Tragic heroes are heroes of a story with a trait or flaw that ultimately leads to their downfall. In the play Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Oedipus, the protagonist of the story, shows many examples of his pride and how his pride causes tragic events to take place. His many prideful moments in the play such as, the altercation with his father and Oedipus believing that the prophet was lying so Tiresias and Creon could take the throne. Consequently, Oedipus’ pride is ultimately the cause of his downfall and dethroning. Oedipus, in many scenes, refers to himself in third person. Showing that his pride controls him and leads him to believe he is better than he really is. Oedipus claims that “[He] came, Oedipus, who knew nothing, and put an end to the Sphinx, by wit, not by augury of words.” (Line 385). He refers to himself as “Oedipus” and follows up with a compliment to himself to boost his pride and make him feel as if he is higher than he really is. His compliments to himself show pride by implying that Oedipus must even bow down to himself because he is too powerful and great. Oedipus proclaims, “O wealth and kingship! O skill surpassing skill! In a life much envied!” (Line 371). Oedipus …show more content…
is referring to himself as being of great “wealth and kingship,” he believes that everyone wants to be him because he is powerful. Because of his pride he sees himself as god-like and refers to himself as Oedipus to show that he is to be respected by all, even himself. Oedipus’ pride clouds his judgment in the play. When Tiresias and Creon told Oedipus the truth he makes himself believe otherwise. This is to make sure his authority is not undermined. In the play, as the prophet tries to explain Oedipus’ fate to him he says, “I did not know that you would speak like such a fool, or I would not have summoned you to my house.” (Line 424). Oedipus does not believe the prophet and thinks he is acting foolish and is trying to frame him for the crime so he and Creon can take the throne. He fails to realize that Tiresias can only speak the truth and that he is right. Creon states, “If you believe that senseless obstinacy is a worthy thing to have, then you are not thinking well” (Line 541). Creon tries to tell Oedipus he is not in his right mind, and he should believe the prophet. Oedipus’ reply is that Creon and the prophet are working together to take over the throne, that they are evil. Oedipus completely rejects any idea of him being the murderer or any less of a king than he is. Oedipus threatens to exile and kill any and all who try to oppose him or accuse him of being the murderer.
Oedipus thinks high of himself and lets his pride cloud his judgment so that he does not believe what people try to explain to him. When the messenger and Shepard arrive and explain how they found him he realizes the prophet was right all along. Oedipus’ wife, Jocasta, learns that Oedipus is her son and she runs into their home to hang herself. Oedipus, filled with grief and despair, gouges his eyes out and exiles himself from the kingdom and makes Creon the new king. If his pride had not gotten the best of him he would not have tried to chase down who the murderer was and find out so intently. These consequences were all apart of his downfall due to his overwhelming
pride. Oedipus is the tragic hero in the play Oedipus. He is prideful and thinks high of himself. He believes that everyone feels the same too and it causes his pride to cloud his judgement and believe he is right in every way possible. His overwhelming pride causes his downfall and the death of his wife. He gouges his eyes and exiles himself from the kingdom because he was too prideful that he could not bring it upon himself to end his life. Oedipus had to get in his last statement and with what he had left, regain his pride as much as he could.
The only true statement that Oedipus makes in this quote is pointing out the Queen’s shame. Iocastê has just come to the realization that Oedipus is her son. She must be beyond embarrassment not only because of her failed attempt to abandon her son, but also because she is now married to him. Oedipus believes his birth to be lowly and he takes pride in this. In reality, he is the son of a king.
What would you do if someone told you you would end up killing your father and marrying your mother when you grow up? You would do anything to keep that from happening, wouldn’t you? Oedipus did in Oedipus the King by Sophocles. Unfortunately, Oedipus fails in avoiding his fate. Faced with a choice between pursuing the truth which everyone tells him would lead to his destruction or accepting a life without knowing any better, Oedipus chooses self-knowledge over self-deception. This makes Oedipus a perfect example of a tragic hero. In Greek drama, a tragic hero is a protagonist of a noble birth who possesses a tragic flaw that leads to his down fall but shows the courage to accept responsibility for his own actions.
Oedipus’ personality clearly reflects pride and determination throughout the play. When Oedipus heard the oracles’ prediction that he was to kill his father and marry his mother, he was determined to prevent the prophecy. Therefore he left his homeland of Corinth never to return. Then when he solved the Sphinx’s riddle, Oedipus’ pride rose to a new level. He was praised by the people of Thebes, resulting in his marriage to Jocasta, Queen of Thebes. Oedipus also shows his determination when in search of Laius’ murderer. He stated that he would avenge the King’s death as if Laius were his own father. He cursed the murderer, announcing “May he drag out an evil death-in-life in misery.” These characteristics of pride and determination, which Oedipus emanates throughout the play, may appear to be positive attributes to one’s personality. However, Oedipus’ actions, based on these characteristics, are what led him to his eventual downfall and suffrage.
Ironically, he initially became a King by solving a riddle and now he is trying to solve another to try and maintain his image and control his destiny. “Human happiness is built on an illusion” (Dodds 27). This quote is a good connection to the role of Oedipus, because while attempting to keep the Kingdom under control and keep his image unharmed, he is left in the dark by ignoring the signs. The irony of ignoring the past continues when “Creon brings the information that there will be no relief until the murderer of Laius is expelled from the city… [And] the murder mystery slowly becomes a quest for Oedipus ' identity” (Derrida). Building upon the investigation, Oedipus grows a keen interest for who he truly is. Is there any truth to the prophecies that which he and Jocasta have seemingly forgot about? At this point, it seems as though Oedipus must finally face his fear and discover the truth that he has been avoiding for so long. The only way for Oedipus to find out the lies he has been living is to seek for the only witness of his father’s murder, a shepherd. Only until Oedipus threatens to kill the shepherd does he tell the truth and reveal the tragic events which have been avoided for so long. In this moment before certainty of the past is brought to light, the relationship between self-control and self-image is linked and soon to be changed
Being in a position of great power can cause one to think they are in control. Oedipus and Creon, in Sophocles’ plays, The Oedipus Cycle, find out that being a king is nothing in comparison to being a god. Throughout their lives of triumph that ended in misfortune, they learned great value from changing their ways and recognizing their stubborn pride. Oedipus was able to see his faults, much sooner than Creon, though their fate was inevitable. A tragic hero is one who makes a judgement error that ultimately leads him/her to his/her own destruction while also learning from the experience. They both are deemed tragic heroes, after facing their fate, accepting the responsibilities of their actions, and recognizing that the gods are the ones in control.
Through Aristotle’s specific definition of a tragic hero, it can be concluded that Oedipus is a tragic hero. Oedipus The King was written by a well-known tragic dramatist named Sophocles. This story is considered to be one of the greatest tragedies of all time. In fact, the Marjorie Barstow of the Classical Weekly says that it “fulfills the function of a tragedy, and arouses fear and pity in the highest degree” (Barstow). It is also very controversial because of the relationship that Oedipus has with his mother, although it was unknown at the time that they were related. The qualifications of a tragic hero, according to Aristotle, include coming from a royal family and falling from power due to actions that only the protagonist can take responsibility for. The main character must also have a tragic flaw, which is defined as a “weakness in character” (Gioia). There have been many protagonists in other plays that represent a tragic hero, but none exemplify Aristotle’s tragic hero traits quite as well as Oedipus does because of many reasons including his royal history, his tragic flaw, his hamartia, and his his fall from power.
According to Aristotle, the protagonist in a tragedy must have a tragic flaw that ultimately becomes the cause of his ruin. Oedipus in Oedipus the King by Sophocles tragic flaw that caused his downfall was his pride. Three examples of when Oedipus’ pride got the better of him were: when he left his adopted parents in Cornith, the second is when he goes against Creon, and the third is when Oedipus is demanding that the messenger tell him all he knows about who his real parents are.
Oedipus’ pride and stubbornness is blinding him from the truth. Pride is an emotion or yawning desire of gratification resulting from one’s own accomplishments. Because of his victory of conquering the Sphinx by solving its riddle, Oedipus pride risen tremendously. Not only does he have this great self-awareness about himself, but the
Oedipus is an example of this tragic hero, because he ultimately commits fearful deeds. He kills his father and marries his mother. Oedipus is damned for his fearful deed and, because of his deed he had almost destroyed the city of Thebes. Right after the death of Laius the kingdom didn't have a ruler, and the Sphinx took advantage of that. The gods were unhappy as a result of the death of Laius, and the city of Thebes was once again damned. This time it was the plague. The actions of this tragic hero at the end catch up with him and destroys him. He was the king of Thebes, but in the end he was a blind man who hated himself for his actions, Oedipus can be described as the tragic hero that commits some fearful deed which ultimately destroys him.
Before the twentieth century plays were mainly written as either a tragedy or comedy. In a tragic play the tragic hero will often do something that will eventually destroy him. In the book Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the tragic hero. In this tragic play the main character, which is portrayed as Oedipus, will do a good deed that will in turn make him a hero. This hero will reach his height of pride in the story, and in the end the action, which he had committed earlier, will return and destroy this man who was once called a hero.
Shortly thereafter Oedipus learns the truth. He gouges out his very own eyes when he sees that Jocasta killed herself. At this point his attitude towards Creon changes and he requests his presence. Creon automatically assumes the role as king. Oedipus tries to convince Creon to put him into exile, but Creon feels that he should check with the gods first.
The characters managed the realization of this tragic situation in different ways. For Oedipus, he blinded himself because he did not want to see all the evil actions he has done and he believed suicide was not a big enough consequence for his actions. On the other hand, Jocasta hung herself because she could not bear the pain it took to live in a world with her husband as her son and killer of her ex-husband. Creon having learned that the Oedipus, the king, was the killer of his brother, the previous king, took actions into his own hands and became a leader for his people.
From the very beginning of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, the reader is able to identify Oedipus, the play’s protagonist, as a renowned hero. The prologue consists of a passage which boasts of his wise and powerful rule in the past and how the people greatly depend on him for future safety and good fortune (DiYanni 960-961). As the story progresses, however, it becomes apparent that Oedipus is more specifically a tragic hero. According to the Webster’s Dictionary, a “tragic hero” is a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat. Oedipus has indeed been established as a great and virtuous character, but as the story unfolds it seems that all of his heroic endeavors lead him to tragic ends. For example, Oedipus arrogantly vows that he will solve the mystery of Laïos’s death and drive out the murderer, which will end the plague and save the kingdom. His bold intentions lead to tragic ends when he discovers that he is, in fact, that murderer of Laïos.
In The Poetics, the greatest statement of classical dramatic theory, Aristotle cites Oedipus as the best example of Greek tragedy. According to Aristotle, Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is not perfect, but has tragic flaws (hamartia). Aristotle points out that Oedipus' tragic flaw is excessive pride (hubris) and self-righteousness. Aristotle also enlightens certain characteristics that determine a tragic hero. Using Oedipus as an ideal model, Aristotle says that a tragic hero must be an important or influential man who commits an error in judgment, and who must then suffer the consequences of his actions. The tragic hero must learn a lesson from his errors in judgment, his tragic flaw, and become an example to the audience of what happens when great men fall from their arrogant social or political positions. According to Aristotle, a tragedy must be an imitation of life in the form of a serious story that is complete in it; in other words, the story must be realistic and narrow in focus. A good tragedy will evoke pity and fear in its viewers, causing the viewers to experience a feeling of catharsis. Catharsis, in Greek, means "purgation" or "purification"; running through the...
The concept of tragic hero is very important in the construction of tragedy. It is the main cause of pity and fear. The tragic hero is a character between the two extremes; he is neither virtuous nor evil. At the same time, this character is better than the ordinary men or audience, he has some good qualities. Moreover, as a tragic hero, he is moving from happiness to misery by his downfall at the end. In fact, this downfall is caused by an error or a flaw in his character not by a vice or depravity. Another feature in the tragic hero is that he has good reputation and he is a man of prosperity. It can be said that Oedipus is a tragic hero because he has all the previous mentioned characteristics and the whole play is a classical application of this concept.