Oedipus Tragic Hero Essay

Although written after Sophocles crafted The Oedipus Trilogy, Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero fits perfectly with Oedipus. Aristotle, refers to tragic heroes as those who are born of a noble birth fated by the Gods to doom and destruction. The tragic drama involves choices of free will and results in a paradox of whether if fate or free will is responsible for the suffering in the tragic hero’s life. The hero struggles against their fate, which leads to the drama of the downfall and the self-realization of their own self. Oedipus embodies Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero, as he struggles with his own fate, while the audience feels pity and self realization in his downfall.
Sophocles's Oedipus, shows that the combination of certain flaws and other human

characteristics can have a tragic outcome. Every tragic hero defined by Aristotle, has hamartia, a flaw or error of judgement, which leads to chain of events towards the downfall the hero. Oedipus exemplifies this with his efforts to find Laius's murder, even though this leads him to his doom.

It is exactly this bad decision to which he is blind to his own doing, due to his tragic flaws. Aristotle also defined a tragic hero as having the character's flaw result from something that is also a central part of their virtue, which is Oedipus’ intelligence. Consequently, this need for knowledge pushes Oedipus to discover the truth. His intelligence directly influences his pride and arrogance, as he believes that he would have never been out-wit by the gods. A Tragic hero also usually possesses hubris, or excessive pride. Arrogance and pride virtues also play a role in his fall. Oedipus cannot accept the foretelling about his fate, due to his excessive pride. For this reason, Oedipus rejects the idea that the gods are in control of the lives of humans, and fate all together. This is evidence or his excessive pride and ego, as he believes that he cheat the gods. Oedipus commands information, however damaging it be, because he believes he can handle the truth. “Did you rise to the crisis? Not a word, you and your birds, your gods—nothing. No, but I came by, Oedipus the ignorant, I stopped the Sphinx! With no help from the birds, the flight of my own

intelligence hit the mark.” (449-453; Fagles). This further proves, Oedipus’ flaw of pride as he believes he is intelligent enough to handle the truth. Though Tiresias, his wife, and the oracle try to convince him to stop the search, Oedipus continues,and is then destroyed by the revelation. Oedipus’ exemplifies a perfect example of Aristotle's view of tragic heroes, as his own personal virtue, he and others respected, his pride and intelligence lead to his downfall. Oedipus is arrogant enough to think that he can solve the riddle and find the murderer by himself, but the irony is that he himself is the murderer. He wants to untangle the puzzle, but instead he pulls apart his own security and life. A tragic hero, as Aristotle intended, is a combination of good intentions, pursuit of an ideal, with personal costs.
A Tragic hero must bring out certain responses from the audience, in order to label him as a tragic hero. Oedipus’ nobility and intelligence provide his first key to success as a tragic hero. The audience must respect them as a bigger and better version of themselves, because the hero needs to be a powerful or noble person, in order for the audience to feel pity when the downfall occurs. In the beginning, Oedipus was not morally better or worse than people, which allows the audience to connect with them. Oedipus strikes a balance between imperfection and perfection. For example, if Oedipus was solely imperfect and evil, the audience would feel no pity. A tragic hero must possess pity from the audience, in order to define himself as a tragic hero. Oedipus elicits pity from the audience because he does not possess the intellectual superiority above the gods he thinks he does. Though the audience knows this, Oedipus does not. Oedipus’ flaw of pride is within himself, hence the audience fears for Oedipus because nothing he does can change the tragedy's outcome. Oedipus was powerless to a fight his prophecy, but the audience feels pity towards this because Oedipus thought it was the morally right action to take. By blinding himself, the audience also has a great amount of pity, as he was blind to his own actions. This irony helps form Oedipus as an ideal tragic hero. In a way, Oedipus is already dead, since he receives no does not receive anything from living. But, his suffering cannot end. His dynamic character allows him to emotionally bond with the audience, while his punishment elicits greater compassion from the audience. The last feeling during the aftermath of a downfall of a tragic hero is self-realization from the audience. The feeling of fear from Oedipus’ downfall is the audience's realization that a failure could happen to them. Oedipus represents a symbol of someone trying to escape their destiny. The audience feels fear because they make efforts everyday to try to escape harm and misfortune by making conscious decisions. Though, in Oedipus’ life, the audience realizes that themselves as well as Oedipus are helpless to their destiny.
Tragic heroes deal with fate and the idea of whether fate or free will guides their lives. Oedipus throughout the play struggles with his fate, as he tries to escape it. Oedipus' desire for knowledge can also be seen at from the standpoint of fate. The Gods, specifically made him intelligent and stubborn, so that he could fulfill his prophecy. No matter his decisions, the virtues the gods gave him will lead to his demise. The gods use their power to provoke human's free will. They are responsible for the fate of humans, but at the same time convince them that it was their fault. The prophecy given to Laius and Jocasta is also an example of unavoidable fate. Even though it wasn't their own choices to get rid of Oedipus, their reaction to the prophecy further enabled it. If they never sent Oedipus to die, he never would have killed Laius at the crossroads. The gods give free will, though the they create and decide the fate of everyone. Free will and fate can be related to every aspect of Oedipus, since, the gods control fate and manipulate the thinking and concepts in his free will. This is shown when Oedipus believes that he is more powerful than his own fate. He believed that he could change the course of his life based on his own actions. This belief has sent him towards the path which he was trying to avoid, exactly what the gods fated him to do. He believed that he can outrun destiny, while this sense of overconfidence is what sent him to his destruction. Despite Oedipus’ moral goals, he ends up doing what is wrong, showing the powerless nature of humans compared to the power of the gods. Ultimately fate is what overcomes all. In the quote: "O god-all come true, all burst to light! O light-now let me look my last on you! I stand revealed at last-cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage, cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands!", Oedipus realizes that he was prophesied from birth to do everything he did so he could prevent it. Oedipus demonstrates the exact nature of a tragic hero, destined by fate, struggles against it. Though in the end, succumbs to his destiny.
Aristotle’s concept of the tragic hero represents people who try to do good things, but eventually end up doing them wrong. The tragic hero explains a lot of human nature and insight into how life and destiny play into fate. Oedipus is the ideal tragic hero because he suffered of his own self, though that the same virtue made him charismatic and intelligent. In the end, Oedipus’ actions result of self awareness and more knowledge about himself to all that has happened to him. In the end the audience realize that they unwittingly also create the fate that they fear. Ultimately humans make his own decisions and has the responsibility for them. The ending is pre-determined, but the situations that lead up to the end are free will. Choices made along the road are yours and yours alone, but the gods have already decided the end.