Tragic Hero

TRAGIC HERO

Oedipus is the perfect candidate for a tragic hero he is the king of Thebes one day and then the next day it all falls apart. According to Aristotle a Tragic hero "must be an influential man who makes an error in judgment and who must then suffer the consequences of his actions". A tragic hero is said to be someone who admires himself, his talents, and intelligence, I feel that Oedipus is this way. The way that Oedipus starts off the play he seems so arrogant, acts as though he has no idea what has happened to Laius, and starts blaming other Thebans. He makes a promise that he will stop the plague and find the murder, Tiresias warns him not to do that and Oedipus automatically questions him and asks him if he has talked with Creon and joined against him. At this point Oedipus is being portrayed as a tragic hero because he thinks whatever he does is right, no matter what other people tell him he sticks to his plan. Oedipus real parents were King Laius and Queen Jocasta they sent Oedipus to be killed with his ankles and feet punctured, as he was there a shepherd found him and was raised by King Polybus and Merope which he thought were his real parents. One day Oedipus ran into Laius and faught and killed Laius. Oedipus had then completed the first half of the prophecy and did not even know it. After a while Oedipus slowly catches on and becomes depressed because he is now playing for his parents ( Laius and Jocasta's actions). Jocasta is also Oedipus's wife, because he unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. Oedipus is catching on at this point, he then finds out that polybus is dead and Jocasta has committed suicide. Oedipus was going through a great time of depression he did not know who his real parents were and he had killed Laius ( who he just found out was his real father that tried to kill him). Oedipus begins to see that his actions are wrong and can not believe that he had committed such a crime. What I am trying to say is that Oedipus learns his lesson about life and how there is more to it than just what he sees.