Oedipus’s Status in “Oedipus Tyrannus”
Oedipus Tyrannus is a play written by Sophocles; it interprets a plot of classical Greek myth. The oracle told Thebes’s ruler he will be killed by own son, which then will marry his mother. Parents decided to kill the child, Oedipus, but the slave did not fulfill the order. The man also found out about the prophecy and tried to avoid it. But his attempts led to totally opposite results: Oedipus killed his real father and married mother as a new ruler of Thebes. When he found out the truth, the man blinded himself. The play ends on the scene, where Oedipus waits for the oracle, who should decide his fate. The work is a classic example of the Greek tragedy; and Oedipus is a canonic tragic hero. While character’s life has examples of heroic actions, Sophocles mentioned them only on the background. Final scenes, when Oedipus blinds himself and asks Creon to kill him, are tragic, not heroic. The protagonist of the play fully corresponds to signs of the tragic hero, created by Aristotle and complemented by other ancient Greek philosophers. According to Aristotle, this type of character has three major features: a noble birth, a main mistake with destructive consequences …show more content…
The character also should cause a specific viewers’ reaction: people develop an emotional attachment to the hero, start to fear for his fate and finally, after the destructive
Oedipus Tyrannus is a play written by Sophocles; it interprets a plot of classical Greek myth. The oracle told Thebes’s ruler he will be killed by own son, which then will marry his mother. Parents decided to kill the child, Oedipus, but the slave did not fulfill the order. The man also found out about the prophecy and tried to avoid it. But his attempts led to totally opposite results: Oedipus killed his real father and married mother as a new ruler of Thebes. When he found out the truth, the man blinded himself. The play ends on the scene, where Oedipus waits for the oracle, who should decide his fate. The work is a classic example of the Greek tragedy; and Oedipus is a canonic tragic hero. While character’s life has examples of heroic actions, Sophocles mentioned them only on the background. Final scenes, when Oedipus blinds himself and asks Creon to kill him, are tragic, not heroic. The protagonist of the play fully corresponds to signs of the tragic hero, created by Aristotle and complemented by other ancient Greek philosophers. According to Aristotle, this type of character has three major features: a noble birth, a main mistake with destructive consequences …show more content…
The character also should cause a specific viewers’ reaction: people develop an emotional attachment to the hero, start to fear for his fate and finally, after the destructive