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In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is a classic tragic hero.
According to Aristotle's definition, Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is a
king whose life falls apart when he finds out his life story. There are a number
of characteristics described by Aristotle that identify a tragic hero. For
example, a tragic hero must cause his own downfall; his fate is not deserved,
and his punishment exceeds the crime; he also must be of noble stature and have
greatness. Oedipus is in love with his idealized self, but neither the grandiose
nor the depressive Narcissus can really love himself (Miller 67). All of the
above characteristics make Oedipus a tragic hero according to Aristotle's ideas
about tragedy, and a narcissist. Using Oedipus as an ideal model, Aristotle says
that a tragic hero must be an important or influential man who makes an error in
judgment, and who must then suffer the consequences of his actions. Those
actions are seen when Oedipus forces Teiresias to reveal his destiny and his
father's name.
When Teiresias tries to warn him by saying I say that you and
your most dearly loved are wrapped together in a hideous sin, blind to the
horror of it (Sophocles 428). Oedipus still does not care and proceeds with his
questioning as if he did not understand what Teiresias was talking about. The
tragic hero must learn a lesson from his errors in judgment and become an
example to the audience of what happens when great men fall from their lofty
social or political positions. According to Miller, a person who is great, who
is admired everywhere, and needs this admiration to survive, has one of the
extreme forms of narcissism, which is grandiosity. Grandiosity can be seen when
a person admires himself, his qualities, such as beauty, cleverness, and
talents, and his success and achievements greatly. If one of these happens to
fail, then the catastrophe of a severe depression is near (Miller 34). Those
actions happen when the Herdsman tells Oedipus who his mother is, and Oedipus
replies Oh, oh, then everything has come out true. Light, I shall not look on
you Again. I have been born where I should not be born, I have been married
where I should not marry, I have killed whom I should not kill; now all is clear
(Sophocles 1144). Oedipus's decision to pursue his questioning is wrong; his
grandiosity blinded him and, therefore, his fate is not deserved, but it is far
beyond his control. A prophecy is foretold to Laius, the father of Oedipus, that
the destiny of Oedipus is a terrible one beyond his control. But when it is
prophesized to Oedipus, he sets forth from the city of his foster parents in
order to prevent this terrible fate from occurring. Oedipus's destiny is not
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
not have any children.
When the boy is born, Laius is overcome with terror when
he remembers the oracle. Oedipus is abandoned by his birth parents and is denied
their love, which is what results in what Miller calls Depression as Denial of
the Self. Depression results from a denial of one's own emotional reactions, and
we cannot really love if we deny our truth, the truth about our parents and
caregivers as, well as about ourselves (Miller 43). The birth of Oedipus presets
his destiny to result in tragedy even though he is of noble birth. In tragedies,
protagonists are usually of the nobility that makes their falls seem greater.
Oedipus just happens to be born a prince, and he has saved a kingdom that is
rightfully his from the Sphinx. His destiny is to be of noble stature from
birth, which is denied to him by his parents, but given back by the Sphinx. His
nobility deceived him as well as his reflection, since it shows only his
perfect, wonderful face and not his inner world, his pain, his history (Miller
66). When he relies on his status, he is blind, not physically, but emotionally.
He is blind in his actions; therefore he does not see that the questioning would
bring him only misery. Later, after his self- inflicted blinding, Oedipus sees
his actions as wrongdoing when he says What use are my eyes to me, who could
never - See anything pleasant again? (Sophocles 1293) and that blindness does
not necessarily have to be physical as we can se when he says, If I had sight, I
know not with what eyes I would have looked (Sophocles 1325). In the play
Oedipus Rex, Sophocles portrays the main character, Oedipus, as a good- natured
person who has bad judgment and is frail. Oedipus makes a few fatal decisions
and is condemned to profound suffering because of them. Agreeing with Aristotle
that Oedipus' misfortune happens because of his tragic flaw. If he hadn't been
so judgmental or narcissistic, as Miller would characterize a personality like
Oedipus, he would never have killed King Laius and called Teiresias a liar. In
the beginning, Teiresias is simply trying to ease him slowly into the truth; but
Oedipus is too proud to see any truths, and he refuses to believe that he could
have been responsible for such a horrible crime. He learns a lesson about life
and how there is more to it than just one person's fate.
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