Tragic Hero In Oedipus The King

Aristotle described Oedipus The King written by Sophocles as one of the most important tragic plays in Greek existence. The tragic tale of unfortunate divine fate lends its success to the central tragic hero of Oedipus. In all rights, Oedipus was not presented as a dreadful king, which plays into the effect of tragedy of he discovers his killing his father and marrying his own mother. One of the most important parts of Oedipus that makes him a tragic hero is hamartia, the Greek word for “mistake” or “tragic flaw.” Scholars debate this definition of hamartia with one example being Roy Glassberg stating in his paper that “Hamartia suggests an action--committing an error or misperceiving a situation--while "tragic flaw" suggests a condition, a

Painting Oedipus as the killer, the unknowing orchestrator of all the events he tried to solve, works effectively at defining his role as a tragic hero. Being the intellect that he is, Oedipus slowly uncovers the whole truth and continuously fights the idea of his involvement. He wishes only to be the uncorrupted hero of Thebes but is ultimately unable to achieve that moral clarity. One scholar describes this best when he says, “The pivotal theme of the tragedy is Oedipus' conflict between his desire to know himself and his opposing wish to cover up the truth that will bring disaster” (Zachrisson). Pairing the king’s motive to do only right and his eventually tragic cosmic circumstances creates a sense of dismay for the

However, Oedipus does appear to be especially relatable due to his good intentioned yet flawed nature. The theme of cosmic irony also forces the audience to perceive him as someone worthy of pity, an emotion along with fear that is one of the most commonplace elements of a tragedy and tragic hero. Oedipus is the staple of a tragic hero in many ways, especially because of his ability to be both a mythological king and extremely vulnerable man all in the same instance. The first glimpse of Oedipus shows an unflinching confidence then he eventually begins to succumb to the consequences of unfortunate events that has already taken place in his