Troy Maxon And Oedipus Comparison

When it comes to a tragic hero, many often mistake them as crime fighters such as a Batman and Superman. They are heroes without faults, who risk their lives to save the citizens and punish evil villains. But these are not characteristics of a tragic hero. Tragic heroes have faults and have downfall. They do not fight crime and save citizens. Examples of tragic heroes are Oedipus from Oedipus the King, and Troy Maxson from Fences. Both of these plays have similarities and differences when compared side-to-side. The similarity of both characters is they ultimately experience downfall, but only one of them accepts their fate and the other does not. The other difference is that one character is from nobility and the other is not.

Oedipus from Oedipus the King, ultimate downfall was when he realized he killed his own father and married his mother and had children with her. He comes to realize this in scene four after the shepherd tells him whom his father was. In the last scenes, it is announced that his wife who is also his mother, Jocasta hangs herself and dies. When Oedipus realizes what had

occurred he stabs himself in the eyes in lines 1320 to 1332. Troy Maxson from Fences, ultimate downfall is when he loses the affection from his wife, Rose and son Cory in Act Two Scene One. Rose becomes very upset with her husband because of his affair and the love the child that comes from the affair. Troy grabs Rose’s arm, Cory hears the noise coming from the house. Cory sees Troy and fights with him to knock him away from Rose. Troy has lost respect from both his wife and son.
The difference between the classic tragic hero, Oedipus and the modern tragic hero, Troy is that Oedipus accepts his fate. In first scene of the play, Oedipus boastfully comforts his people that whoever has killed the king, which that is causing the plagues of the Kingdom, shall be exiled. In the last scene of Oedipus, he stucks his owns eyes and banishes himself because he realized that he was married to his own mother after killing his father. He accepts his fate and he keeps his word by leaving Thebes. On the other hand, the modern tragic hero does not accept his fate or responsibility of his actions. In Act two, scene one when Rose finds out that Troy had an affair, he does not apologize to his wife. Instead he tries to justify his actions by telling his wife that he has been unhappy in their marriage. He also puts his hands on Rose because she was upset with him and ends up fighting with his son Cory. In scene two, he ends up seeing more and more of Alberta, the woman he was having an affair with while still living with his wife Rose. Troy was being a coward by not respecting his wife and causing his family to fall apart. Oedipus was obviously more of a man than Troy because Oedipus took responsibility. Oedipus also went through real damage and suffering, Troy did not. Troy was just unhappy with his boring life.
The other difference between the classic tragic hero and the modern tragic hero is that the classic tragic hero comes from nobility.

The tragic hero is not an ordinary man that the man must be in great standing. Oedipus the classic tragic hero was born from nobility; he was a prince who became a king of Thebes. It becomes known that his is King of Thebes from the first scene of the play. The people had gathered in front of his palace to ask the king to help them. The modern tragic hero was not born royalty like Oedipus. The modern tragic hero, Troy Maxson is an ordinary man. In fact he is a garbage man. In act two scene one, Troy asks his boss why he can not drive the garbage trucks and only lift the garbage because he is an African American. Troy is seen as an impecunious man instead being seen as a man of high standing like Oedipus because Troy is a modern tragic

hero.
Cleary when these two plays are put side to side, there are more differences than similarities since one is classic and the other is more modern. The only similarity was the fact that both Oedipus and Troy experienced downfall. The two differences between the classic tragic hero and the modern tragic hero was their backgrounds, and how the heroes reacted to their misfortunes.