Oedipus The King Tragic Analysis

Oedipus the King written by Sophocles is one of the best known tragic plays to date. It executes fear, pity, shame, and humiliation. It makes it hard for the reader to consider him as a hero. When one thinks about the word tragic you think of something negative, evil, outcome very dim, something completely out of control. There are five characteristics of a tragic hero. They are of noble stature, consider great, partially their fault, misfortunate, and fall not a pure loss. Tragic define as “a very bad event that causes great sadness and often involves someone’s death”merriamwebster.com.
“Aristotle on tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of hubris, fate, and the will of the gods”www.academia.edu. …show more content…
The town’s people talk about a plague that has come and overtaken the land. Which makes the towns people live in fear. The town fears a beast that has a head of a woman’s body of animal called a sphinx. This beast walks to and fro seeking and hoping no one will solve the riddle. Those who want to spin the wheel to solve the riddle can. If they get it wrong death to their soul. The only way to get rid the plague is to answer the riddle. Some people are good at riddles and some aren’t. But Oedipus was a genius. Oedipus answered the riddle and the beast was destroyed that held the city in chaos. Oedipus was the greatest, lord of all to those in the city. When Oedipus got rid of the beast, he was offered the queens hand in marriage. Queen Jocasta wife of the late king. What’s a queen without a …show more content…
Oedipus was blinded, he had a long conversation with Creon why he killed Laius. Creon tells Oedipus that “If you think a man can sin against his own kind and not be punished for it, I say you are mad” (Fitts, and Fitzgerald). Here Creon is presenting his case and defense that you do not kill your own. Creon had to prove that his innocence to Oedipus. “You do wrong when you take good men for bad and bad men for good. A true friend is thrown aside why, is life itself not more precious?” Creon tried everything to prove himself. In spite of all that has happened, Oedipus was convinced still that Creon was the murderer. “The news came that King Polybus has died a natural death appears at first to support her claim that the oracles and prophets are not to be feared, this good news for the house of Oedipus should also cure his anxiety which has so distressed the city” (Newton) As we take another look at Oedipus downfall, he did not want to listen to the prophet. He also did not want to listen when it was told that he was adopted. How could this be? My parents were Polybus and Merope. Oedipus was not ready to receive what he had done. While the discussion was going back and forth, Fitt and Fitzgerald recorded Tiresias saying” I say that you are the murderer whom you seek”. As the evidence begin to mount, the table turned to him. Believing the gods had his fate in their hands. Perhaps “the