The Downfall of Oedipus Essay

famous tragedy Oedipus Rex, Oedipus the protagonist suffers a great tragedy upon discovering who he is, and fulfilling his horrible fate. Oedipus’ flaws are shown as hamartia and hubris. According to Aristotle a true tragic story must contain a tragic hero who in the beginning of the play is loved and adored by everyone, but have flaws so the audience can relate to him/her. This tragic hero must also show hamartia which is a flaw or defect that brings about their their own downfall. The tragic…

In Sophocles’ Greek play Oedipus Rex, the King of Thebes and the protagonist of the play, Oedipus, suffers from arrogance, stubbornness as well as capriciousness and his yearning for power leads to his exile as well as his downfall as king; he encounters a mystery in regards to his plagued kingdom and its danger of extinction which leads to the investigation for the man responsible for the annihilation of the land. During the investigation, Oedipus is confronted with the mystery behind his past…

Oedipus: The Tragic Hero “A man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” – Aristotle. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus attempted to escape the prophecy that was given in Corinth, but in reality, he ended up running towards his true doom that lay within Thebes. He can be considered a tragic hero, according to Aristotle’s definition, because he acknowledged his mistakes, made himself suffer more than he deserved, and thought about his children in a serious situation.…

Fall of Oedipus Rex; was it Fate or Self Demise? An age old debate in the philosophical world is if mankind’s future is determined by fate or by man’s free will. This philosophical debate is no more prevalent in a text than in the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles. The protagonist, or debatable antagonist, Oedipus, is inserted in the middle of this very debate. Oedipus Rex fits the definition of a tragic hero in that in Sophocles’ play he experiences a sudden shift in situation where Oedipus…

Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex depicts a story of a young, prideful man who becomes the King of Thebes; meanwhile ignoring an inevitable prophecy of killing his birth father Laius and marrying his mother Jocasta. During the play, the author emphasizes Oedipus’s tragic flaw of being unaware of himself or his true identity. His ignorant and stubborn behavior both contribute to the irony behind the words inscribed on the temple at Delphi: “know thyself “. Oedipus does not know himself because he is…

The paradox of destiny versus free will is evident in this play. Whereas all his actions are a determined effort to escape fate, they only bring him closer to his inevitable downfall. Thus begging the question, if all his actions were fated to fail, then did he have free will? It is ironical that Oedipus fleeing is an attempt to escape his destiny, meaning he does believe in fate. If we argue that he believes in fate, then he would have known that he could not flee from his destiny. However, if…

Oedipus: Fate vs. Freewill Oedipus the King is a drama about fate, and the cost one man must pay for his unyielding quest for the truth. Oedipus is an ideal king to the people of Thebes. He is compassionate, sensitive, has a special ability to solve riddles, and is bold, but his hubris is his downfall. During the time in which the story takes place, oracles speak for the gods: the gods are omniscient, and their words are the law. Oedipus’ hamartia is that he does not heed to the principle…

The story of Oedipus the king is gloomy, yet captivating. Going from a child bond around the feet and abandon by the mountainside, to marrying his mother, his story is intriguing. In search of the truth about the prophecy and putting an end to a plague Oedipus search for king Laius’s killer. Leaving him to die at mountainside with his foot slice and tie as an infant for the reason of killing the prophecy said about him when he was born, his mother and father abandon him. A shepherd who finds…

Tiresias’ message foreshadow upcoming events? Tiresias predicted to Oedipus that he was going to be the siblings of his children and the mother of his wife. But Oedipus himself is blind even in his sightedness and that’s why he can’t see the truth. Also Tiresias told Oedipus that his perfect bright eyes would become dark just like his (Tiresias). This message foreshadows upcoming events because whatever Tiresias predicted to Oedipus, finally came through. “All unknowing you are the scourge of…

a man’s inevitable fate and why at times it may seem like tragedies are formed by one’s personal actions through the story of Oedipus the King. Aristotle has defined the meaning of the perfect tragic hero to be one “whose fall into misfortune is the result not of bad deeds or evil character but of some mistake” (704) and the primary example of that would be Oedipus. Oedipus was labeled as the “perfect” tragic hero for his attempt to defy the fate brought upon him by the gods but inevitably…