Oedipus the King is a Tragic Hero

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Oedipus the King is Indeed a Tragic Hero

The downfall of a hero follows from his very nature. In Sophocles

play, Oedipus the King, the playwright focuses on a man named Oedipus, the king of Thebes,

who is trying to discover the truth about his past. When he was born, his

parents learned from an oracle that their child would someday be the cause

of their death. Believing the oracle, they abandoned their infant son with

the intention of killing him. However, without their knowledge he is

rescued and raised by another couple. After many years, Oedipus visits a

different oracle and is informed that one day he will kill his father and

sleep with his mother. He flees his home for fear that he is a danger to

his parents safety. The frightened Oedipus travels to Thebes, but on the

journey he becomes engaged in a quarrel. He kills King Laios and Laios' men

not realizing that the king is his biological father. Af ter reaching

Thebes he becomes the new king by solving a riddle and lifting a plaque

from the city. Oedipus quickly marries a woman named Iocaste, the queen,

and together they have four children. In Thebes the murder of the old King

Laios remains unknown, a plaque is again placed upon the city by the gods.

Oedipus, being the new leader of Thebes, pledges to discover the identity

of the murderer so he can end the disaster. In his searching, Oedipus

discovers that he is the murderer of the king and eventually discovers that

Iocaste is really his own mother. In a Greek tragedy the hero is a

character amply capable of choices, capable, too of accepting the

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... himself by self-blinding. The audience is left with

feelings of pity and fear. Oedipus does not curse God and die though, he

does eventually accept his fate, prays for blessings upon his children, and

prepares to endure his own exile. He falls from a high estate, but is

uplifted in moral dignity.

Anger, overconfidence, pride and frustration misguided Oedipus to

think he was in control of his own life. He is ultimately in control of

his own downfall. He is responsible for the consequences of his choices.

Even the greatest of men can crumble to ruins. All human are subject to

suffering and pain.

Oedipus the King reprinted in X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia,

Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, 6th ed. New York,

NY 1995.

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