THE TRAGIC HERO

Oedipus: The Tragic Hero



Abstract

The paper identifies that how Socrates has presented the role of Oedipus in his play. Thus, Aristotle believes that the tragedy is not the place to discuss philosophical issues, because it should not be too vast in its extent, and not have to concentrate solely on what happens to the hero, because he has to maintain a unity of action that has into account the full range of situations. Thus, in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, the protagonist Oedipus does exemplify Aristotle's definition of the tragic hero. The tragic hero, according to Aristotle, is a hero who is held high on a pedestal, seems to be a person of great virtue, who through no apparent fault of his own, falls from his high position to the lowest depths possible.

Oedipus: The Tragic Hero

Introduction

The tragedy of "Oedipus" is the work of Sophocles. The date of writing the project is unknown. It is assumed that eventually appeared for the first time in 428 BC many critics, including Aristotle consider Oedipus Tyrannus as the best tragedy ever written. It was based on the dramatic Theban cycle, or cycle of Lavdakidon. The central idea is the position that man can never escape his destiny (Sophocles, 2000).

Sophocles wrote, according to tradition, well-hundred and twenty tragedies, of which there are only seven: Antigone (442 BC), Ajax, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes (409 BC), The Women of Trachis and Oedipus at Colonus (406 BC). His heroes are plunged into a world of irreconcilable contradictions, conflicts with forces inevitably destined to overwhelm them. His original contribution to the development of Greek tragedy was represented by accentuating the humanity of the characters, all having in itself something of a failure, tabs physical and mental.

Thesis statement

The work relates to the topic, as how Sophocles' Oedipus exemplifies or refutes Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero.

Discussion and Analysis

The tragic hero, as already mentioned, is the human condition, but projecting to the rest of mortals and maximum representability is due to the risks arising from their acts committed, ie the fall in heroic actions assumes the risks to miss or hit, so that my work is focused on the noble intention of Oedipus Rex, as can be seen in the reading of my work, noble in intent to save the people of Thebes, unaware that that truth to be disclosed and that he constantly looks for justice for the death of Laius, would be his own misery, his consciousness of these acts undertaken and adverse moral intention, which finally undergo a deep Oedipus suffering, because, as announcing later and in more detail, our character to know the reason for their woes, murderer of his father, King Laius and Jocasta mother incest, becomes a tragic hero par excellence representative (Brown, 1976).

Aristotle's Concept of Tragedy

The tragedy for Aristotle, from the artistic point of view, is to imitate serious situations with eloquent language and neat, giving it a complete and spectacular, scoring each segment with dramatic sequences that mobilize the most ...