Oedipus as an ideal tragic hero
Aristotle
gave Oedipus
Rex high praise for its outstanding fulfillment of the requirements he
set out for tragedy, including reversal of situation, characterization,
well−constructed plot and rationality of action. In tragedy, the tragic
protagonist inspires in his audience the twin emotions of pity and fear.
Usually a person of virtue and status, the tragic hero can be a scapegoat of
the gods or a victim of circumstances. In the play Oedipus, King of Thebes,
upon hearing that his city is being ravaged by fire and plague, sends his brother−in−law
Creon to find a remedy from the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. When Creon returns
Oedipus begins investigating the death of his predecessor, Laius,and discovers
through various means that he himself was the one who had unknowingly killed
Laius and the married his own mother, Jocasta. Jocasta commits suicide, Oedipus
blinds himself, takes leave of his children, and is led away. In terms of the Aristotelian theory
of tragedy, Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is not perfect, but has tragic
flaws.
King
Oedipus can be taken as a typical hero of classical tragedies. Aristotle, the
first philosopher to theorize the art of drama, obviously studied Oedipus and
based his observation about the qualities of a tragic hero upon the example of
Oedipus. In Aristotle's conception, a tragic hero is a distinguished person
occupying a high position, living in prosperous circumstances and falling into
misfortune because of an error in judgment. Aristotle used the word
"hamartia" to indicate the protagonist's tragic weakness. According
to Aristotelian percepts about tragedy, a tragic hero would be a man of
noticeable qualities of behavior, intelligent and powerful, but by no means
perfect. Oedipus is neither a saint nor a rogue. Aristotle points out that
Oedipus' tragic flaw is excessive pride (hubris) and self-righteousness. He
also points out certain characteristics that determine as tragic hero. Using
Oedipus as an ideal model, Aristotle says that a tragic hero must be an
important or influential man who commits an error in judgment, and who must
then suffer the consequences of his actions. The tragic hero must learn a
lesson from his errors in judgment, his tragic flaw, and become an example to
the audience of what happens when great men fall from their high social or
political position.
The
opening scene shows Oedipus in his magnificence, as a king who is so concerned
about the welfare of his people. He addresses them as "my
children". He is a great man with
respectable moral value and personality. As a man, he is dedicated to fighting
and avoiding evil. His quest for truth is in fact the cause of downfall, and
that is one of the most tragic things. As a king, he is an epitome itself. He
loves his people. He is so worried by the problem of plague that he hasn't been
sleeping: indeed, he says that he is suffering for the whole city alone. The
priest glorifies the king as a man "Surest in mortal ways and wisest in
the ways of god". He is a man who has become the king as much through the
intelligence as through his power. It is he who solved the Sphinx's riddle and
saved all citizens from the monster. He has always become the ultimate and
almost the only rescue and hope at the time of misfortune.
Oedipus
has his typical tragic flaw or "hamartia". Obviously pride is his hamartia.
He is too proud and arrogant, and presumes too much about his own understanding
and his powers to control his life. But he can't control reality, chances, fate
and time. He has a bad temper and wrong judgment. Oedipus wrongly judges his
situation. Due to his presumption about his abilities, he has disobeyed the
gods and his destiny. In his confidence upon what he knows and can do, he
escapes from the professed evil fate, he kills a man old enough to be his
father, and he marries a woman old enough to be his mother, without even
doubting his wits. He has no clear vision which enables him to examine
every side of a matter with unclouded eyes, and to see all things in due
perspective. His prejudice is such that he sees the entire thing as a
conspiracy of Creon and Teiresias. Oedipus surrenders himself to his fate after
learning the truth. Even Teiresias, the blind prophet, is unable to prevent
this tragic event. After learning the truth and the suicide of Jocasta, he
blinds himself and asks Creon to exile him.
Moira seems to be present as a constant force in
Oedipus Rex, with the oracles as her ambassadors, and their prophecies,
their flags. The turning point of Oedipus’s character lies not in what is
announced by the prophecy, but in anagnorisis, the discovery of his heinous
acts followed by the peripetia that is the reversal of his fortune.If the
prophecies are considered to be the words of Fate, they do happen but this is
not what directly affects the development of Oedipus’ or Jocasta’s character.
This is particularly why the punishment they receive is emphatically announced
as being ‘self-inflicted’.
Thus,
Oedipus as a tragic character is heroic because of his struggle, pitiable
because of his weakness before the forces of his destiny, and his tragedy
arouses fear in us, because he is in the same predicament like us, though he
was a great man otherwise. The tragedy of Oedipus is that of the realization of
his failure. And the tragedy of Oedipus is a tragedy of the human situation.
His story tells us that man must do his best — but even then he cannot overcome
the inevitable!
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