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Oedipus The King: A Tragic Hero

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The term hero is derived from a Greek word that means a person who faces adversity, or demonstrates courage in the face of danger. However, sometimes he faces downfall as well. When a hero confronts downfall, he is recognized as a tragic hero or protagonist. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, characterizes these plays or stories as tragedies in which the main character is a tragic hero, who confronts his downfall due to fate, his mistake or any other social reason. In the play, Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, Oedipus is the tragic hero who is characterized by the definition above. This play is a Greek Tragedy which is about human suffering and pain, but is optimistic at the same time because a person can learn something from it. Oedipus is an example of a tragic hero which can be seen in his characteristics, such as the lack of self-knowledge, the desire to be a truth seeker, and the wisdom gained in the end. …show more content…

When he hears the story of how the king, Laius, was terribly murdered, Oedipus wants to get to the bottom of the story and find the person who is guilty. He never considers himself a suspect, even though he knows he murdered a man not very long ago. When Oedipus is confronted by Tiresias about the murder of Laius, he is shocked and appalled that someone would say such a thing about him. This shows that Oedipus cannot look inside himself to find the truth, and he does not want to know the truth about himself. After people accuse about Oedipus committing the murders, he is determined to find out the truth no matter what it takes. This is the second quality, becoming a truth seeker, which makes Oedipus as a tragic hero. Even if finding out the truth about himself will cause him suffering and pain, Oedipus will do anything to uncover the truth about the murder. That 's why I believe Oedipus is fits the perfect definition of a tragic

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