Introduction
This essay will examine whether or not Aristotle’s notion of tragic heroes is supported or refuted by Sophocles’ “Oedipus“ play. To see if Oedipus in the play embodies or deviates from Aristotle’s description, let us take a closer look at him. This study will gain a deeper understanding of “Oedipus“ as a masterpiece of the classic tragedy and its enduring appeal.
Aristotle, a philosopher from ancient Greece, was highly known for his inventiveness and brilliance as a poet (Carter, 2019). He significantly influenced the definitions of tragedy and tragic hero, which are now commonly used by authors worldwide. When these guidelines were developed, most poets and writers—if not all—based their works on classical texts and Greek culture.
Oedipus as a Tragic Hero
The tragic hero should be at the center of all the chaos, while the play shifts from high to low positions. The audience and readers who look up to the tragic heroes in the play should be able to sympathize with the tragic hero due to these defects, which should also create tension and suspense. This tragedy should flow smoothly from one scene to the next while still being complicated and distinctive (Sologub, 2021). Goods should turn nasty when a mistake is made, not when character attributes change. This essay examines how Sophocles uses Oedipus’s narrative to illustrate Aristotle’s ideas.
Oedipus was a monarch bent on avenging Laius’s death, which some community members had caused. In his quest for revenge, Oedipus vows to expel everyone who took part in Laius’s murder from his realm. This was due to a mistake he had made in the past that came back to haunt him as he was seeking to exact revenge for Laius’ passing.
He was taken aback when he learned that he had accidentally married his mother and killed his father. This storyline and series of incidents perfectly illustrate Aristotle’s idea of tragedy and a tragic hero (Aristotle, 1961). The unforeseen change in fortunes and transition from glory to untimely expulsion from the community in this play illustrates Aristotle’s ideas.
Sophocles uses tragedy in his writing to elicit pity and terror in both the audience and the story’s readers about what will transpire next. In his play, Sophocles tells the fiction of a man who struggles to retain his admirable reputation in the neighborhood but fails to consider the consequences of his previous decisions (Sophocles, Fagles & Knox, 1984). Oedipus sought to identify the source of his anguish in a previous existence.
He dispatches Creon to spread the word about finding Laius’ killers. Then Creon returns with the news that everything will be all right, provided the people who killed the former monarch are apprehended. He takes this action to track down Laius’ killers. Tiresias, a seer he requested, claimed that Oedipus was accountable for Laius’s passing. Oedipus is not impressed by this and is deeply disappointed in the seer. He suspected Creon or the prophet of having this intention.
After carefully considering all of the evidence at his disposal, Oedipus realizes that he is ultimately to blame for the passing of his father. This causes him a significant degree of emotional agony, and he has a hard time comprehending the reality that he has been married to his mother and has been seeking vengeance for his father, Laius, at the same time. Both of these events occurred at the same time. It was the carrying out of the punishment that he had concocted for the murderers, one of whom turned out to be himself, that ultimately led to his acceptance of the sentence that had been handed down to him.
The Downfall of Oedipus and Aristotle’s Definition
Oedipus’ life has a tragic flow since he must now account for his past errors. His wealth takes a big turn for the better, and his fate turns around. In Oedipus’ life, a transition occurs from a high point to a low point. He is a tragic hero exiled from his town by his sentence and goes from a highly regarded and honorable position to a plain outcast (Fusini, 2020). In addition to being exiled as a blind man, he also caused his own punishment by doing so. The story’s audience is moved to tears and sympathy by this.
A tragic hero, as envisioned by Aristotle, is depicted in the drama and events of Oedipus. Oedipus experiences a turn of events that Aristotle refers to as the “heart of a tragedy“ due to the errors he has made. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero must deal with a reversal oftragedy.
The tragedy makes the spectators feel sorry for themselves, afraid, and restless (Telò, 2020). The crucial error caused Oedipus’s misfortune in the judgment he made and the mistake he committed in the past. In addition, Oedipus’ mother commits suicide due to the remorse she experiences over Oedipus’ role in Laius’ death.
In what initially started as an act of vengeance for his parents, Oedipus permitted all this to happen to him. The audience is concerned about Oedipus’ situation. He was formerly a member of the royal family but has since come to represent infirmity as his fate takes a significant turn.
The drama openly conveys a message to the audience, instilling anxiety. Decisions are continuously made in our everyday lives. The majority of them are made with the greatest intentions, yet they may have negative consequences that only serve to harm us. People do their best to safeguard themselves and defend moral principles, but Oedipus’ life lesson makes it clear to the audience that no matter how good a person is, they will always be bound by destiny.
Another example of tragic heroism is seen in the fact that Oedipus’s last crisis had nothing to do with his moral principles and was marked by an unlucky transition from a life of prosperity to one of adversity. Sophocles uses this technique from Aristotle’s ideas to portray the main character as flawed in his experiences and attributes. Aristotle believed the key to determining the audience’s self-awareness was to make them fearful. Because the tragic hero is descended from nobility, they represent authority. Since their leader was the tragedy’s victim, this should affect the entire community.
The fact that the tragic hero is flawed and possesses particular attributes is another component of conveying a sense of melancholy in the play. This helps to demonstrate that the tragic hero is just another flawed human being like everyone else. Even though the hero always does the right thing, there is always a chance that he will get something wrong. Oedipus was a good son, but he demonstrated that virtue in several ways. Despite making this sacrifice, he ended up killing his father, which resulted in the death of his mother.
Oedipus’s decision to blind himself after realizing the harm he had caused was another altruistic act he performed after accepting the consequences of his actions. Despite his extraordinary efforts, Oedipus had flaws and made mistakes (Kelly, 2022). One of these is his explosive fury, which is ultimately the cause of his father’s death. This is the ultimate cause of his father’s death.
The false assumption that he was on a higher level than the events set for him was another of his flaws. This was one of his shortcomings. His fatal notion that he could control the flow of events was the underlying cause of his downfall and eventual demise.
The tragic hero always meets his end at the hands of death. The stories of tragic heroes almost always have a tragic ending in which the main character dies. This is because tragic heroes are doomed to have a tragic ending (Yuldashevna & Abdijalilovna, 2019). Even in his final moments, Oedipus is aware that he has been guilty of heinous offenses for which there is no way, under any circumstances, that he could ever be forgiven.
Oedipus is a tragic hero because he knows that his sins will plague him for the rest of his life and that he can never be forgiven, despite the public’s love for his morality and purity. As a result, he chose to commit suicide rather than live with the consequences of his actions. A tragedy occurred because, despite all of the good he accomplished, he revealed himself to be a powerful yet defenseless man throughout his life, and these defects ultimately led to his downfall.
Conclusion
In conclusion, “Oedipus“ by Sophocles and its primary character, Oedipus, can be seen as a perfect illustration of the concept of a tragic hero given by Aristotle. Sophocles wrote “Oedipus.“ Oedipus is a heroic figure, yet he is undone by the tragic defect of inordinate pride and obstinacy, which ultimately brings about his downfall. Due to his judgments and actions, he finally causes his demise. As a result, Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle’s description of a tragic hero and serves as an excellent illustration of a tragedy in its purest form.
References
Aristotle. (1961). Aristotle’s poetics. New York: Hill and Wang,
Carter, J. W. (2019). Aristotle on earlier Greek psychology: The science of the soul. Cambridge University Press.
Fusini, L. (2020). From Oedipus to Dionysus: The Gaoian tragic self from philosophy to dramaturgy. In Dionysus on the Other Shore (pp. 18–58). Brill.
Kelly, D. (2022). Oedipus at Los Angeles: Hitch and the tragic muse. Book Reviews.
Sologub, F. (2021). The theater of a single will. In Russian Dramatic Theory from Pushkin to the Symbolists (pp. 132–148). The University of Texas Press.
Sophocles, Fagles, R., & Knox, B. (1984). The three Theban plays. Penguin Books.
Telò, M. (2020). Archive feelings: A theory of Greek tragedy. The Ohio State University Press.
Yuldashevna, M. M., & Abdijalilovna, Z. D. (2019). The impact of the East in Shakespeare’s tragedies. Journal of Critical Reviews, 7(3). Web.