According to Aristotle, a tragic hero stands as impeded by a distinguishable characteristic or character trait, which leads to his/her ultimate demise. The “flaw” in a hero’s personality has the driving force behind their demise. This characteristic is said to not only lead to the hero's demise ,but may also enable the reader to sympathize with the character. It follows that in Oedipus the King, a Greek tragedy, the tragic hero Oedipus should have some sort of flaw. Further in the text, it slowly becomes more clear that oedipus’s flaw is his own pride. Oedipus’s pride can be seen when he learned from the oracle of delphi. That he will kill his father and marry his mother. He runs in a desperate attempt to defy fate and the gods, but nobody can just run from their fate. As the story progresses his fate becomes reality when he learns everything towards the end of the play. From the beginning, he blames others for the death of King Laius without putting himself into the list of possibilities. In lines, 374-376, “Offspring of endless Night, thou hast no power O'er me or any man who sees the sun.”, Oedipus’s own hubris remains apparent within the play because of his believe that nobody has the right over …show more content…
If Oedipus had never left Corinth he would have never ran into his father, King Laius, on the road to Thebes. If he wouldn't have met him then the chances of him killing the king would become far less and not murdering the king, he would have never had the opportunity to marry his mother, Jocasta. So you see things would have been a lot different if he did not try to control his future and go against the gods and his prophecy. Oedipus didn’t want to believe in his own destiny and fell into denial and eventually couldn’t bring himself to reality that he might have been the one who killed Laius. Prides known as one of the major seven sins within men and within a tragic hero Oedipus. Pride was his end
Oedipus’s duty as King is to resolve any conflicts, including the mystery of the murder of King Laius. His pride takes over, and Oedipus becomes very single-minded. His cynical stubbornness writes the story itself, “Let the storm burst, my fixed resolve still holds, / To learn my lineage, be it ne’er so low. / It may be she will all a woman’s pride /
Oedipus and His Pride Pride, one of the seven deadly sins, is all forms of media. In literature, one of the best example of pride is in the story Oedipus the King. Oedipus is the cursed King of Thebes who was destined to kill his father and marry his mother, but his pride made him believe that he was going to be fine when he left his adoptive mother and father in Corinth. Eventually, as it always does, pride caught up to him.
In Fences by August Wilson, the protagonist Troy has a rough adolescence and attempts to do more for his children by not being similar to his father, but with fate the inevitable occurs. Growing up Troy felt that his father did not care about him and was selfish, for example when Tory recounts his childhood to Bono, he says “sometimes I wish I hadn’t known my daddy. He ain’t cared nothing about no kids. When it come time for eating... he ate first.
For all the great strengths of these heroes it’s important to remember they’re still human. Humans are naturally flawed beings, in fact their exaggerated strengths seem to make their weaknesses more dramatic. These fatal flaws constantly get between the hero and reaching his goal contributing to setbacks, loss, and sometimes death. Odysseus’s fatal flaw is pride, usually in himself he lets his positive regard for his own abilities and wants get in the way of his decision making process. One example is his military leadership, he makes both very good and very bad military decisions in his time commanding men, Odysseus is, as Homer says,” polytropos, many-sided, mixed, multi-colored, piebald.
Oedipus denies the truth and faces the consequences later on in the play. He gets furious when everyone is blaming him for killing Laius. As he is blaming others, hubris appears within his personality. Oedipus becomes blinder as hubris takes over him.
Oedipus’ pride made him reject the very idea the he killed Laius, his birth father, or married Jocasta, his birth mother. Oedipus’ states, “But now, all those prophecies I feared--Polybus packs them off to sleep with him in hell! They’re nothing, worthless” (Sophocles 1062-1064). Oedipus’ insults the gods by saying that all the prophecies that were supposed to come true are worthless now that his father is dead. Since the gods play a significant role in Greek culture, his hubris is affecting his character by going against his and Greek culture's morals because he believes he is almighty and does not need the gods.
When the people of Thebes find out Oedipus is the killer of Laius, the former king, Oedipus goes through his tragic downfall of great suffering. Oedipus boosts himself up and degrades others, but it turn he ends up suffering greatly and pitying himself for it. Oedipus’ display of pride throughout the story causes him to feel great pity for himself as he suffers his ultimate downfall.
In Oedipus the King, an argument stands on whether the main character Oedipus possess’ a tragic flaw or does not. However, it can be proven that Oedipus does possess a tragic flaw, towards the end of the play the audience is able to see what causes and leads Oedipus to his demise. His tragic flaw also speaks for the theme entirely which would be free will. As in most tragic plays the tragedy is usually caused by the protagonist tragic flaw.
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.
Initially thought to be a virtue, Oedipus' pride and confidence began to build his blind ego. This changed his tragic flaw from a virtue to a burden. His early successes created a sense of pride and blind confidence. But it was this excessive pride that would pride that lead to early successes but ultimately created a clouded sense of reality and his ultimate demise. As the curse is upon the city, Oedipus thinks he is the one to find the killer of the previous King of Thebes.
Every character in stories or in plays has their flaws and strengths; Oedipus is no exception to this. Oedipus has his strengths and weaknesses that shape him into the character he is perceived to be in the play. He is intellectual which is why the city looks up to him, he is caring, and tenacious. Like any other character Oedipus also has his flaws, he jumps to conclusions and makes rash decisions, he has anger issues, and hubris which eventually leads to his downfall. Intelligence is something that is highly respected in individuals, especially in leaders.
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
Truly, Oedipus sets out to change his destiny. His self determination proves he has pride in himself and confidence that he can somehow change the future. When Oedipus killed his father he allowed his pride and arrogance to control him. He was thinking with his pride and did not use self control. This hubris that is instilled in Oedipus is a serious flaw of his.
His fate reveals that he will sleep with his mother and kill his own father, so he made the poor decision to flee Corinth thinking he will sleep with his mother in Corinth. Visiting Delphi made Oedipus paranoid, leaving home after finding the truth led him to actually sleep with his mother and killed his own father. To sum it all up, Oedipus had made poor decisions after visiting Delphi, affecting his entire life and coming closer to his unfortunate
The characters in Oedipus the King develop the plot and make it a complete tragedy. Oedipus, had some undesirable flaws as well as some good characteristics. Oedipus had a flaring temper that ruined his life. We all learned that having a bad attitude doesn’t get you anywhere in life. Oedipus was also arrogant, especially after defeating the Sphinx.