Destiny In Oedipus The King

Living a life as a sovereign ruler is not always the peaceful, golden roads of glory one would think. In the tragic play of “Oedipus the King”, Oedipus completes a dreadful and long journey in which his respected and well-known position in the Greek city of Thebes crumbles because of his tragic flaw of ambition and hubris. The claws of the past are at the throat of the king and the audience begins to feel pity for Oedipus when his renowned name tragically falls down from grace.
Sophocles, writer of Oedipus the King, compresses the dramatic reveal of the true destiny and origin of birth to Oedipus all in one day. Oedipus’s search for the truth creates a storyline of anticipation and intensity. The play focuses on human weakness, human suffering and man’s inability to change his destiny. Though the audience can see between the lines early on, the knowledge allows them to feel pity for Oedipus as the real revelation of himself is gradually unveiled. In his poems, Aristotle outlined the necessities of a good tragedy exclaiming a tragedy must evoke pity and fear in its viewers. A tragic hero, according to Aristotle, must be a man who is superior to the average man in some way. In Oedipus's
Oedipus blinds himself in shame, accepting full responsibility for poising the city and willingly takes the punishment of exile. In the end, Oedipus’ arrogance led to his downfall. He lost his wife, his eyesight and his kingship. He uncovered the riddles of his life and found out that he was the boy who was the subject of the prophecy. His intelligence, egotism and arrogance led to this finding which caused him losing all that he had. The resolution of his life puts Oedipus above any other tragic hero. He unravels his life in a way that pushes the limits of agony a human can take and there he finds incomparable greatness of