Oedipus Tragic Hero

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• Essay on Oedipus the King a Tragic Hero

  ...November 2011 A Tragic Hero Indeed! In Sophocles tragedy Oedipus the King, King Oedipus swears to solve the murder of former King Laios in order to free the city from the plague. The plague taunts the city destroying crops and livestock and making the women unable to bear children. A seer, Teirsias tells Oedipus that he himself is Thebes’s pollution for killing his father and marrying his mother. Oedipus ignores his words and is blind to the truth until he discovers that it is he who corrupts the city. In order to illustrate Oedipus as the perfect Aristotelian tragic hero, the reader must examine his noble stature that gives him authority, his hamartia resulting in his downfall, and his misfortune that not wholly deserved. Because Oedipus is the king he has the authority to demand information about Laios’s death and become a classic tragic hero. Aristotle’s states that a tragic hero must be of either a high rank or noble birth (“Tragedy and Comedy” 1211), and Oedipus’s position as king gives him power to find and question those who know and punishthose who withholds information about the murder. When Oedipus is at the front of the palace before the people the Priest refers to him as “great Oedipus, O powerful King of Thebes” (Prologue 16) when...

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• Oedipus the Tragic Hero Essay

  ...Oedipus; The Tragic Hero In the Fourth Century BC, a famous philosopher named Aristotle wrote about the qualities that a tragic hero must possess. Ever since that time, there have been many examples of tragic heroes in literature. None of those characters, however, display the tragic hero traits quite as well as Oedipus, the main character from the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Oedipus is, without a doubt, the absolute quintessence of a tragic hero. His example shines as clear as a sunny summer day. Oedipus first shows himself to be a tragic hero through his birth and position in society. He displays both power and stature as King of Thebes. Aristotle’s first criterion states that the tragic hero must occupy a high status in society and embody nobility by birth, two qualities that Oedipus definitely has. Oedipus is the King of Thebes, showing his high societal position, and his birth was noble, as he is the son of a king. "Laius' house and the son of Polybus?" (Sophocles 283). This quote by the chorus was referring to Oedipus as the son of Polybus, King of Corinth. Oedipus is actually the son of Jocasta and Laius, the King and Queen of Thebes, but he grew...

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• Essay about A Tragic Hero Oedipus Rex

  ... and suffers severe anguish and pain, he is labelled a tragic hero. This underline’s the theme of the 429 BC Ancient Greek play, Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles the Third. This beloved tragedy tells the story of a great King, Oedipus, who tries to live up to his title when the city of Apollo is cursed with a plague and the death of a King. Oedipus must find the culprit of the massacre, and destroy him. However, when a man and a prophet, Creon and Teiresias, accuse Oedipus for the problem, an entire cycle of downward events are put into Oedipus’ lap leading him to his recognition as King of Thebes and the death of his love Jocasta, which turns out to be King Laius’ Queen. This proves that it is actually Oedipus’ destiny is to kill his father and marry his mother, since King Laius and Jocasta are revealed later on as his parents. This is an event that takes place before Oedipus finds out. This is an epiphany. The king struggles through a great deal of tragedy due to his severe suffering, his tragic flaws, and his understanding of how he must face the terrible consequences for his actions. Oedipus experiences some cases of severe suffering throughout the play. Choragos describes to the King that “…[Oedipus] suffer it all twice over, remorse is...

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• Oedipus a Tragic Hero Essay Example

  ...Oedipus A Tragic Hero English 102 Literature and Composition Summer B 2011 Terry Garofolo 22816762 APA Sophocles presented the world with Oedipus around 2500 years ago. Never-the-less, the story remains among the most riveting of all time. Unfortunately, today when we hear the mention of the name Oedipus we place negative connotations around it. Oedipus, after all, had an unnatural sexual relationship with his own mother! In actuality, however, this relationship emerged entirely innocently. Oedipus was not some misguided sexual pervert of an earlier time. He was, in fact, a man that was driven by a very high internal moral standard. It was that internal moral standard that ultimately entwined him in a sequence of events and circumstances that placed him in the spousal relationship with his mother. Oedipus, in fact, can truly be regarded as a tragic hero as Aristotle himself defined the term. Sophocles' “Oedipus” has been heralded as one of the “greatest achievements of Greek dramatic art” (Van Zyl Smit 477). Much of the credit is due Oedipus being presented as the “tragic hero”. He was a man who through no fault of his own was cast into a current of fate that would forever change not just his life but the life of all that were associated with him. Indeed, his...

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• The Tragic Hero Essay

  ...Honors Lit Antigone: The Tragic Hero In Sophocles’ Antigone, the two main characters, Antigone and Creon, could both claim the title of 'tragic hero,’ but the question is who more deserves the title? The grieving princess who only wanted to do right by her dead brother or the stubborn king who was only doing what he felt was right for his kingdom? There have been many debates over this question. Some people would say that Antigone herself is the tragic hero of her own story; others would argue that it is her uncle Creon who holds the title. Yet there are few people who believe that Ismene, Antigone’s sister, is just as worthy of the title for the fact that in the end she is the only survivor of her family and she, unlike Antigone and Creon, never has a chance where she is able to rectify the problems that come about her. Either way the question still remains ‘who is the tragic hero of Antigone?’ To answer this question we must first learn what defines a tragic hero. According to Aristotle a ‘tragic hero’ is usually someone born of a noble birth. The hero also has a hamartia or a tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall. He then has a peripeteia, a reversal of fortune brought about by the hero's tragic flaw. And last but not least his actions must...

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• Essay on Oedipus Tragic Hero or Victim of Fate

  ...to create a compelling tragic hero. He states that this particular character must be "better than we are," a man who is superior to the average man in some way. At the same time, a tragic hero must evoke both pity and fear among the audience, causing each member to experience a feeling of catharsis, or strong emotion. According to Aristotle, the best way to achieve this effect is to accurately portray the protagonist’s imperfections, for a character that constitutes good and evil is more convincing than a character that is purely good. Lastly, a tragic hero can be characterized by his hamartia, a Greek word that can be translated as "tragic flaw," or more simply, "error in judgment." Upon close inspection of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, however, it appears as if Oedipus’ downfall was a result of the will of the gods and not a consequence of his “tragic flaw.” Therefore, in regards to Aristotle’s guidelines, can Oedipus truly be considered a tragic hero? At the beginning of the play, Oedipus is largely confident, and with good reason. He has recently freed Thebes from the curse of the Sphinx and has achieved royal status as king. In accordance with Aristotle’s view, the audience members would no doubt possess a deep respect for Oedipus as a “larger and better” version of...

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• Tragic Hero Essay

  ...Othello as a Tragic Hero William Shakespeare's famous tragedy Othello, the Moor of Venice (c.1604, as reprinted in Laurence Perrine and Thomas R. Arp, Literature: Structure Sound and Sense, 6th ed. [Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1993]1060-1148) is arguably one of the finest, if not the finest, tragedies in the literary history of Western civilization. This paper discusses Othello as a tragic hero and compares him to the great Aristotle's concept of what a tragic hero actually is. First, we need to understand the characteristics of a so-called tragic hero as defined by the Greek critic, Aristotle. He indicates that a tragic hero must have these characteristics: (1) Be a nobleman, prince, or person of high estate; (2) Have a tragic flaw, and a weakness in judgment; and (3) Fall from high to low estate. (Hubele). Using the Aristotle criteria, we can easily classify Othello, the Moor, as a tragic hero. At the time, it was common practice for the Italian city-states to have a foreigner, with proven military capabilities, serving as the head of their Army. Othello, an African Moor of noble birth, is just such a character and held the highest ranking military position as Governor-General of Cyprus. The city of Cyprus was a city-state in the great state of Venice. His title alone, Governor-General, exudes an...

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• Tragic Hero Essay

  ...Nolan Nye Ms. Smith CP English 10 1 March 2014 Tragic Hero In Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar", there are deaths, tragedies, and of course, a tragic hero. A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. In order to be identified as a tragic hero, a character must have at least one fatal flaw. Throughout the play a few main characters present themselves as possibilities for being the tragic hero, like Ceasar for example, but there really is only one person to fit the part. Brutus is a perfect example of a tragic hero. He has the characteristics that make up a tragic hero. Shakespeare demonstrates how Brutus is a strong tragic hero who has a tragic flaw. Brutus' tragic flaw is that he is very trustworthy, and is too honest. Brutus also demonstrates many acts of affection toward other people. Brutus is a general for the Empire and he is respected and is seen as a noble man and true “Roman” by almost all people. Shakespeare develops Brutus' tragic flaw over the course of the play, as more people manipulate his trust and his honesty. He has a tragic flaw that causes his downfall and at the end he realizes his mistake. In “Julius Caesar”, Brutus displays the...

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