Using your notes and evidence from the play itself, explain the extent to which we might consider Oedipus a tragic hero.
23 Comments
Sierra
9/9/2015 10:41:17 am
One reason that Oedipus is a tragic hero is because of Hamartia- a flaw or error of judgement. this is because his feet were pierced to a mountain when he was a few days old. Another reason is because he is very much like a human in fact that is the reason that he is considered a tragic hero because he is flawed unlike a god, who are considered flawless. another thing is that he suffered more than he deserved because towards the very end of the story when he figured out that he married and had kids with his mother, his adopted father died and then his wife/mother hung her self. Those are some of the reasons that Oedipus is considered a tragic hero.
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Haley Holden
9/9/2015 11:31:20 am
I agree with you. Oedipus is cursed from the time he was born. He has had the most tragic story of them all but not at first.
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jesse
9/9/2015 11:40:08 am
i agree but his Hamartia is not realizing that the old man at the cross roads is in fact his father
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Ingalls
9/10/2015 02:51:06 pm
I agree with Jesse. What other traits does he exhibit--there are five main traits, but his story also hits characteristics we took notes about.
Brian
9/9/2015 11:53:10 am
His Hamartia cannot be that his feet were pierced in the mountain because he had no control over that and didn't want revenge because of that. His Hamartia is when he curses the person who killed Laius, because he didn't know it was him who did it, but if first started when he killed Laius but since that part doesn't presently happen in the story, it's better showed when he cursed the man (or himself) who killed Laius
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Haley Holden
9/9/2015 11:29:11 am
One of the many reasons that Oedipus is a tragic hero is because Peripeteia- reversal of fortune. Oedipus has a great fortune after he is abandoned and nailed to a mountain. He is asked to go to Thebes because he is a riddle solver, and he can solve the riddle the sphinx has given to the people solve. Enable to stop the plague that has taken over Thebes they asked Oedipus to help. Oedipus has had a terrible curse set upon him because of the action his father committed also known as xenia. Oedipus left his home because he did not want to kill his father. Oedipus's fortune changed when he killed his real father Laius on the side of the road. Oedipus was doomed from the start but he discovered his real fate and found out what he had done and how he was living. Oedipus is a tragic hero because when he was born he already had his fate set for him, that affected his life in the long run. He had an amazing life filled with great happenings but than it all changed when he was told that he was supposed to kill his father and marry his mother,but not only was he supposed to marry her but lay with her and have kids. Oedipus has had a great fortune but that all reversed when he found out his true fate.
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jesse
9/9/2015 11:37:06 am
Oedipus was not asked to go to Thebes because he was a riddle solver. He ran to Thebes to avoid killing Polybus and then marry Merope "his mom."
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Haley Holden
9/9/2015 11:42:21 am
Yes, but at the the time the sphinx was terrorizing Thebes and he was the one to solve the riddle. So yes he ran there to save he family but he was also the one who was asked to solve the riddle the sphinx had give to the people of Thebes.
jesse
9/9/2015 11:32:56 am
Oedipus is a tragic hero because of his fate was greater then he deserved, because he gouged out his own eyes with his mother's/wife's broaches after he found out that he was married to his mother and had kids with her. He did not deserve a punishment that harsh (even in our times,) even though he murdered his father. Another reason is because of Hamartia, there were signs pointing towards the fact that the man he killed at the crossroads was indeed his father but he refused to except it even after the prophet told him so, and he also had set a curse upon who ever killed Laius and in effect cursed himself and his entire family.
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Hayden
9/9/2015 11:56:07 am
Oedipus at the time didn't know it was his father that he had killed at the cross roads he was just trying to get away from his adopted father.
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Ingalls
9/10/2015 02:53:41 pm
Excellent post and attention to detail.
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Brian
9/9/2015 11:43:35 am
Oedipus is a tragic hero because he fits all 5 of the characteristics of one. I think the third one, or anagnorisis, the discovery that he brought his tragic downfall upon himself is the most evident because he gets hints throughout the entire story that he killed his farther and married his mother like the prophecy said. He doesn't realize that he did till the very end when he is told the entire story of how he was abandoned and adopted by a messenger from the kingdom of where he grew up. The hardest characteristic to see Oedipus show is the 4th one or hubris. Its shown though when he talks to Teiresias and then Creon right after. He doesn't listen to what Creon and Teiresias say, he just hears what he wants which is that he didn't kill Laius.
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Anteia
9/11/2015 11:36:25 am
I agree with you, especially about the hubris.
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Umphy
9/9/2015 11:46:35 am
Oedipus is considered a tragic hero because of his flaws with fate. He thought he could run from it, that it would never happen to him, but it did and it only took him twenty years to figure it out. He tried to stop a prophecy, but not knowing it can't be done, he had four children with his mother/wife which is super nasty, and ended up causing the thing he was trying to escape from. Everything was decreed from his birth, the whole shabang. I think his parents had almost set him up by making him one with the mountain and leaving him there, where as he was going to fill his fate as the prophecy had already proposed that he was going to do so anyway. No matter what they did, he was going to complete the "quest" that he was destined to fulfill.
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mikayla
9/9/2015 11:47:49 am
The reasons that Oedipus is a tragic hero is because a flaw law of air or judgment. he had his feet pierced when he was a day old. Oedipus is just like us when we have a high power and before that he thought his parents were is own but one day some one told him that he is adopted well no one will think that's true if some one said that to me I wouldn't belive them. when he did fined out he still denided like any one else would do that is not true I gusse I'm not making cens in this but I find him a hero that he denide about that after he was told more then once that he would kill his father marry his mother and have kids with her. And at the and he suffered more then what he deserved it
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Hayden
9/9/2015 11:49:40 am
Oedipus is a tragic hero becauce he had flaws like everyone and he misjudged a few thing but he was doomed from the start. His fate was predetermined before he has even born. Everyone should at lest have one chance. His fate was that he would murder his father and marry his mother and have children with her. He also became the king of Thebes by solving the Sphinxes riddle. The Sphinx was sent down by Hera to terrierize the city and Oedipus solved the riddle so she threw herself of a cliff as punishment. Oedipus found out he married his mother and after she hung herself he jabbed out his own eyes as punishment to himself.
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bryan cater
9/11/2015 10:34:39 pm
Just because Oedipus solved the Spinx's riddle doesn't mean he's a tragic hero.
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Christopher Loo
9/9/2015 11:55:48 am
By Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero, Oedipus is a tragic hero. Aristotle defines a tragic hero as one who's misfortune comes to him. In Oedipus the king, Oedipus is told of his fate, and leaving his home to not kill who he believes is his birth father, is all he can do. At a crossroads, he kills a man who is not only the king of Thebes, but Oedipus's true father. Neither of the men knew who the other was. In the doing of this, Oedipus was beginning the story of his fate that the gods have given him. Later on in the story, Oedipus marries his mother, and has children with her. Oedipus is the definition of a tragic hero.
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Anteia
9/11/2015 11:38:58 am
Do you think that Oedipus's fate was greater than he deserved?
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Anteia
9/11/2015 11:33:29 am
According to Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero, Oedipus demonstrates all of the defined traits. Oedipus fits the first characteristic, hamartia, by believing that the man he killed at the crossroads couldn't possibly be his own father. He believed that his father was the ruler of Corinth. Parapeteia, the reversal of fortune, starts when a herdsman took pity on Oedipus and saved his life. Anagnorisis happened when Oedipus finally realized that he was the murderer of the late king. Hubris, or excessive pride, was shown to us by Oedipus throughout the play. For example, when he promised that the murderer would be severely punished he was confident that it definitely could not have been him. The fifth characteristic is that the characters fate must be greater than what is actually deserved. I think that Oedipus stabbing his own eyes out was greater than what he deserved. In addition to banishing himself, he suffered pain and lived without sight. Oedipus fits all of the key characteristics of a tragic hero, by Aristotle's definition.
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Emily Curfman
9/11/2015 02:19:28 pm
Oedipus is a tragic hero because he qualifies for the 5 different types of traits that make up a tragic hero. But when Oedipus tried to change the prophecy it only sealed his fate even more. I believe that Oedipus qualifies for all the characteristics of a tragic hero because he 1) believed that the man he murdered at the cross roads wasn't his own father 2) he finally realized that he was the murder of the king 3) when he was prideful of his kin and blood along with the rulership of his kingdom 4) Promising that the murderer will be killed by himself 5) when Oedipus had to feel the acknowledgment that he slept with his mom and when he dug out his eyes along with banishing himself after seeing that his wife/mom killed herself. There for in conclusion Oedipus is a tragic hero, but not the greatest.
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Bryan Carter
9/11/2015 10:49:30 pm
Oedipus was a tragic hero because even before h was born he had a pre-determined fate. He was going to kill his father and have kids/marry his mother. When he was born his father thought that he would trick the gods and put Oedipus on a mountain with his feet pierced together and was left there but a messenger picked him p. Oedipus grew u thinking he his father lived in Corinth but he really lived in Thebes. Oedipus had o much confidence in that, that he was blinded by the details showing him the man he killed at the crossroads was his actually father.
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jerry
9/13/2015 02:36:06 pm
Oedipus is considered a tragic hero because he quilifies for all the traits Aristotle has. He's tragic because of his father pierced his feet to the mountain thinking he would trick the gods. The messager picked up so oedipus always thought he was his dad. Oedipus grew a long tragic life since he didn't know the whole truths to his life. Layer on he finally realized who his dad was. Oedipus is considered a tragic hero but not the best one out there. Long story short he stabbed his eyes out making himself blind so he couldn't see saying that the man at the crossroads was his actual father and he was blinded so he couldn't tell.
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