Oedipus Rex: Authoritative Tragic Hero Essay, Research Paper

In the drama Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is a authoritative tragic hero. Harmonizing to Aristotle & # 8217 ; s definition, Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is a male monarch whose life falls apart when he finds out his life narrative. There are a figure of features described by Aristotle that identify a tragic hero. For illustration, a tragic hero must do his ain ruin ; his destiny is non deserved, and his penalty exceeds the offense ; he besides must be of baronial stature and have greatness. Oedipus is in love with his idealised ego, but neither the grandiose nor the depressive & # 8220 ; Narcissus & # 8221 ; can truly love himself ( Miller 67 ) . All of the above features make Oedipus a tragic hero harmonizing to Aristotle & # 8217 ; s thoughts about calamity, and a narcissist harmonizing to Alice Miller & # 8217 ; s The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self.

Using Oedipus as an ideal theoretical account, Aristotle says that a tragic hero must be an of import or influential adult male who makes an mistake in judgement, and who must so endure the effects of his actions. Those actions are seen when Oedipus forces Teiresias to uncover his fate and his male parent & # 8217 ; s name. When Teiresias tries to warn him by stating & # 8220 ; This twenty-four hours will give you parents and destroy you & # 8221 ; ( Sophocles line 428 ) , Oedipus still does non care and returns with his oppugning. The tragic hero must larn a lesson from his mistakes in judgement and go an illustration to the audience of what happens when great work forces fall from their exalted societal or political places. Harmonizing to Miller, a individual who is great, who is admired everyplace, and needs this esteem to last, has one of the utmost signifiers of self-love, which is magniloquence. Grandiosity can be seen when a individual admires himself, his qualities, such as beauty, inventiveness, and endowments, and his success and accomplishments greatly. If one of these happens to neglect, so the calamity of a terrible depression is near ( Miller 34 ) . Those actions happen when the Herdsman tells Oedipus who his female parent is, and Oedipus answers & # 8220 ; Oh, oh, so everything has come out true. Light, I shall non look on you Again. I have been born where I should non be born, I have been married where I should non get married, I have killed whom I should non kill ; now all is clear & # 8221 ; ( Sophocles lines 1144 ) .

Oedipus & # 8217 ; s determination to prosecute his inquiring is incorrect ; his magniloquence blinded him and, hence, his destiny is non deserved, but it is far beyond his control. A prognostication is foretold to Laius, the male parent of Oedipus, that the fate of Oedipus is a awful one beyond his control. But when it is prophesized to Oedipus, he se

ts Forth from the metropolis of his Foster parents in order to forestall this awful destiny from happening. Oedipus’s fate is non deserved because he is being punished for his parent’s actions. His birth parents seek the advice of the Delphi Oracle, who recommends that they should non hold any kids. When the male child is born, Laius is overcome with panic when he remembers the prophet. Oedipus is abandoned by his birth parents and is denied their love, which is what consequences in what Miller calls “Depression as Denial of the Self” . Depression consequences from a denial of one’s ain emotional reactions, and we can non truly love if we deny our truth, the truth about our parents and health professionals as, good as about ourselves ( Miller 43 ) .

The birth of Oedipus presets his fate to ensue in calamity even though he is of baronial birth. In calamities, supporters are normally of the aristocracy to do their falls seem greater. Oedipus merely happens to be born a prince, and he has saved a land that is truly his from the Sphinx. His fate is to be of baronial stature from birth, which is denied to him by his parents, but given back by the Sphinx. His aristocracy deceived him every bit good as his contemplation, since it shows merely his perfect, fantastic face and non his interior universe, his hurting, his history ( Miller 66 ) . When he relies on his position, he is blind, non physically, but emotionally. He is blind in his actions ; hence he does non see that the oppugning would convey him merely wretchedness. Later, after his self-inflicted blinding, Oedipus sees his actions as error when he says & # 8220 ; What usage are my eyes to me, who could ne’er & # 8211 ; See anything pleasant once more? & # 8221 ; ( Sophocles line 1293 ) and that sightlessness does non needfully hold to be physical as we can se when he says, & # 8220 ; If I had sight, I know non with what eyes I would hold looked & # 8221 ; ( Sophocles line 1325 ) .

In the drama Oedipus Rex, Sophocles portrays the chief character, Oedipus, as a good-natured individual who has bad judgement and is frail. Oedipus makes a few fatal determinations and is condemned to profound agony because of them. I agree with Aristotle that Oedipus & # 8217 ; misfortune happens because of his tragic defect. If he hadn & # 8217 ; t been so judgmental or egotistic, as Miller would qualify a personality like Oedipus, he would ne’er hold killed King Laius and called Teiresias a prevaricator. In the beginning, Teiresias is merely seeking to ease him easy into the truth ; but Oedipus is excessively proud to see any truths, and he refuses to believe that he could hold been responsible for such a atrocious offense. He learns a lesson about life and how there is more to it than merely one individual & # 8217 ; s destiny.

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