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The tragedy of Oedipus the King simply by Sophocles, is a story of a man called Oedipus who also becomes california king, and through a series of situations, ultimately satisfies his demise. Through his display of hubris and hamartia through the play, Oedipus has grown and decreased. Oedipus” misfortune has been argued as “some error of judgement of frailty”, or if he’s just a tragic hero doomed with a tragic flaw. A tragic leading man is “the protagonist, the hero or chief character of a disaster, is a person of high house, usually a king, full, or member of the noble family, who will be neither superlatively good and just not wholly vicious and depraved, although who is helped bring low simply by some problem of judgment or shortcoming”.
In Oedipus Rex, a play written by Sophocles, Oedipus” hubris and hamartia eventually lead him to his drop, making him a tragic hero. The first top quality of Oedipus that justifies him like a tragic main character is his hubris. Hubris is defined by the Webster-Merriam dictionary as “Exaggerated pleasure or confidence”. Oedipus is known as a proud guy, praised since the King of Thebes and the defeater of the Sphinx, but it is definitely his take great pride in, his very own belief that he is an excellent man who is favored by the gods. Since the Chorus said, “Pride breeds the tyrant violent pride, gorging, crammed to bursting with all of that is overripe and wealthy with ruin”clawing up to the height, headlong pride crashes over the abyss”sheer misfortune! ” (ln 963-967).
In his make an attempt to find the important points to confirm he is well-liked by the gods, he just proves to himself that he is suffering from a vicious fate. Oedipus” hubris as well influences him to fulfill the oracle and further intensify his punishment from the Gods. Even before Oedipus arrived to power while the Ruler of Thebes, he allowed his cockiness to control his judgment and reign more than his activities. Although he has enough reverence to the deities to never assume him self to be an equal with the gods, but more than them it can be clear that Oedipus perceives himself being of a greater importance than the lesser men that are around him. As he said, “One of you summon metropolis here prior to us, explain I’ll perform everything. The almighty help all of us, we will see our triumph-or each of our fall” (ln 163-165). He could be conceited to consider that he can shape his own success and the gods can discipline him in this arrogance. Another quality of Oedipus that confirms thinking about him like a tragic leading man is his hamartia. Hamartia is defined as an individual error within a protagonist’s character, which brings about his tragic downfall within a tragedy. The defect in a hero’s personality is also referred to as their “tragic flaw”. One among Oedipus” tragic flaws displayed in the disaster is his lack of self-knowledge. When he hears the story of how the california king, Laius, was brutally killed, Oedipus can be eager to arrive at the bottom in the story and locate the person who is guilty. This individual never miracles if it is him, even though this individual knows he murdered a man not very in the past. When Oedipus is faced with Tiresias regarding the tough of Laius, he is stunned and appalled that someone would say these kinds of a thing about the man, showing that he feels he can perform no wrong. He becomes outraged and says to Tiresias, “You, shameless- not necessarily you shocked to start up such a tale? You think you can find away with this? inch (ln 356-357) and in the end starts to place the blame about Tiresias.
This demonstrates Oedipus cannot look inside himself to find the truth, and he will not want to know real truth himself. As well Oedipus states, “Lost in the night, countless night that nursed you! You can’t harm me or anyone else who sees the light”you can not touch me” (ln 879-880). This furthers the fact that Oedipus was made a fatal mistake in his understanding of the data. He eliminates his very own father and marries his mother away of lack of knowledge. He features set a curse within the man who have kills his father, not knowing that it is he who has done so, creating his own demise. The concept of the Oedipus plays a great function in showing how Oedipus is a tragic hero, condemned with a tragic flaw. The theme of “the limits of free will” is definitely described as the power of acting with no constraint of necessity or perhaps fate, to be able to act by one’s own discretion. It is difficult to say how justly anybody can accuse Oedipus of being “blind” or unreasonable when he seems to have no choice regarding fulfilling the prophecy. As Teiresias thought to Oedipus, “I have no more to say, surprise as thou willst, and provide the rein to all thy pent-up rage” (ln 341-347). Regardless of what Oedipus does or says, destiny will always play itself away. Similarly because Jocasta says to Oedipus,. “A prophet! Husband, listen to Me. Zero human being in the world need fear what prophets say. Items prove that. A forecaster came to Laius Not God, a telepathist only and told him that one working day his son” (ln 707-725).
Jocasta is trying to describe to Oedipus that the prophecy could not regularly be true and that he should not stress about such some thing. She is delivering him to the realization that fate may happen regardless of what other folks say or perhaps do. Oedipus seems only to desire to flee his fate, but his fate regularly catches plan him. Oedipus, a man who becomes California king and by using a series of incidents, ultimately satisfies his problem has been contended as “some error of judgement of frailty”, or perhaps if he is a tragic hero regrettably doomed having a tragic catch. Through Oedipus” elements of hubris and hamartia, he eventually meets his downfall, deeming him a tragic leading man.
