Oedipus Rex As a Tragic Hero

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Oedipus Rex as a Tragic Hero One may think that they have it rough. Little do they know that one’s problems can seem so small compared to someone as significant as a tragic hero. Oedipus had to go through a lot and contradict himself and judge himself, then come to accept himself to become the hero we know him as today. Oedipus Rex is a person of great promise, ability and integrity, which makes his a tragic hero. He shows this by being proactive in moving away from his father Polybus, a Dorian, and his mother Merope, of Corinth. He moves away from them because it is his fate to murder his father. Oedipus had the ability to solve the riddle of the sphinx and saved the lives of the Thebians. He also bans concerns at the beginning of the plague. 3: Oedipus Rex suffers awful downfalls on his journey to become the tragic hero he is today. He grieves with many flaws, errors in judgment, intervention of the gods, terrible fate and bad luck. His tragic flaw is demonstrating many acts of hubris. One can hear Oedipus sound arrogant when he says “Nothing will move me. I will find out the whole truth(61).” His judgment is flawed by emotional pressure that causes him to lose a sense of balance from the beginning when he is shunned by Creon and he feels that they are trying to take his place. And lastly he often goes out of his way to try and change the way things are supposed to happen with the way he moves to not be tempted to kill his father and commit incest with his mother. 3: Oedipus suffers many different kinds of pain from physical to emotional, including everything in between like mental and spiritual. He suffers physical pain when he finally just gouges his own eyes out. He feels emotional pain just knowing that he has accidentally killed his father. He justifies his actions even though he is not convinced his actions are just. And he is one that is not

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