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Character analysis in king Oedipus
Oedipus as a tragic hero essay
The blindness of Oedipus
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Character analysis in king Oedipus
Oedipus as a tragic hero essay
The blindness of Oedipus
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Oedipus’s ultimate downfall was due to his arrogant personality. Oedipus 's egotism is revealed on page 60 when Oedipus hears the news about his “father’s” death, “Ah! Undone then!... Well, my wife, and i am done...yes, had it all arranged-that I should kill my father. Ha!
Throughout history, there have been numerous heroes who have been celebrated and decorated because of their accomplishments. On the other hand, there are also numerous heroes who would have been decorated, but experience a downfall that tarnishes their status. This concept, the tragic hero, is a theory first pondered by Aristotle. In order to fully understand the tragic hero, it is important to first define it. According to Aristotle, the tragic hero is a character of noble stature, aligned with greatness but also flawed, experiences a downfall as a result of free choice, and does not wholly deserve their misfortune.
One such philosopher is Aristotle. His concepts of the Tragic hero is articulate and shed more light on what the modern - day literature laureates define as the tragic hero. To begin with, Aristotle gives a very comprehensive understanding of who a tragic hero character in plays. He asserts that the real and ideal tragic hero is the one charged with the mandate of making the audience feel a catharsis at the end of the play and make the audience experience cleansing sessions after watching or reading a play. The catharsis experienced by the audience is as a result of the twist and turns of the protagonist trying to do well.
What is a tragic hero? The best definition of a tragic hero comes from a Greek philosopher, Aristotle. When depicting a tragic hero, Aristotle stated, “The change in the hero’s fortune be not from misery to happiness, but on the contrary, from happiness to misery, and the cause of it must not lie in depravity, but in some great error on his part.” In addition, Aristotle explained the qualities that a tragic hero should possess. Qualities that are best shown through the play The Crucible by Arther Miller, where the protagonist is an excellent example of a tragic hero.
Aristotle once said, "A man doesn't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall." In the play, Antigone, by Sophocles, King Creon is the main tragic hero, because of the decisions he made leading to his destruction. After the death of Polyneices and Eteocles, Creon was crowned King of Thebes. All of the citizens of thebes feared Creon because of the prideful tone he showed in his first speech, and in Aristotle’s description of a tragic hero, the character almost always displays excessive pride. Another decision that Aristotle said most tragic heroes go through is an error in judgement, which Creon made when sentencing Antigone to death.
Oedipus’ inner blindness causes his status to become a static character and make him have his downfall because of his character flaws. Since he is a static character, meaning he doesn’t change his personality throughout the whole story, he has the same flaws during the beginning to the end of the story. These many flaws range from Oedipus’s arrogance to his selfishness. Oedipus’s flaws don’t just cause his downfall, but also many other conflicts in the story as well. One of his flaws that was listed earlier was his selfishness.
What is a hero in your eyes? As a tragic hero, Odysseus contains tragic flaws, which include curiosity and being stubborn; these flaws negatively impact the story by not learning from his mistakes. Odysseus was king of Ithaca and was married to a woman named Penelope. Penelope and Odysseus had a son named Telemachus. Telemachus was just an infant when Odysseus had to leave for Troy.
Oedipus was a victim of fate. He never knew about the tragic life ahead of him. Being the perfect example of a tragic hero. His tragic flaw was pride which not only caused the problems in Thebes to begin, but it also is a reoccurring theme throughout the entire story of Oedipus. Though Oedipus’s fate was a significant factor in moving the story it was his pride that sealed his fate.
This quote defines what a tragic hero genuinely is. They are prominent for being fair, but they are brought down by their own imperfections. According to the greek, Tragedy always seems to deal with love, loss, pride and the abuse of potency. The Greek believe that the main protagonist of a tragedy commits some terrible crime without realizing how preposterous and arrogant he has been. Then later as time goes by he gradually realizes his mistakes and finds the world around him crumble.
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.
As seen through the murder of Oedipus’s father, he gives in to anger and kills the ‘stranger’. As the king of Thebes, he proclaims harsh punishment to the one who killed Laius and does not seem to be able to put two and two together to see his error. In comparison, Aristotle and Sophocles’s ideal hero comes from the superego and is represented by Theseus. While Theseus thrives and accepts the broken Oedipus, Oedipus would have shunned the killer of Laius (and did through asking Kreon to banish him). The id part of Oedipus’s unconscious directed his fate and, as a result, his
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
Oedipus’s selfishness and temper eventually lead to his downfall. Oedipus selfishness made everyone else mad at him for him not believing them. He kept digging and digging himself into a deeper hole. This eventually made his punishment at the end worse for him. He also could not handle the truth so this made him disrespect the gods.
The characters in Oedipus the King develop the plot and make it a complete tragedy. Oedipus, had some undesirable flaws as well as some good characteristics. Oedipus had a flaring temper that ruined his life. We all learned that having a bad attitude doesn’t get you anywhere in life. Oedipus was also arrogant, especially after defeating the Sphinx.
Through such characterization, Sophocles heightens the emotions in the play by demonstrating how these traits contribute to the catastrophic conclusion. Sophocles deliberately depicts Oedipus as a seemingly infallible yet prideful ruler in order to augment the subsequent devastation Oedipus causes, thus realizing the vision of an Aristotelian tragedy. Aristotle identifies nobleness in character as a characteristic of a tragic hero. Oedipus personifies this criterion; he is revered as one of the most adept rulers in all of Greece. Indeed, he constantly reminds himself that “I am a king . . .