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Pride In The Tragedy Of Oedipus The King

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There is the state of being prideful, and then there is blindness and pride. Those two do not go together, those have brought upon the downfall of many people. One of those includes the fictional character of Oedipus, Oedipus the King was a tragedy written by Sophocles. In the book, it is foretold to Oedipus that he will kill his father, and marry his mother. He denies the fact that it is impossible, till it is thoroughly pointed out to him that it has happened. After that, he no longer is king and is taken from his throne. His downfall was brought upon him from his excessive pride; he is so full of pride throughout the book that he continually denies that anything bad can happen to him. It is written like this in order to show that being to conceit, and believing that it horrible things can’t happen to people, will make people blind to when it does happen. When Tiresias the blind prophet come to Oedipus to bring him the prophecy, Oedipus is too prideful to see what Tiresias is trying to say. Tiresias says “…You bear your burdens / I'll bear mine. It’s better that way” (364-365). In this situation, Oedipus believes that the prophecy can in no way have an effect on him and goes on to torture the prophet for the answers. Then he proceeds to believe that it can’t be true, it can’t be him when Tiresias says it is. This leads to his downfall …show more content…

He believes that he is bullet proof. Throughout the whole book, he was ignorant to the fact the prophecy could have evolved him. Then he was also so prideful that he killed a random group of travels on the road who happened to be his father, completing the words of god. Then he is so prideful that he is ignorant to the fact that all the misfortune has already happened to him. All these factors brought are caused by him being so prideful in himself. If it he would have seen through his pride and saw the fact that he is not just a king, he is the disease in the

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He blind because of his arrogance. After the plague hits Thebes, Oedipus orders to see Tiresias and when he does he lets his arrogance get in the way. Once he became arrogant he blamed Tiresias. Tiresias they replied, “All right, King: you mock my blindness. Hear me well: you have your

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After finding his mother, Oedipus blinds himself and begs to be banished, which he is. Thus the prophecy became fulfilled. According to litcharts.com, “Oedipus, a man of action, describes blindness as an inability to see. Tiresias, the seer, describes it as an inability to see the truth. In calling Tiresias a false prophet, Oedipus shows his willingness to fight against any prophecy he disagrees with” (Study Guide).

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For all the great strengths of these heroes it’s important to remember they’re still human. Humans are naturally flawed beings, in fact their exaggerated strengths seem to make their weaknesses more dramatic. These fatal flaws constantly get between the hero and reaching his goal contributing to setbacks, loss, and sometimes death. Odysseus’s fatal flaw is pride, usually in himself he lets his positive regard for his own abilities and wants get in the way of his decision making process. One example is his military leadership, he makes both very good and very bad military decisions in his time commanding men, Odysseus is, as Homer says,” polytropos, many-sided, mixed, multi-colored, piebald.

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In achieving a set goal one may be overcome by pride, feeling as if they are superior. The self assurance of finally completing something boosts ones self righteousness. Homer presents this in The Odyssey, as the protagonist, Odysseus, becomes overwhelmed with pride on several occasions. His actions are ultimately the cause for the loss of his crew and his prolonged absence from Penelope. Odysseus displays hubris, which is excessive pride and self-confidence, upon landing on the island of the Cicones, his encounter with the Cyclops, and the way in which he looks down on his crew.

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Oedipus’s main issue was he married mother, he killed his own father, and so the curse of the Thebes occured. When Tiresias told him the truth, he started to deny Tiresias saying and began to insult him. “ It does but not for you, old man. You’ve lost your power, stone-blind, stone deaf-senses, eyes blinds as a stone!” Sophocles, line 422-424, page 278.

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But now in a reversed position, Oedipus is a man that is physically blind but in truth is not. All things considered, Oedipus was in denial and was blinded from truth. As he came closer to the truth he finds himself praying that the prophecy will not come true. His earnestness causes a panic within him that leads him to abuse his power into changing his destiny. But as a result, all thing must come to an end especially Oedipus’s physical sight.

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“With pride, there are many curses. With humility, there come many blessings. -Ezra Taft Benson” This quote directly states the topic of my paper. Many times Odysseus gets over confident or too prideful in the Odyssey. The Odyssey shows that having too much pride, confidence, and anger can negatively affect you, and the people around you.

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The king felt that the gods words were untrue and his fate was something that he could prevent, but he really couldn’t. He was a very conceited and arrogant man, who felt that he was the gods gift to the earth. He even said “I Oedipus whom all men call the Great.” This was a very haughty statement on his part. As well as his arrogance, he also acted quite invincible, or as though he will never be defeated.

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He did not want to believe any of it he didn't listen , he thought he knew what was correct , and being the way he was , got the worst part. Oedipus showed disrespect to the gods. His power was a part of his ignorance , being king. He tries to put himself in a god's position , thinking he is that powerful.

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When he became physically blind, he was able to learn to live with the truth of the prophecy (Haque and Kabirchowdhury 118). Oedipus demonstrates his final acceptance of his fate given by the gods in his final conversation with Kreon- “Give me what I ask for...drive me out of this country as quickly as may be to a place where no human voice can ever greet me” (Sophocles 1268). Oedipus lost his ability to see, and along with it his hubris. All he was left with was a forced exodus and a complete reliance on the gods.

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Pride often leads to someone’s downfall - this idea has been developed from the playwright “Oedipus the king” through Rey’s interactive oral presentation. He discussed that Oedipus’ excessive pride over his knowledge due to solving riddles allows him to not listen to others including the respected Prophet , his dear relative Kreon - he seldom pays heed to them and decides to pursue further for searching the predecessor’s murderer . His own path opens up hidden , dark truth about his life. From the presentation it has been evident that Oedipus was not smart enough to realize that the path he set for himself, will eventually bring nothing but pain.

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Some would argue that pride and blindness to the truth have nothing to do with each other but the character and plot line of Oedipus in this story supports the argument that they very much are related with one another. Oedipus extracts a large amount of pride throughout most of the story. Oedipus thinking that he can control his fate reveals his pride. Oedipus believes that he can run away from his prophecy, no doubt that Oedipus is proud of the face that he does not desire to see the prophecy about himself fulfilled. Oedipus plays a god like role by thinking he can keep the terrible prophecy about his future from coming.

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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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Even though it seems that Oedipus has not been a particularly good monarch, having a king put to death could have serious repercussions on the rest of the kingdom. The only way to cure the plague and keep the kingdom stable seems to be the banishment of Oedipus. In this case, the question of whether or not he deserved to be punished seems irrelevant; Oedipus ' only goal was to stop the plague and by leaving, he has accomplished that goal. Banishment was the only choice.

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Refusal to yield due to pride is a human weakness evident in both the ancient times and today's society. In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, King Oedipus refuses to yield when Tiresias urges him that “there’s no help in the truth” (Sophocles 17). Since Oedipus is too proud and stubborn to believe Tiresias, he ignores Tiresias’ advice and unfolds the truth concerning his own past and King Laius’ death, thinking that he will save Thebes from the plague, but ends up only harming himself and his loved ones. Like Oedipus, Muhammad Ali, a professional boxer, is also proud of his beliefs and refuses to yield and join the U.S. military when drafted during the Vietnam War, despite the criticism and punishment he receives. Ali stated that his “ ‘conscience [won't]

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