Oedipus Tragic Hero Analysis

Aristotle once said “A man doesn't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” (Aristotle) Aristotle actually had a lot of ideas about heroes, specifically tragic heroes. He defined a tragic hero as an individual of high social standing, whose fatal flaw leads him to be brought low in a reversal of fortunes, which he later recognizes before receiving a fate worse than he truly deserves. One of the most famous characters from a play in the tragedy genre is Oedipus. His tale is one of destiny, hope, and finally sorrow. The question posed, however, is whether or not Oedipus really does fit this model of a tragic hero. Oedipus must be a nobleman and have his own tragic flaw that causes him to experience a reversal of fortunes …show more content…
From the moment he was born, there was a prophecy that Oedipus would one day kill his father and marry his mother. Therefore his parents attempt to avoid this fate by ridding themselves of the source of the problem: their son. Instead of being killed, however, he is secretly delivered to another kingdom to be adopted by the royal family there. But again the prophecy is given and, to avoid betraying those that he thinks to be his parents, he runs to escape his terrible destiny. To sum up the rest of this background info, he seems to make out well, becoming a king and marrying a beautiful queen in another city. This is where he is when the reversal of fortunes occurs. Learning that the people that raised him were not his birth parents sets him on a path to find his biological parentage. Soon he uncovers the truth that the man he killed in self-defense earlier in the play was actually his real father and that his mother is now also his wife. This realization drives his mother to commit suicide and for him to gouge his own eyes. He wallows in his shame, in agony. He has gone from the greatest of kings to the greatest of sinners. There is no doubt that his fortunes made a sharp shift into