I craved love, for I had been a trustworthy servant for twenty years. I was, or I thought I was, Penelope’s cornerstone. If Penelope had not told me, her trusty servant, the secret about her and Odysseus’ bed, what was stopping her from keeping plenty of other secrets from me? One of these days, I will embark on a journey of love for myself. I am worthy, after all. I stayed by Penelope’s side for twenty years and listened to her cries for love, and complaints of loneliness. If anything, I deserve love more than Penelope……
Tragedies often feature happiness developing into miseries through errors which ultimately reveal the cold hard truth. The hero suffers from human frailty (hamartia) which directs to his/her downfall. The hero suffers from catastrophic events, experiences peripeteia and is confronted with the magnitude of his/her actions. Two such heroes are Hazel Grace Lancaster from “The Faults in Our Stars” by John Green, and Oedipus in the play “Oedipus Rex” written by Sophocles. Both modern and classic articles of literature have a wide-reaching influence on people and inspire many through the centuries. Modern tragic hero Hazel is a teenage thyroid cancer patient who experiences twisting series of bitter losses. As an only child who has been diagnosed since the age of thirteen, she fears and worries what will happen to the loved ones after she dies and wants to minimize the pain her death will cause others. Classic hero Oedipus is destined to fulfill a prophecy that says he will kill his father and marry his mother, and thereby brings disaster on his city and family. He is blinded by the truth and hubris, powerlessly enduring the course of fate despite harsh and fearful confrontations. While both characters fulfill the role of a tragic figure, the modern hero Hazel evidently provides more hope for the audience than the classic hero Oedipus. This is shown when their character traits of determination, courage and ignorance are compared.…
The story of Oedipus Tyrannus, otherwise known as Oedipus the King or Oedipus Rex, is an Athenian tragedy written by Sophocles; it tells the story of Oedipus, the king of Thebes who is plagued by a self-fulfilled prophecy in which he kills his father Laius and marries his own mother, Jocasta. Not only is it widely recognized as Sophocles’ greatest work, the story of Oedipus has lent its name to what is recognized in the psychological realm today as the Oedipus complex, in which a young child feels “complex emotions” relative to that of unconscious sexual desire toward the parent of the opposite sex. Oedipus as a leader, separate from his web of extremely strange familial encounters, is a point of contention. Oedipus’ role…
Homer’s Odysseus and Sophocles’ Oedipus look quite similar on the surface. They are both noble and well respected kings and share a flaw, hubris, but that is as far as their similarities go. Odysseus is the classic epic hero while Oedipus is the classic tragic hero. What that means is Odysseus will go on a quest, face great trouble, but will be able to defeat it with the help of the gods and eventually have a happy ending. He may have a flaw, but that flaw will not do much damage. On the other hand, Oedipus will have a flaw and that flaw will cause his downfall. A tragic hero is also misfortuned and may even be cursed by the gods as Oedipus is cursed by Apollo. In addition to their heroic types, fate has a strong role in each of their stories…
Oedipus the King, also known as Oedipus Rex, is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles, a famous and successful Athenian writer around 420 B.C. Oedipus the King/Oedipus Rex is the second of Sophocles’ three Theban plays produced, but it is first in the internal chronology, followed by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone. Today, Chris Brown is similar to Oedipus in that he was well-respected, but due to a tragic flaw, he experiences a downfall and an Oedipus-like exile as a result of the downfall.…
“Tragedy is an imitation not of men but of a life, an action…” (Aristotle). Greek Tragedy was invented five hundred years Before Common Era, and focuses on the actions of characters. These actions emphasize the harsh reality in which the innocent mankind lives in. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is defined as one with great potential, but has a hamartia leading to the ultimate demise of himself. Oedipus’ actions are tragic, as he tries to make the right choice but fails. He was dealt a hand that would only lead him to lose. Furthermore, Sophocles develops Oedipus as a relatable character which allows for catharsis to occur. Aristotle’s, The Poetics, explains the necessary components to create a powerful Tragedy. Oedipus the King is a powerful representation of Aristotle’s ideas on tragedy, so the purpose, protagonist, fall, and plot elements in Oedipus the King demonstrate the concepts of tragedy written in The Poetics.…
“The most tragic of plays is witnessing a good man come to a bad end through a peripeteia” Aristotle. Sophocles and Euripides present in their plays two main characters that after a sudden and unexpected reverse of circumstances, their lives completely change, arousing a sense of pity from the reader. Oedipus, originate more pity from the reader than Hippolytus, because of the actions they make and their reaction to the occurrence of events that causes the dramatically change in their lives. Even though both are responsible and at the same time not wholly responsible of the happening of their own tragedies, Hippolytus is more responsible for it than Oedipus because he does everything in extreme, like he worships only one god, Diana. Refuses to worship the god Aphrodite and denies that she is relevant to his life. Also, he has such a violent reaction when he finds out about Phaedra's passion and the extreme hate he has towards women. But Oedipus knowing what was going to happen in his life tries and tries to avoid it having no success at all.…
As the children address Oedipus with remarks such as “You are not one of the immortal gods, we know; Yet we have come to you to make our prayer as to the man surest in mortal ways and wisest in the ways of God.” (1. Prologue. 35. 43.), the audience can understand Oedipus's role as king and the respect to his power, as with an irony on the fate bestowed upon our hero. As the fate of Oedipus is that of the tragic hero, Aristotle's descriptions of simple and complex plots within a tragedy lead to such “events that are fearful and pathetic" (Aristotle. 70). As Aristotle said that a tragedy should evoke two emotions: terror and pity, such that the audience is aroused with these feelings with the fate of Oedipus, but can relate and understand logically how such events took place.…
In literature, the tragic heroes Oedipus and Othello allow the pride they have to cause their own demise by putting too much emphasis on the lives they have created for themselves. Oedipus, who blinds himself after finding out he has killed his birth father and married his birth mother, refuses to believe he has truly fulfilled his fate because he is so proud of what he has accomplished since he left Corinth. Othello demonstrates his pride by believing that the people closest to him would never betray him because of his powerful position as a General of the armies in Venice. Both characters example of hubris, or excessive pride, causes the downfall in their lives, which eventually leads to life-long blindness for Oedipus and death for Othello.…
According to Aristotle's theory of tragedy and his definition of the central character, Oedipus, the hero of Sophocles, is considered a classical model of the tragic hero. The tragic hero is an essential element to arouse pity and fear from the audience to achieve the emotional effect. Sophocles features Oedipus in a trilogy of plays; however, it is during Oedipus the King that Oedipus experiences his tragic downfall. Although Oedipus is not of high birth, he rises to become a king rather early in his life. To complete the tragic hero profile, Oedipus inspires pity in audiences.…
Using Aristotle’s five different descriptions of a tragic hero, we will show that Oedipus in Oedipus the King is in fact a tragic hero and how his decisions led to his downfall.…
In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, modern readers quickly assume that Oedipus is a tragic hero. They see that he is guilty of both patricide and incest, which they apply to fit their definition of a tragedy. When closely examined, it can be seen that the majority of the play is governed by two prophecies from the gods via oracles. The question can thus be raised as to whether or not Oedipus had the ability to make a fatal decision deciding his fate, or if he had no choice, and was destined to fall into what the oracles had told him.…
The Greek tragedy Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, was written to demonstrate the might of the gods, human fate is prearranged and that free will has a price. The gods power is evident throughout the story, particularly when people attempt to escape their fate; in the end man comes to discover that what the oracles predicts ultimately come to fruition. A fundamental theme of the Oedipus the King is the tension between free will and fate. While ones individual choices, such as Oedipus’s quest for his identity, are important, ultimately fate is responsible for Oedipus’s incest and several other climatic and desolate events of the play. Sophocles emphasizes the importance of fate and proposes the characters cannot bear the full responsibility for their actions. For instance, Oedipus cannot be entirely held accountable for, unknowingly, marrying his mother. Oedipus learns from the messenger that he is not the child of Polybus (Johnston, August 10, 2007)) but, Oedipus is in denial for he believes he is the son of Polybus. In lines 1030-1420 the truth is revealed, he is indeed the son of Jocasta.…
In the plays Oedipus the King and Antigone Creon and Oedipus both are similar, but are different in many ways too. They both share in common their overbearing determination, but different in their care for the people of Thebes.…
“It is not fate that I should be your ruin, Apollo is enough; it is his care to work this out.” Fate and destiny, being one in the same, have tortured men’s thoughts throughout the ages with its questions and uncertainty. Throughout history, there have been many prophecies and fortunes told to great rulers and kingships that have yielded that very fate in which the prophecy forecasted. Oedipus, king and benefactor of Thebes, succumbs to the prophecy once set forth by the gods and interpreted by oracles, to a fate of incest and murder. “I, Oedipus whom all men call the great” yields to the darkness of his life and blinded eyes as the revelation of his identity is revealed and the fulfilled prophecy that once was. “Oedipus is completely fated. He simply has no free choice.”, this is an agreeable understatement for King Oedipus.…