Oedipus Tragic Hero Quotes

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A tragic hero is a literary character that makes a decision that inevitably leads to their destruction. Oedipus is a character from the play Oedipus Rex; he is the king of Thebes, son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta, and ends up killing his father and marrying his mother without knowing he did so. Oedipus is a tragic hero because he shows many tragic flaws, two being his excessive curiosity and his anger. The first reason Oedipus fits the description of a tragic hero is that he has anger that he can not control, so much anger he killed King Laius and the men with him. In the story Oedipus Rex Part 1, in lines 770-772, Oedipus says “Swinging my club in this right hand I knocked him Out of his car, and he rolled on the ground. I killed him. I killed them all.” This quote shows us how Oedipus killed his father and the people around him, not knowing it was his father or the king, but still killing him for no good reason out of anger. Therefore, his tragic flaw, anger, caused his downfall because it leads him to kill a man. …show more content…

In the story Oedipus Rex Part 2, in lines 1009 and 1013, Jocasta says “Listen to me, I beg you: do not do this thing… You are fatally wrong! May you never learn who you are!”. In this quote, Jocasta is telling Oedipus to leave it alone and if he knows it will ruin him, but his curiosity is making him figure out what she is talking about. Therefore, Oedipus’s trait of excessive curiosity influences him to know everything not caring what the effect of knowing this information will do to

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