Oedipus Essay

oedipus essay BY Jaylee8610 Jay Lee World Literature Mrs. Farley October 21, 2013 Tragic Flaws of the tragic hero In common, the protagonist in the story of tragedy is a person of high birth or noble status who also possesses outstanding personal traits. Oedipus, the King of Thebes and the prince of Corinth is definitely a person who matches with the leading person in a tragedy. He has a very high noble status and possesses outstanding personal traits. As the King, he is confident with all the tasks as he defeated Sphinx who hreatened Thebes in past.

However, Oedipus is too hubristic and boastful, which causes him not to listen to the others and only think about himself. Due to his excessive pride, he does not listen to the others and these negative characteristics of Oedipus makes him more tragic. Therefore, the arrogance and hubris of Oedipus can be considered as tragic flaws, For example, he taunts the old blind prophet Teiresias by saying "It has, but not for you; it has no strength for you because you are blind in ind and ears as well as in your eyes" (#416 - 418), shows excessive arrogance of Oedipus.

Also, as the citation above demonstrates, he arrogantly insults Teiresias after Oedipus asked about truth. "For what you ask me-if you will hear my words, and hearing welcome them and fght the plague, you will find strength and lightening of your load'' (#231 - 233), indicates that he is too confident and thinks he can save his people from the plague. For those reasons, hubris and arrogance can be considered as tragic flaws.