jocasta warns Oedipus to let his past be and not to keep digging for he may get more than he bargained for. When Oedipus ignores this and continues, he soon finds out about his past, killing his father and soon realizing that Jocasta is his mother as well as his lover. When she finds out that Oedipus knows his past, she commits suicide because of her sinful acts of incest. This is another prime act of blindness that has resulted in a death. Oedipus continues to ignore the advice from his elders and because of that he is responsible for both his parents death at his hand. Though he may not be physically blind, his ignorance has caused his actions to have a negative out come. Oedipus’s goal is to not be blinded by his ignorance and to actually “see” the importance and relevance of every situation rather than on
Oedipus' boastful ways were the initiation of his disastrous downfall. A few years before Oedipus took reign of king, he was requested to step aside while a group of men passed. His self-esteem felt intruded and he was so enraged he killed the crowd. Thinking that he already knew his true father Oedipus did not know that one of the members of the assembly that he had slaughtered was his own father, King Laius. Destroying his father meant destroying the city he was soon to befriend as their king. Oedipus felt as if this curse came from above, as he says in line 1285, "Apollo. Dear children the god was Apollo. He brought my sick, sick fate upon me." But he also believed his ignorance played quite the role in his fate, as in line 700 he says, "I think I may be accursed by my own ignorant edict."
When Oedipus was born he was taken to an Oracle, this was custom for the rich. The Oracle was to tell his fate. The Oracle said that when Oedipus grows up he will marry his mother and he would also kill his father, "... Why, Loxias declared that I should one day marry my own mother, And with my own hands shed my father's bool. Wherefore Corinth I have kept away far, for long years; and prosperd; none the less it is most sweet to see one's parents' face..."(p36 ln1-6). When his parents herd this they gave Oedipus to a man and he was to get rid of the baby by leaving it in the forest, but an servant of Polybus, the king of Corinth, finds the baby and brings him to the king. The king falls in love with the baby and takes him in as one of his own.
Oedipus the King is an excellent example of Aristotle's theory of tragedy. The play has the perfect Aristotelian tragic plot consisting of paripeteia, anagnorisis and catastrophe; it has the perfect tragic character that suffers from happiness to misery due to hamartia (tragic flaw) and the play evokes pity and fear that produces the tragic effect, catharsis (a purging of emotion).
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.