Flaws In Oedipus The King

It is fair to say that Oedipus had many flaws that would eventually allow him to go from being a “great” king and savior of a city, to being a looked at very shamefully and ruining the city of Thebes. Oedipus did some heroic things to get into certain positions throughout his life, but would ruin them all with his cockiness, prowess, and over eccentric pride.

Oedipus’ biggest flaw is that he is does not fully know the truth which holds him back from understanding his past and accepting himself. In scene two, He learns more about the murder and realizes that he is the one guilty of killing King Laios’. Oedipus says, “Swinging my club in this right hand I knocked him out of his car, and he rolled on the ground. I killed him”(43). Oedipus does know part of the truth: that he killed the King, but still is unaware that King Laios is his real father. Oedipus says, “Polybos of Corinth is my father. My mother is a Dorian: Merope”(42). Not knowing the truth about his parents disables Oedipus’ ability to understand his past and his identity. It will certainly be difficult for him to find out the ugly truth

When he first speaks to the citizens of Thebes, he shows a side of himself that cares about the city and its people. “…my spirit / Groans for the city, for myself, for you…” (I. Prologue. 65-66), says Oedipus. He shows that he really does want what’s best for everyone. But then, he goes and insults the psychic, Teiresias, when Teiresias tells him that he is King Laius’ killer and the source of the plague. Says Oedipus, “You sightless, witless, senseless, mad old man!” (I. 1. 356). He refuses to believe that he is the source of his peoples’ troubles. As one A.E. Haigh said, “[Oedipus] catches at each hint, and pursues each clue, with a light and cheerful heart…” But unfortunately, he doesn’t stay so light and cheerful. He shows all sides of himself throughout the story, which really helps the reader stay intrigued with Oedipus and the story as a whole.

One flaw in a character can appear to be minor and inconsequential to the plot of a novel. However, in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, an Athenian tragedy first performed in 429 BC, Oedipus’ hamartia results in him fulfilling a prophecy in which he unwittingly murders his father and marries his mother. His pride precipitates his blindness because he refuses to take heed of the repeated warnings received from a number of characters throughout the play. Ultimately, Oedipus’ blindness, fueled by his pride, causes him to dismiss what others have to say. If Oedipus were to contemplate the warnings from others, he could have saved himself from realizing that he fulfilled the prophecy; however, Oedipus is empowered by his arrogance, which in turn blurs him

In Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Oedipus goes through a situation that generates questions in a reader, “Did Oedipus have a tragic flaw? Did something or someone provoke Oedipus to compose oneself in a particular manner?”. Although, like Aristotle mentions, the demise of a tragic figure “is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty”, a trigger may influence a figure to have a downfall by their surroundings. A change in emotion or thought can fluster the figure and prompt them to perpetrate an undesired action. Therefore, Oedipus’ demise was influenced by his surrounding atmosphere and it was not a tragic flaw that existed within him.

Oedipus displayed his faulty character throughout the play by showing how he is filled with ill-temper and pride, especially during his confrontation with Apollo’s blind prophet, Tiresias. He allowed his own hubris to take over him, eventually leading to his disaster at the end of the story. Now, some critics may argue that Oedipus did not actually go through a downfall in the play, but when looking back at the definition of a tragic hero, it can be seen that there are evidence to prove that Oedipus is a tragic hero.

The theme of sight and blindness is undoubtedly important to notice while reading Oedipus the King. The number of times the words “see” or “blind” are in the play make it make it undeniably obvious that they are significant. The theme is developed throughout the dialogue, through characters such as Tiresias and Oedipus, and also directly in the irony of the play. It is important in a play about the truth because almost every character was “blind” to the truth. All of the characters, except one, can physically see, but mentally cannot see the truth.

Sophocles critiques the character Oedipus as having anger problems that cloud his judgment, lead to brash decisions, and ultimately becomes his major flaw that brings him down. The flaw can easily sculpt bad situations, especially when such an influential person is affected by it. He reveals his anger as a problem very early in the book during a road rage where he, “[brawling] with an old man in a carriage over right of way and in a fit of temper [killing] him.” (page #) Murder is a pretty serious crime to commit for a dispute of who had the right of way. He just didn’t take the time to think about what he was doing because he let his anger take control. Had he taken time to allow his anger to pass, he would have evaded the prophecy that applies

The tragic hero suffers from a character flaw, a moral weakness in character. The flaw is what sets his actions and what inevitably leads to his downfall. The hero's downfall is partially his own fault, the result of free choice, not of accident or villainy or some overriding, malignant fate. Oedipus seems to make important mistakes or some "errors in judgment" that set the events of the story into action. Oedipus flaw is his pride and stubbornness. When a drunken man tells him that he is a bastard, his pride is so wounded that he will not let the subject rest, eventually going to the oracle of Apollo to ask it the

What is this strange impulse that makes one gravitate to a story so intimately terrifying one cannot look away? Like Oedipus the King’s contemporary Greek audience, one cringes at the infamous relationship and suffers along with the hero who fought to hinder an unspeakable destiny. The classic tragedy continues to beckon, entice as though it is a necessity to look upon the tragic fate of Oedipus and process his life. His prophecy never ages; it continues to allure in David Guterson’s Ed King only this time he is Edward King, a solver of internet riddles, affluent and influential, but driven to desire that which would cause any soul to descend into the darkest abyss in existence.

Oedipus has many flaws and in the end it becomes a tragic flaw. He fails to realize his connections to Jocasta and Laius, but recognition of the truth brought him to his downfall. He lets the true take over him and it takes him to his downfall. He has an excessive about of pride and determination he uses this to avoid his fate. Thought this drama he is blinded, and at one point he actually makes fun of Tiresias for being blind. "If you could see, I should have said the deed was yours alone. We can see this when he is talking to Creon, asking him to take him into exile” (lines 1525-1533). This shows how his how many flaws he really has.

Oedipus learns the truth about his messed up life when he finds out that he killed his own father and married his mother. Even though it was not Oedipus's fault he still takes the fall for it. When I read this writing prompt, I knew exactly what I was going to write about. Families are not perfect and there are family members in every family that mess up and make huge mistakes. In my case, I have a few distant family members that decided to take the wrong path in life. I have a cousin that is six years older than me and he lives about two hours away. The sad thing about this is my cousin is currently sitting in jail. Unfortunately, my cousin's father, which is not my uncle anymore, decided to turn his life towards drugs. My cousin was not aware that my ex-uncle was dealing and do heavy drugs. My Uncle eventually got caught, went to prison, and was released just a few months ago. The part where I connect my cousin and Oedipus together is that my cousin began working with his father. My cousin and ex-uncle do a lot of construction

is a trait viewed as being favorable to a character at first, but it leads to their later downfall. It was often used in ancient Greek tragedies to show that mankind was susceptible to flaw. This was present in Sophocles 's tragedy, Oedipus the King. The protagonist of the tragedy,Oedipus, was not exempt from his own flaws. Oedipus’s traits of excessive pride and desire for knowing the truth were advantageous to him in the beginning, yet were the very things that contributed to his tragic downfall.

"Oedipus the King" is a tragic play showing a shift from the belief of fate to freedom of choice. Therefore, Oedipus the king is a great example of those who run from fate ends up fulfilling their fate

Oedipus the King by Sophocles is more than just a basic tragedy. It contains a complete combination of all the features of a tragedy. I find Sophocles' King Oedipus interesting. Not because of the whole incest thing, the killing of the father, and the sleeping with the mother. I am still too naive to appreciate the significance of that. I find Sophocles' King Oedipus fascinating because as I read it with attention, I realized how amazingly hard it was to write. Even though it’s a Greek tragedy and the reading is a little hard to understand. But, once someone gets inside the story line, its captivates one’s attention. I admit I enjoy less the content of the play than Sophocles' writing skill. When to retell a well-known story, one has to make the story enough convincing without relying on the end of the story. one must dislocate the point of the story from its end to rest. By doing that the story will not lose its appeal. One has to be a creator. So, you have to twist the whole story in such an irresistible way that it is compelling despite the fact that the outcome of the story is known. How do Sophocles solve this problem? By making King Oedipus the central character and unintentionally the architect of his own downfall. The strengths that once lead him to solve the riddle later served as his own destruction. To make a story more appropriate to the stage, which is dealing with flashbacks, forward-moving energy of the story must accommodate with the backward references that