Oedipus The King: A Greek Hero

What is a hero? The modern definition is “a person or character who, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, displays courage, bravery or self-sacrifice—that is, heroism—for some greater good.”() A definition similar to this has existed for as long as stories have been told. In particular, the Ancient Greeks had very specific ideas about what defined a hero. In their eyes, a hero was a person who was a person highly renowned ad prosperous, but not eminently good or just. Furthermore, every tragic Greek hero had a flaw, or harmatia, which led to his downfall. Greek Heroes varied from legend to legend as well, but there was a second thing they had in common as well. Almost all Greek Heroes were blessed by a specific …show more content…
After he becomes king, a plague strikes the city and Oedipus must figure out how to rid the city of it. After hearing from the Oracle that he must kill the murderer of the previous king, he decides to attempt to catch the murderer. He makes this action not for the people of Thebes but for himself, as he believes that whoever killed the previous king may “with the same hand wish to do vengeance upon me/And so assisting Laius I aid myself.”(141-142) Oedipus places his own life above that of the people of Thebes, worrying that he may lose his throne before caring for the people who need his help the most. Oedipus, it appears, due to his pride does not make the best of rulers. The chorus reflects on this with the killing of the “old man”: “Pride breeds the tyrant. / Pride, once overfilled with many things in vain…Hurls to a dire fate” (845-849). Oedipus became a tyrant due to his “overfilled pride”, which hurled him to a “dire fate”. Was Oedipus a tyrant? In a sense, yes. A tyrant is a cruel and oppressive ruler. When Oedipus believed Creon and the prophet Tierneas were plotting against them, he became hostile, or cruel, oppressing them. Oedipus overfilled pride truly led to him becoming a