The Tragic Hero of Oedipus Rex
According to the ancient Greeks and Aristotle the hero is a person who possesses superior qualities of mind and body, and who proves his superiority by doing great deeds of valor, strength, or intellect. In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex the main character Oedipus possesses these characteristics of a true hero, which in turn lead to his self-destruction.
In the beginning of the play Oedipus's great intellect is made known by the chorus who see him as someone who has proven his wisdom, someone who has single-handedly saved Thebes in years present from the Sphinx, and someone who is adored by his people. He displays his great intellect when the priest declares:
You freed us from the Sphinx; you came to Thebes and cut us loose from the bloody tribute we had paid that harsh, brutal singer. We taught you nothing, no skill, no extra knowledge, still you triumphed. A god was with you, so they say, and we believe it-you lifted up our lives (Sophocles 1226).
Another sign of Oedipus's intellectual achievement is his self-blinding. Though he may not see the world with his eyes, he can now see his true self, and what he was. To me personally Oedipus is a kind of symbol of the human intelligence which cannot rest until it has solved all the riddles, even the last riddle, the riddle of his own life.
The hero, being blessed with superior qualities of mind and body, loved to engage in battle, preferably with another hero, since combat gave him the best chance to demonstrate his
physical strength. D. Brendan Nagle, author of The Ancient World: A Social and Cultural History, contends that the hero was always belligerent because he regarded combat as, "the ultimate test of human valor, strength, and ability"...
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...to pursue it or to let it find us, and Oedipus chose to seek his out even when others told him not to; and this is what makes Oedipus a true tragic hero.
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WORKS CITED
Dodds, E.R. "On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex." Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Michael J. O'Brien. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1968. 17-29.
Nagle, Brendan D. The Ancient World: A Cultural and Social History. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1979.
Rosenberg, Donna. World Mythology: An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics. Illinois: Passport Books, 1988.
Sophocles. "Oedipus the King." The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. Fifth edition. Boston: Bedford, 1999. 1224-1265.
Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1998.
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.
Gioia, Dana, and X.J. Kennedy. "Oedipus the King." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, Compact Edition, Interactive Edition. 5th ed. New York: Pearson; Longman Publishing, 2007. 887-924. Print.
Throughout Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Oedipus’ arrogance comes out again and again. The first sign of arrogance his him running away from his parents that he knows might not be his true parents. This leads him to Thebes where is arrogance is seen by the city. Not only did he take full control of the investigation even the parts where he had help by over ridding them; he also carried out his own punishment he deemed fit. The blindness of Oedipus was truly caused by his arrogant self-important view on
Oedipus’ baneful traits of naiveté, arrogance, and curiosity blend with one another in Oedipus Rex to comprise his horrible, inevitable fate. With the traits given to him, Oedipus is destined to have the fate he receives, but what would become of him if he is not arrogant? What if he was not curious or naïve? Would Oedipus still finish with his eyes gouged out and his subjects scorning his name? Even the author himself, Sophocles, may not know if the tragic hero could ever free himself of his inescapable web of his fate.
In his first dealings with the city of Thebes, Oedipus found them under the curse of the Sphinx. He actually gained his position of King of Thebes by rendering unto the city a great service, namely the salvation of the city from the Sphinx's plague. Aristotle praised the type of cleverness and practical wisdom Oedipus exhibited in his solution to the riddle as being a component of overall goodness. If it were not for Oedipus virtuous action in saving Thebes, the citizens would have suffered untold disasters at the merciless hands of the Sphinx. After proving his worth as a good man and his concern for the citizens of what was seemingly a foreign city, Oedipus was well liked by the people of Thebes.
Oedipus is a ‘good king,’ a father of his people, an honest and great ruler, while at the same time an outstanding intellect. . . . He even shares the thro...
Oedipus the King. Tranlsted by Stephen Berg and Diskin Clay. In Literature of the Western World, edited by Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. NewYork: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1984.
...ly saw the world. For the first time, he understands his surroundings, and understands the world for what it really was. Even though the truth takes away his family, kingdom, pride and possessions, the truth gives him something he needs more than all of those: understanding. Sophocles shows his brilliance as a playwright by adding intelligent, terrible irony to the end of the play. The irony is that at the monumental change in Oedipus' life, when he can, for the first time, see the world with clarity, he can see nothing at all, for he blinds himself. Oedipus becomes like Tiresias, visually blind, but mentally clear. Perhaps Oedipus unintentionally takes an example from Tiresias, learning that it is far better to live one's life without sight and see the world clearly through the minds eye, than to be able to see, but have ones sight blinded by pride.
In both plays Oedipus appears to have extreme pride; while Sophocles' clever Oedipus has reason for his pride, Cocteau's foolish Oedipus is arrogant without cause. Sophocles' Oedipus solves "the (sphinx's) riddle by (his) wit alone."(Soph .O.T. 397) The Sphinx sits on the road to Thebes and kills anyone who can not answer her riddle until Oedipus appears, solves the riddle, and saves Thebes. It is at this point that he becomes King of Thebes and rules his people well. He does not know that he
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
Nagle, Brendan D. The Ancient World: A Cultural and Social History. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1979.
1. Sophocles, Oedipus the King, trans. David Grene (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1991).
Oedipus was willing to die to uncover the truth. Closure was needed for Oedipus the individual and Oedipus the king. Despite this need for closure, Oedipus remained blind to the clues in his path, plainly dismissing the ideas of other characters. Oedipus’ passion for knowledge was at least as strong as his blindness to the clues in his path. This blindness can be attributed to his pride. This pride gradually developed from h...
Milch, Robert J. Cliff Notes on Sophocles'Oedipus The King, Oedipus At Colonus & Antigone, Ed. Gary Carey. Nebraska: Cliff Notes, 1999
Sophocles. "Oedipus Rex." An Introduction to Literature, 11th ed. Eds. Sylvan Barnet, et al. New York: Longman, 1997.