Similarities Between Oedipus And Creon

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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. Oedipus seeks the truth about who his real parents were. To do this went to visit with the oracle at Delphi, though instead of getting the truth, he was told unpleasant things that would happen to him, such as lying with his own mother, breeding children from her womb, and killing his own father. After finding this out, Oedipus leaves …show more content…

They come to accept that their actions caused the downfall in their lives. Oedipus, despite the strange destiny from the gods, is able to realize and accept the responsibility for all his acts; He says, “Do not counsel me anymore. This punishment that I have laid upon myself is just” (Sophocles, Exodos, pg. 73). Oedipus is seen as a tragic hero through his ability to admit to the acts he made and change from them. He even goes as far to exile himself out of Thebes, which he says, “But let me go, Creon! Let me purge my father’s Thebes of the pollution of my living here, and go out to the wild hills, to Kithairon, that has won such fame with me … and let me die there, as they willed I should”( Sophocles, Exodos, pg. 77). For these words and actions he is seen as a tragic

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