Oedipus fulfills a characteristic of a tragic hero by being a member of the ruling/higher class. Oedipus’s downfall is the truth behind his birth. The truth is uncovered when the Old Man is brought before Oedipus for questioning. Because of a prophecy that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother, as a child Oedipus was send from his home to live with the Old Man. When the Old Man, being unaware that Oedipus is the baby sent to him years ago, says he received the boy form Laius, the former king of Thebes, Oedipus then discovers that he is of royal descent.
Oedipus is a more fully-realized human being that others mostly because of his royalty and his horrible prophesized fate. Heightened powers and destiny are apparent because Oedipus is a natural born leader and bears higher status than many. When Oedipus describes his fate to the Messenger he says, "Why, Loxias declared that I should one day marry my own mother, and with my own hands shed my father's blood." Because of Oedipus’s gruesome destiny, he is more acknowledged than others.
The fate of Oedipus is a combination of what others tell him and also what he chooses to do. Oedipus attempts to change the fate given to him by the oracle by staying away from his parents. This however, was unsuccessful. When the Old Man saved Oedipus’s life as a baby his fate was affected, resulting that the outsider changed Oedipus’s fate. The prophecy is another factor that affects Oedipus’s fate. Given from the gods, the prophecy would be nearly impossible to change.
Throughout the play Oedipus drives his friends and family away making him lonely. As people tell Oedipus of his past life and the prophecy he was given, Oedipus rejects almost everything people are trying to explain to him. Because Oedipus is stubborn and doesn’t believe what many people tell, him he drives them away making himself lonesome. As more and more people tell him the prophecy, Oedipus seeks the truth and becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth. Jocasta on the other had advises Oedipus to forget his quest for the truth. Of course, because Oedipus does not listen to anyone, he continues his search to find his true birth parents. Jocasta then realizes that Oedipus must have understood who his true parents are and hangs herself in her bed chamber to end her suffering.
Oedipus is known for helping his intelligence and his people ask him for help in times of a crisis. Before becoming King, Oedipus solved the riddle of the Sphinx confirming to all that he is an intelligent man. The plague hits Thebes and the priest asks him to find a cure for the plage. " thou art named, and known, our life's establisher. Thee therefore, Oedipus, the mightiest head among us all, all we thy supplicants implore to find some way to succour us, whether thou knowest it through some voice from heaven, or, haply of some man." Wanting to keep his title as an intelligent man, Oedipus agrees to find the cure to the plague and find the man that killed Lias.
Oedipus’s life is full of suffering and he must learn from it to survive. Oedipus learns that there is no way he can change the prophecy given to him. As hard as Oedipus tires, he can’t stop his suffering so he must become stronger from it. Each time Oedipus learns something new about his past it makes him suffer even more than before and begins to realize that the more he knows about his life, the more sorrow becomes of him. Even when others learn of the prophecy his life is affected negatively. When Jocasta realizes Oedipus’s prophecy has came true she hangs herself just as Oedipus realizes Jocasta is his mother. This is probably Oedipus’s lowest point in his life because he realizes he killed his father and his mother committed suicide because of him.
Oedipus's flaw breaks him to piece. Because Oedipus does not know his prophecy, it leads him to fulfilling the oracle’s prophecy. If Oedipus would have known his prophecy all along he would be able to stop it from happening. Also, if Oedipus’s parents wouldn’t have sent him away the prophecy would not be fulfilled either. Because Oedipus’s adoptive parents, Polybus and Merope, didn’t tell him he was adopted, Oedipus had no way of knowing that the man on the crossroads was Laius and that the woman he would eventually marry would be his mother. After realizing his flaw, Oedipus gouges his eyes out to represent how we was blind of his past which brought him to his doom.
Oedipus does the opposite of accepting defeat and showing a noble and courageous character. As Oedipus is faced with suffering he greets it with a sense of defeat and acts like it would be better to be dead that still live. After Oedipus gouges his eyes out he loses all the characteristics of a noble and courageous hero. The senator asks why Oedipus had gouged he eyes out and he replied: "What was there left for sight? What, that could give happiness? Lead me to exile straight; Lead me, O my friends, the worst of murderers, of mortals most accurst, Yea and to Gods chief object of their hate." This is the turning point in the play when Oedipus gives up and wishes he was dead. Oedipus does not appreciate the man that found him as a baby and saved his life because he wished he was dead.
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