Oedipus, the Tragic Hero - Book Report/Review Example

 Oedipus, the tragic hero According to Aristotle’s view, a tragic hero is one who wields peripetia(tragic reversal of fortune), spaudaios(hero) and hamartia(error of judgement) qualities. This paper will carefully analyze Oedipus, the protagonist of sophocles tragic drama, basing on the three qualities. By looking at the three qualities held by Aristotle’s poetica, Oedipus’ nobility, tragic reversal of fortune, and error in judgment perfectly exemplifies Aristotle’s view of a tragic hero. The protagonist of this drama, Oedipus Rex Starts as a respected king and noble, but he later discovers that he unknowingly married his mother and killed his own father. Consequently, he loses the grip of his kingdom, his family, he blinds himself before going into exile. Aristotle’s three fold definition of a tragic hero is exemplified by Oedipus’ reversal of fortune, error in judgment and his nobility (Sophocles, storr &Parker,2005). Oedipus nobility is exhibited by him being a prince by birth as he was born to Laios and Jocasta, princeship through adoption to Merope and Polybus thus becoming heir to the throne of Corinth and final accession as king of Thebes through democratic election. Aristotle uses Oedipus’ nobility to explain what a hero should be, In poetica XIII, Aristotle(350 B.C) says that a hero should be prosperous, highly renowned just like the personalities of Thyestes, Oedipus and other successful men from noble families. From the introduction of Oedipus the king, it is evident that Oedipus is a great king and thus not a common ruler. His subjects revere him and treat him like a god. Likewise, Oedipus is committed and compassionate to his responsibility to lead and protect his subjects. He feels pain for his ruined city to a point where he becomes sleepless (Sophocles,yeats & Curtis,2008). Oedipus is an upright and a just king. He pursues the truth relentlessly, although it is his upright and just nature that leads to his downfall. Oedipus declines to be deterred from realizing his goal of uncovering the murder of King Laios and does not even stop after discovering that he is implicated in the murder. It can be noted that Oedipus suffers because of his goodness and not his guilt. Thus, as the definition of Aristotle holds, Oedipus is the hero whose fate is self-caused despite the fact that it is undeserved (Aristotle,350 B.C). Although Oedipus is certainly noble, there are varied arguments on whether his tragic error or hamartia was intellectual or moral. A tragedy should present a hero, who in moral sense should be respected and who commits substantial intellectual error, which culminates into his downfall from prosperity and happiness to suffering and misery. Some intellectual state that Oedipus is too quick to anger and prideful in his reaction to Creaon, his brother in law, and Teiresias, the blind prophet as he makes judgment and draws conclusions hastily. Although his reactions could be interpreted as a moral error, the truth is that they are intellectual errors. When the intellectual error is taken into account, the actions of Oedipus were for the interest and concern of his area of dominion. When he killed his father unknowingly, he was acting under provocation and as a self defense mechanism, which are intellectual errors and not moral ones (Bloom,1998). Fate is another factor that vividly portrays Oedipus error of judgment. Before Oedipus’ conception, a prophesy warned King Laios that any son born to Jocasta and him would murder him and sleep with his mother. The irony in the drama is played out by the coincidence of events which lead to a mighty and proud man being humbled. Further, there is a strong statement that the enigmatic gods have great power over the just and unjust, who suffer from their mysterious power. According to the drama, it seems the gods purposely lead Oedipus astray by giving the prophecy of his future grievous acts instead of his true heritage of being adopted by Merope and Polybus. At the end of the drama, Oedipus cries out stating that gods distaste him. In the seeming Oedipus future’s divine intervention, it is right to question his responsibility in his deeds. The tragic flaw of Oedipus is small compared to the forces that tend work behind the scenes and so, it can be concluded that his true error was in the attempt to avoid the future, which is vital in presenting his integrity (Holderlin, Constatine &Sophocles,2001). In Oedipus inner heart, he does not wish or anticipate to commit odious acts that the gods stress that he will commit and thus it can be stated that he is completely innocent of the crimes that he did not will to commit and had been trying hard to avoid them. Actually, he made serious intellectual flaws, but they were justifiable in the moral sense as the mistakes could have been made by other good men who can never be perfect in justice and virtue (Sophocle & Bragg,2004). A major theme in the play is Oedipus’ intellectual blindness and the blindness of the people around him. Thebes’ populace cry to gods for wisdom, Oedipus wife Jocasta question the authenticity of prophesies while Thebes request for oracle, but the only one who knows that Oedipus is the genesis of the plagues is Teresias, a physically blind prophet. Teresias highlights the king’s error of judgment and his intellectual blindness stating that the king cannot see evil as his eyes are blind as a result of his inability to discern the horrible acts that he conducted. This is the actual reason behind his marriage to his mother, wrongful accusation to Creon, anger at Teresias and the murder of the king. Oedipus detection of his blindness was slow and when he finally opened his eyes to the truth, his tragic downfall began (Sophocles, storr &Parker,2005). In Oedipus reversal of fortunes, it is essential to note that the one who was noble started to be miserable. He lost the Kingdom of Thebes and was unable to control Corinth after the death of Polybus, his adopted father. Oedipus states that his misery was a result of the shame of seeing his parents after his death, Shame of seeing his daughters, Ismene and Antigone in life and facing the gods in death and life. As a result, he decides to blind himself instead of committing suicide thus fulfilling Teresias’ oracle (Holderlin, Constatine &Sophocles,2001). Once again, his integrity is shown by his willingness to mete punishment on King Laios’ murderer just as he had promised the people. Although the punishment that Oedipus chose for himself was deemed harsh and was worse than death, he felt that it was just and an act of heroism. Before going into exile, he asks for forgiveness of Creon for accusing him wrongly and commits his children to his guardianship. He is not bothered by suffering and gets new strength as a result of his tragic knowledge (Bloom,1998). Oedipus demonstrates the three-fold definition of a tragic hero presented by Aristotle. These are error in Judgment, nobility or heroism, and reversal of fortunes. Basing on the play, Sophocle’s Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. Although Oedipus starts as a noble, being prince by birth and adoption, and ascends to kingship, he later on ends up as a miserable, blind and goes to exile, depicting his ultimate downfall. References Sophocles, ., Storr, F., & Parker, P. M.,. (2005).Sophocles' Oedipus trilogy. San Diego, Calif.: ICON Classics. Sophocles, ., Yeats, W. B., & Curtis, J. R. (2008). Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus: Manuscript materials. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Aristotle. (350 B.C.) Poetica XIII. Translated by Butcher, S. H. Retrieved from http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.2.2.html Sophocles, , & Bagg, M. (2004). The Oedipus plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the king, Oedipus at Kolonos, and Antigone. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Bloom, H. (1988). Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. Hölderlin, F., Constantine, D., & Sophocles, . (2001). Hölderlin's Sophocles: Oedipus & Antigone. Tarset: Bloodaxe. Read More