The Tragic Hero: Oedipus And The Tragic Hero

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Oedipus the Tragic Hero
Arthur Miller alters Aristotle 's definition of the tragic hero and tragedy; Miller suggests that the common man is capable of experiencing the tragedy of a king because they experience "similar emotional situations"(148). Miller points out that the tragic feeling is induced when the character gives up everything to try to guard his personal dignity. The character is flawed but not too faulty in order to be relatable to the common man. However, the character flaw that causes his downfall isn 't a weakness. After his downfall, the common man learns a lesson Although Miller redefines the tragic character, Oedipus is still a suitable example. I completely agree with Arthur Miller’s points about the nature of tragedy and the tragic hero in the context of Oedipus and Oedipus Rex.
According to Miller, the hero 's tragic flaw is initiated by the character himself. In spite of being called a "flaw", this trait is not a shortcoming but merely the character 's "inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what he conceives to be a challenge to his dignity"(148). Upon hearing about what he has to do to end Thebes ' calamity, Oedipus instantly starts cursing not only Laius …show more content…

However, this quote is just as true at the end of the play, where Oedipus knows and accepts his horrible fate. In Greek mythology, Fortune (Chance) is the goddess of fate and she is depicted as veiled, as to be unbiased of those to whom she was distributing good or bad luck. In the situation in which he says this line, Oedipus is dealing with the newfound fact that the people who raised him were not his parents. He thinks that because his patronage is unknown, that Fortune must be his mother, since he has been gifted with greatness. At the end of the play, the irony is that Oedipus is still greatly under the guidance of Fortune, but rather than favoring him, it destroys

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