The Tragedy Of King Oedipus As A Tragedy

In Sophocles’s play Antigone, the throne of the city of Thebes has fallen into the hands of Creon, Antigone’s uncle, after the sudden and tragic death of Eteocles and Polynices. Under his rule, a new law forbidding anyone from burying Polyneices causes Antigone to decide between staying loyal to her country or to her family. In the play Antigone, the most real tragic hero that prevails is Creon because he embodies all the characteristics that a tragic hero must have while Antigone lacks some important characteristics. To begin, Creon conveys goodness because he chooses to punish Antigone for her crimes to keep Thebes as safe and orderly as possible.

Oedipus was not perfect, but had numerous tragic flaws. He made an error of judgement, combined with fate then brought on a tragedy . Oedipus tragic flaw was tragedy that was destined for downfall. A tragic hero must be an important or influential man who commits a fault, and who must then accept the consequences of his actions. Oedipus learns a lesson from his temper, his tragic flaw, and became an example to the audience of what happens when great men fall from their high social position.

The Queen, Jacosta, Oedipus’ wife tells him not to believe in the prophet, because they’ve been wrong before, she then tells Oedipus about how she and King Laius had a son who was prophesied to kill Laius and sleep with her but since the child was supposedly dead the prophecy couldn’t be true. Oedipus becomes a bit weary because as a child an old man told him he was adopted and that one day he’d kill his real father and sleep with his mother, Oedipus did also kill a man at a crossroads which sounded like the way Laius died. Oedipus continued questioning the messenger and found out that he was the man everyone spoke of and Jacosta then comes to the realization that Oedipus is her son and kills herself.

He was pride of the trick he pulled and began to mock him. He revealed his identity when he said “... Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes, whose home is on Ithaca”. (3.459-60). Revealing all of this vital information would allow Polyphemus to pray to his father, Poseidon to curse Odysseus and make him lose all his men and have hardships when he returns home.

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.

How would you feel if you were locked away to rot by one of your own family members because you did something they didn’t approve of? In Sophocles play, Antigone, this is just the case for the niece of Creon, King of Thebes. After getting word that her “own two brothers [...] slaughtered one another and brought about their common doom” (Sophocles 318), Antigone is distraught. What makes her infuriated is when she learns that her uncle, Creon, has decided that one of her brothers, Eteocles, will receive a proper burial and be honored while the other brother, Polyneices, will receive no burial and be remembered as a traitor. Soon after, Antigone takes action and performs a secret burial and ritual on her dead brothers corpse, but she is also

Almost always, in Greek tragedies a “tragic hero” has a hamartia, or tragic flaw, which will cause their concluding demise. In the Greek playwright, Antigone written by Sophocles, the interesting character, Creon, is a prime example of this. According the Aristotle’s theory, to be a tragic hero you have to have three traits: a flaw, a fall, and acceptance of your current situation. Creon’s flaw is his ego, which blinds him and lures him to do rather profane activities. Due to Creon’s ego, him losing everything caused by that very hamartia, and acceptance of the series of unfortunate events that occurred; Creon is the tragic hero in Antigone

The chorus stated about Creon,”That furious king, bore the god’s prisoning anger for his pride.” (Sophocles 779) Anger for his pride shows he posses a tragic flaw of pride because he has anger for people who cross him such as Antigone for burying her brother and shows his pride by punishing her to death. Also his anger brings him to showing his pride by when he makes the about law about no one being able to bury Polyneices. Also Creon shows he has a tragic flaw of pride when he says to Teiresias, the prophet, “I would not yield. I am not afraid of pollution.

But when the messenger reveals the true identity of Oedipus in the latter part, a reversal of mood is produced. The mood indeed lightened up after Oedipus heard the death of his dad: “So! Why then, Jocasta, should we study Apollo’s oracle, or gaze at the birds screaming over our heads-----those prophets who announced that I would kill my father? He’s dead, buried, below ground. And here I am in Thebes----I did not put hand to sword.”

He doesn’t like people who disobeys the rules of the government. They both are tragic characters because Antigone kills herself and Creon asks for his death to the gods. It can be argued that the tragic hero is Creon because of his excessive pride and his intense suffering at the end of the play. First of all, Creon fits Aristotle’s definition of tragic hero, which is excessive pride, also known as hubris. Creon is overconfident about himself and he doesn’t listen to others.

Creon is Shocked with the deaths of his wife and son and says, “Oh no, another, a second loss to break of heart. What next, what fate still waits for me? I just held my son in my arms and now, look, a new corpse rising before my eyes- wretched, helpless mother-O my son.” (Sophocles 1420-25).

Socrates, one of history 's wisest men, would face a grotesque and horrifying death due to his actions against the state of Athens. His pupils (Plato and Aristotle most notably) would describe his actions that lead up to his death as bold and memorable. Even after being sentenced to death, Socrates showed the courage to continue voicing his opinions to his students and political onlookers. The trial would go down as one of the most notable events in later Greek history. The execution of Socrates was a result of his negligence to the gods and corrupting the youth of Athens but, not all agree that it was a deserved death.

A tragic hero is defined as someone who “is of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. This person is fated by the Gods or by some supernatural force to doom and destruction or at least to great suffering. But the hero struggles mightily against this fate and this cosmic conflict wins our admiration.” (Tragic Hero Classical Definition) In Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, Brutus is the tragic hero.

Pride is considered one of the worst of the seven deadly sins because of its destructive properties. It is a common quality of many tragic figures throughout literature, but Oedipus Rex takes the cake for the most destructive case of pride. A plague spreads across his city of Thebes, threatening the entire population. King Oedipus swears to his people that he will do whatever it takes to save the city. He finds out he has “to take revenge upon whomever killed [King Laïos]” (Sophocles 962) in order to save everyone.

OEDIPUS THE KING-SOPHOCLES DRAMATIC IRONY ESSAY SUMAIA FARAH In the play Oedipus the King, is a story that takes place in Thebes, Greece. This mythological sytory is about a King named Oedipus who has fulfilled his familie’s curse of killing his father Laius ( former king), and marrying his mother. Throughtout this mythical story, sophocles emphasizes the dramatic irony that enhances the tension throughtout the story. Dramatic irony enhances tension by making the readers anxious, by making it more interesting -attention grabbing.