Oedipus Flaws

Oedipus is a tragic hero because he lacked self-knowledge. However he was a good king to his people, and very smart by saving the city by solving the riddle of the Spinx. Oedipus had his faults. He was hot-tempered, hasty in his judgment and proud of his intelligence. He quickly lost his temper when he found the prophet unwilling to disclose the things that he knew.

The people of Thebes thought of Oedipus almost as a god so when Creon disclosed the reason of the plague, Oedipus announced his resolution to find the person who murdered King Laius to save the Thebans from the terrible plague that they were going through. “Blights the women and makes them barren. Some furious god hurls pestilence and plague,” (Sophocles) His concern and determination to help and protect his people made him quite heroic.

It was his fast temper and pride that made him not think in life-threatening conditions. His anger led him to unknowingly kill his real father at the crossroads. “May he suffer and die, pain beyond pain. I damn myself, if I should come to know That he shares my hearth and home” (Sophocles) When he heard the story of how the king, Laius was murdered, Oedipus wanted to get to the bottom of the story but he never thought of himself a suspect, even though he knew he murdered a man not very long ago. He might have declined to marry Jocasta if he had not been blinded by the pride of his intelligence in solving the riddle of the Sphinx. Oedipus said he would be passionate to bring Laius’ murderer to justice the same way he would if Laius was his own