What Is Oedipus Fatal Flaw

In The Identity of Oedipus the King, Alister Cameron proved Oedipus as a tragic hero. He specifically wrote, “[f]or whatever his faults, Oedipus is noble. And after all, the acts he performs he is condemned to perform in ignorance. Therefore, whenever he acts, necessarily he acts blindly. Blindness is given him in his situation” (Cameron 140).

The accusations are not proven yet so Oedipus does not yet know this is a mistake. Oedipus clearly lays out the sins of his life after stabbing himself in the eyes. He screams ¨Oedipus who lay in that loathsome bed, made love there in that bed, his father’s and mother’s bed, the bed where he was born.¨(Oedipus: Page 86 line 1770) in anguish, with blood streaming from his eyes. This displays Oedipus doing bad things with good intentions because he slept with his mother without knowing it was incest. He was just trying to further the royal bloodline but then he accidentally slept with his

The prophet, Teiresias, reveals Oedipus’s curse of murdering his father and sleeping with his mother. “To Delphi, and Apollo sent me back / Baulked of the knowledge that I came to seek. / But other grievous things he prophesied, / Woes, lamentations, mourning, portents dire; / To wit I should defile my mother’s bed / And raise up seed too loathsome to behold, / And slay the father from whose loins I sprang” (Oedipus, 791-797). This is Oedipus’s true reality, but his acerbic attitude denies the possibility of its legitimacy.

The theme of confinement prevails throughout the play. He did whatever was in his limits, but, was still imprisoned by the fate that had already his destiny. Likewise, in the play “Oedipus the King”, the main message that the play portrayed was that no matter how much one try to run away from the fate, it always follows and even succeeds. The father of Oedipus, when found out that his own son was going to kill him, abandoned him, to prove the fate wrong.

Presumptuous enough to vow to "never see home again,' the hero dares to circumvent the fate assigned to him by the gods (KO 47). By attempting to permanently distance himself from Corinth, Oedipus unwittingly defies the gods, thinking he will outrun his prognostication. Nonetheless, Oedipus's error of judgment leads to his own destruction, a custom commonly seen in classical tragedies. An individual's egotism has the ability to blind its host of their limits, resulting in undesirable and calamitous outcomes, in addition to driving Sophocles's audience into a state of uneasiness for the protagonist's subsequent time. Overlooking the "role of the gods in shaping man's destiny," Oedipus pursues his conceited way of thoughts, in turn losing his audience's pity for the tragic hero (Lewin).

In the sequel to Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colona, Oedipus realizes that he jumped to conclusions because according to Konstan, “Oedipus later realizes that he did not deserve his fate, because he was ignorant to who his biological parents were.”

From the beginning Oedipus was destined to fulfill a terrible prophecy, but through particular events that follow the steps of the Hero’s Journey, Oedipus becomes a powerful king of Thebes, only to be destroyed by the prophecy that should have ended his life as a child. The Hero’s Journey typically leads to self-confidence and power, however; the Hero’s Journey of Oedipus leads to his tragic demise. The Hero’s Journey lays out the steps of Oedipus’s future actions, which create suspense, fear, pity, and other emotions that captivates the audience. Similar to many famous stories, Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles in 430 B.C., follows the Hero’s Journey path, which is evident in Oedipus’s departure, initiation, and return.

“Oedipus the King.” (Trans. By Robert Fagles). Glencoe World Literature. Ed.

Oedipus was a tragic hero he was seen as a great man and was king,but he fell to misfortune because of his disability to see past his pride and anger which led to his demise. By not being able to see past his pride and anger Oedipus was not able to to avoid his prophetic destiny. He was blinded by his pride and anger so much that it became his tragic flaw ultimately leading him to his

Oedipus Rex essay Final draft Oedipus certainly deserved his fate. Oedipus and his actions are clearly disrespect to the gods , he faces the fate he deserves. He was doing things that would eventually lead up to the unfortunate event of his death , he was even warned by the great and wise Teiresias , but he being himself was to stubborn and did not listen. All the things Teiresias said would happen became the truth. He killed his father, married his mother, yet he tempted his fate , he deserved everything that came his way .

Tragically flawed by his hubris in thinking he could outwit the prophecies, Oedipus Rex’s inability to take advice lead him to fall so far that he is now the epitome of tragic heroes. In his desperate attempts to outwit the prophecies he allowed himself to be emotionally compromised, which illustrated the true nature of Oedipus who had ruled with reason for twenty years as ultimately a man of emotion. Even though he had brief moments of mental clarity during his fall the damage caused by and continued need to fall back on emotionally driven decisions cost him his kingship and reputation. Initially Oedipus is introduced as a personable and reasonable man when he himself journeys to Thebes with the intention of saving the city. “I would not

Niya Kebreab King Oedipus: Moral Ambiguity In the play King Oedipus, Sophocles depicts Oedipus’ inevitable downfall, which represents man’s struggle between free will and fate. In an attempt to use the audience’s knowledge to his advantage, Sophocles opens the play seventeen years after Oedipus murders his father, Laius and marries his mother, Jocasta. The sequence in which the story unravels reveals the strong psychological focus towards Oedipus’ character. In search of his identity, Oedipus’ enigmatic quality and moral ambiguity compels readers to question whether his ignorance renders him morally blameless.

Brilliantly conceived and written, Oedipus Rex is a drama of self-discovery. Achieved by amazing compression and force by limiting the dramatic action to the day on which Oedipus learns the truth of his birth and his destiny is quite the thriller. The fact that the audience knows the dark secret that Oedipus unwittingly slew his true father and married his mother does nothing to destroy the suspense. Oedipus’s search for the truth has all the tautness of a detective tale, and yet because audiences already know the truth they are aware of all the ironies in which Oedipus is enmeshed. That knowledge enables them to fear the final revelation at the same time that they pity the man whose past is gradually and relentlessly uncovered to him.

Introduction 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, did somethings inadvertently, making him a tragic hero. His search for truth in the death of Laius the king, as well as his birth led to the ultimate destruction and downfall of his life.

In ancient Greek society, the tragedy was a deeply spiritual and emotional art form integral to daily life. Perhaps one of the best examples of Greek tragedy is Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. The work is distinguished by the deep emotion and thought it elicits from the reader. This is in part due to Sophocles’ expert portrayal of Oedipus, who bears all the attributes of an Aristotelian tragic hero. A once powerful king turned blinded pariah, Oedipus is characterized by both his pride and his honorable character.