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Comparing Aristotle's Oedipus Rex And The High-Minded Man

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Oedipus Rex Essay

“Destiny guides us towards a specific, but without our willful participation we will not achieve our destiny” quoted Lee Bladon. Destiny or fate seems too often misused as a vague scapegoat. An unforeseen dramatic irony of sorts. Thanks to the Greek stories and plays of the classical age, fate is thought to be linked to the tragic outcome of an individual's life. In addition to the concept of fate and destiny included in The Oedipus Plays, high mindedness was not a tragedy gifted to Oedipus regardless of whether fate had any involvement. Following Aristotle's “The High-Minded Man”, Oedipus qualifies as one due to his pursuit of truth, openness of his hate and love and as well as his virtuous soul. Aristotle’s “The High-Minded …show more content…

Due to his kin’s cursed heritage, he only wants to see that they will not suffer in life. Because of Oedipus’ fate, they will remain alone and judged by all. This depicts Aristotle’s maxim, as the high minded man above all things is an honourable one. Fate may have destroyed Oedipus’ life but his honour to his family and his name prevents any more tragedy linked to himself for his children. Only the greatest of men value the virtue of honour above all things; even themselves. Aristotle believed that the high minded man sought truth, was open in his internal affairs and cherished the virtue of honour. Although Oedipus was doomed by destiny and fate, he did not let this define his high characteristic and his right to exuberate these maxims. Fate says that no matter what you do, your future is "written". Thus if you should learn of your fate and try to avoid it, that which you try to avoid will come to pass no matter what. This is contrary to our experience, as we know that our personal actions will determine the path of our future every bit as much as other factors beyond our direct influence. In all honesty it almost seems trivial to pursue or ponder whether our lives are predetermined by fate. If it is not we live as we please with the virtues and morals of our choosing. If it is, we do the same. From The Oedipus Plays we learn that although fate controls the physical aspect of our lives, it will never govern whether we are high minded or

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Oedipus Rex essay Final draft Oedipus certainly deserved his fate. Oedipus and his actions are clearly disrespect to the gods , he faces the fate he deserves. He was doing things that would eventually lead up to the unfortunate event of his death , he was even warned by the great and wise Teiresias , but he being himself was to stubborn and did not listen. All the things Teiresias said would happen became the truth. He killed his father, married his mother, yet he tempted his fate , he deserved everything that came his way .

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In Sophocles' Oedipus the King, the themes of fate and agency are very strong throughout the play.  Both sides of the argument can be greatly supported.   The attributes of a person have either a positive or negative affect on the choices that they make.   For Oedipus, his main attribute was the desire for knowledge and understanding about his own life. Because of this strong will and desire, this was Oedipus’ driving force in the play to lead him to the truth of his beginnings.

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Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, is really a story about the necessity of placing more faith in others and their counsel than in oneself and one’s own beliefs. Repeatedly the titular character is pleaded with to listen to and accept the advice of those around him and each time he refuses to obey. Ultimately, Oedipus’ tendency to do perform the actions he would prefer to do rather than to allow his family to help guide him leads to his downfall and loss of the throne. A common characteristic of Greek tragedy is the “fatal flaw” of the main character and how this flaw leads to the character’s misfortune.

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Truly, Oedipus sets out to change his destiny. His self determination proves he has pride in himself and confidence that he can somehow change the future. When Oedipus killed his father he allowed his pride and arrogance to control him. He was thinking with his pride and did not use self control. This hubris that is instilled in Oedipus is a serious flaw of his.

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Let me rather vanish from the sight of men, 
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The tragedy of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles is one of the most important and influential works in literature and culture. It was a model for other tragedies written since, and it comprises complex themes and questions still difficult to answer in today’s world. Fate and knowledge are some of them, but this essay will discuss the guilt or/and innocence of Oedipus, which is difficult to determine since there are a lot of factors that interfere in declaring Oedipus’ innocence or guilt: his actions, other characters’ actions, the will of gods and fate. Nevertheless, this essay will tackle it from an ethic point of view.

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Oedipus was a tragic hero he was seen as a great man and was king,but he fell to misfortune because of his disability to see past his pride and anger which led to his demise. By not being able to see past his pride and anger Oedipus was not able to to avoid his prophetic destiny. He was blinded by his pride and anger so much that it became his tragic flaw ultimately leading him to his

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