Oedipus The tragic hero1

In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is a classic tragic hero. According to Aristotle's definition, Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is a king whose life falls apart when he finds out his life story. There are a number of characteristics described by Aristotle that identify a tragic hero. For example, a tragic hero must cause his own downfall; his fate is not deserved, and his punishment exceeds the crime; he also must be of noble stature and have greatness. Oedipus is in love with his idealized self, but neither the grandiose nor the depressive "Narcissus" can really love himself (Miller 67). All of the above characteristics make Oedipus a tragic hero according to Aristotle's ideas about tragedy, and a narcissist.

Using Oedipus as an ideal model, Aristotle says that a tragic hero must be an important or influential man who makes an error in judgment, and who must then suffer the consequences of his actions. Those actions are seen when Oedipus forces Teiresias to reveal his destiny and his father's name. When Teiresias tries to warn him by saying " I say that you and your most dearly loved are wrapped together in a hideous sin, blind to the horror of it" (Sophocles 428). Oedipus still does not care and proceeds w

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Grandiosity can be seen when a person admires himself, his qualities, such as beauty, cleverness, and talents, and his success and achievements greatly. His birth parents seek the advice of the Delphi Oracle, who recommends that they should not have any children.

Oedipus's decision to pursue his questioning is wrong; his grandiosity blinded him and, therefore, his fate is not deserved, but it is far beyond his control. Later, after his self- inflicted blinding, Oedipus sees his actions as wrongdoing when he says "What use are my eyes to me, who could never - See anything pleasant again?" (Sophocles 1293) and that blindness does not necessarily have to be physical as we can se when he says, "If I had sight, I know not with what eyes I would have looked" (Sophocles 1325). He learns a lesson about life and how there is more to it than just one person's fate. Oedipus's destiny is not deserved because he is being punished for his parent's actions.

The tragic hero must learn a lesson from his errors in judgment and become an example to the audience of what happens when great men fall from their lofty social or political positions. Those actions happen when the Herdsman tells Oedipus who his mother is, and Oedipus replies "Oh, oh, then everything has come out true. But when it is prophesized to Oedipus, he sets forth from the city of his foster parents in order to prevent this terrible fate from occurring. When he relies on his status, he is blind, not physically, but emotionally. Depression results from a denial of one's own emotional reactions, and we cannot really love if we deny our truth, the truth about our parents and caregivers as, well as about ourselves (Miller 43).

In the play Oedipus Rex, Sophocles portrays the main character, Oedipus, as a good- natured person who has bad judgment and is frail. His nobility deceived him as well as his reflection, since it shows only his perfect, wonderful face and not his inner world, his pain, his history (Miller 66). Light, I shall not look on you Again.

Approximate Word count = 915
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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