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!
Oedipus the King by Sophocles is a story that depicts a man who tries his hardest to be good. He was abandoned by his parents at a very young age. Eventually, he found his way back to his mother but killed his father along the way. He marries his mother and saves the city of Thebes, but all without realizing the atrocities he committed during the process. However, by fate and the will of the gods, he faces the horrors he committed while trying to behave virtuously.
From the beginning Oedipus was destined to fulfill a terrible prophecy, but through particular events that follow the steps of the Hero’s Journey, Oedipus becomes a powerful king of Thebes, only to be destroyed by the prophecy that should have ended his life as a child. The Hero’s Journey typically leads to self-confidence and power, however; the Hero’s Journey of Oedipus leads to his tragic demise. The Hero’s Journey lays out the steps of Oedipus’s future actions, which create suspense, fear, pity, and other emotions that captivates the audience. Similar to many famous stories, Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles in 430 B.C., follows the Hero’s Journey path, which is evident in Oedipus’s departure, initiation, and return.
In Greek Theatre one of the main components of a tragedy is the tragic hero. A tragic hero is a man, or a woman, of high standing who is capable of great suffering. They must posses many great qualities but in the end will display a single fatal flaw in character that will lead to his or her demise. They audience must accept this downfall because of this flaw in character.
They ask him to be again the hero he once was when he saved Thebes from the Sphinx, however, in the end, Oedipus finds that he is the cause of this plague set upon his people. Frye’s quote “tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape” justifies the Theban’s acts of looking at Oedipus as the solution to end the plague. Oedipus is the definition of a tragic hero; he saved the city of Thebes, became king, sought to save the city again, but discovered that he was the cause of the city’s suffering and also his
Thesis:In Sophocles play ‘Oedipus the king’,Oedipus is an example of a tragic hero because he changed from a hero at the beginning of the play into a tragic hero by the end by experiencing power,tragic flow,downfall and death. Oedipus changes into a person no can believe of,because in the beginning he was a hero for the city of thebes by solving a riddle to defeat the monster that was killing and taking over thebes. Claim:Before the play Oedipus defeats sphinx and becomes a powerful king,At the beginning of the play people rely on Oedipus’s power and help. Data:For example the priest says “Oedipus greatest in all men’s eyes We pray,find some strength again and rescue or city”. Warrant:From this quote readers can see that how empowered oedipus feels like and how people in thebes rely on him,Clearly this scene represents the power stage of the tragic hero.
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.
Throughout the tragedy of Oedipus the King, Oedipus displays his imperfectly noble being for all to see. While Oedipus had saved the Thebans from the Sphinx’s riddle, Oedipus’s nobel pride and anger lead to his destruction as he attempted to find Laios’s murderer. In his mistreatment of Teiresias, and his false allegations towards Creon being a usurper, Oedipus shows his imperfectly noble character as he foolishly attempts to fight fate and the gods will. Oedipus and his imperfectly noble nature appear again and again as he attempts to solve the murder of the previous King.
In The Identity of Oedipus the King, Alister Cameron proved Oedipus as a tragic hero. He specifically wrote, “[f]or whatever his faults, Oedipus is noble. And after all, the acts he performs he is condemned to perform in ignorance. Therefore, whenever he acts, necessarily he acts blindly. Blindness is given him in his situation” (Cameron 140).
Oedipus the King is a tragedy that was written by Sophocles that emphasizes the irony of an irony of a man who was determined to trace down, expose and punish an assassin who in turn became him. Oedipus the King is also known as Oedipus Rex or Oedipus Tyrannus. The art is an Athenian play that was performed in ages approximated to be 429 BC. Oedipus the King would later in the play fulfill the prophecy that he would kill his father and later on marry his mother. There is a twist of an event in the play where Oedipus is looking for the murderer of his father to bring to a halt the series of plagues that are befalling Thebes but only to find he is in search of himself (Rado, 1956).
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
In Oedipus The King, Oedipus is introduced as a wise king who cares about the well-being of the people as he solved the Sphinx riddle and saved the country. He is praised as “a bird from the god, [he] brought good luck the day [he] rescued [the people]” (Oedipus The King. 61-62). He identifies himself as a good king, and a son of Polybos and Merope. However, during his investigation into Laius’ murderer, he finds out that he is in fact the culprit; “All!
The refusal of Oedipus to believe he was the killer made him a tragic hero. Achilles was a brave, strong and fearless warrior. He was respected by all the soldiers in Achaians. There was no other soldier like Achilles.
In the play Oedipus is the only one that is able to solve the sphinx’s riddle which leads the city to making him their next king. Oedipus was there for the city in a time of need and shows his intelligence by solving the riddle. This act is what categorizes Oedipus as a hero, after saving the city from a crisis it shows he is willing to do anything in order to keep the city going and look after his people. He also does not like to keep secrets from his people, for example when Creon wants to tell Oedipus the oracle in private, Oedipus insists on making the news public to the people. Doing so shows that he wants the people to trust him and wants make it known to everyone that he can be in fact trusted.
So in the end, Oedipus no longer thinks of himself. Thinking of his children 's impending marriage, Oedipus begs for his children and no longer can think of himself as anything more than a creature that embodies what it means to be pathetic: “When you come to the age ripe for marriage, who will he be who will run the risk, children, to take for himself the reproaches that will be banes for my parents and offspring alike? What evil is absent? Your father slew his father; he ploughed his mother, where he himself was sown, and he sired you in the same fount where he himself was sired.
