Greek tragedies, especially ones centered around a hero, exhibit some sort of fatal flaw. This flaw, or hamartia, is a characteristic trait of the hero that can be viewed as a positive quality. However, when it occurs in excess, that is when it becomes detrimental, hence the type of play, Greek tragedies. The idea of a person’s own traits or tendencies having repercussions can be seen in modern day society, such as athletes who believe they will be able to cheat the laws of the game, but instead end up involved in a doping scandal. In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex, the hero, Oedipus, possesses hubris as his fatal flaw. The excess of hubris Oedipus displays causes him to fabricate a false sense of safety about his irrevocably cursed …show more content…
When Oedipus is getting ready to address the city of Thebes about searching for the person who murdered Laius, the previous king, he says, “You pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers” (245). By telling his people that he will be the answer to their prayers, Oedipus is undermining the gods’ power, and putting himself on a pedestal higher than them. Because he questions why the people are even praying to the gods in the first place, he is giving the impression he believes that the gods are irrelevant compared to him. Later on, when Oedipus is determined to unravel the mystery about his past, he declares, “I count myself the son of Chance, the great goddess, giver of all good things” (1188-1189). Him proclaiming his link to the goddess, Chance, who will supposedly give him good things, or a good outcome to the mystery of his past, simply because he says so is very revealing to how Oedipus manipulates the status the gods hold in his favor. The association to Chance is made after he addresses that his actual mother might be mortified by his birth, but he immediately dismisses the idea as unimportant, demonstrating how he views himself and his opinions as superior to others, even when reservations