King Oedipus as The Classical Greek Tragic Hero Essay -- Oedipus Tragi

King Oedipus as The Classical Greek Tragic Hero In his Poetics, Aristotle defined the status disaster as a human race not preeminently virtuous and unspoiled, whose misfortune, however, is brought upon him not by vice or depravity, alone by some error in judgement the change in the adepts fortune must not be from tribulation to happiness, but on the contrary, from happiness to misery. From this definition, he further expanded it by defining the profile of the Classical Greek tragical hero, basing it on what he considered the best tragedy ever written, Sophocles Oedipus Rex. He felt that a tragedy should comprise of the heros goodness and favor subject position, a tragic flaw in which the hero makes fatal errors in judgement which eventually lead to his downfall, a tragic realisation in which the main character understand how he has unk right awayingly table serviceed to admit near his own destruction and the absence of freewill in the tragic heros keep. Oedipus was a good ruler just, compassionate and sympathetic. When the priests of Thebes approached him, pleading for help on behalf of the people of Thebes who were suffering from death and famine. Oedipus immediately agreed and promised them that he would do his best in solving the problems, saying that his heart tire out ?the weight of his own? and ?all of his people?s sorrows?. He promised to ?bring everything to light?. Oedipus was also a filial son. When he first learnt about the prophecy in Corinth, he was unwilling to stay and left immediately, in case circumstances would ever lead him to kill the King and sweep up the Queen of Corinth, whom he had then thought of as his natural parents.Oedipus? superiority was also evident in the play, not only through his be of the king of Thebes, which automatically placed him far above the nobles, priests and common people, but also through his intelligence. When the Sphinx ?plagued? the city by blocking the city render and eating those who could not answer its riddle, which was what is it that goes on four feet in the morning, twain feet at midday, and three feet in the evening? Oedipus was the only person able to chase the Sphinx away with the correct answer of ?man?. This led to him become the king of Thebes which in turn led to his superiority of ranking.However, Oedipus was not a perfect man. His tragic flaw was that of stubbornness, impulsiveness and most of all, his grandiosity (wh... ...d that Oedipus find Lauis? killer. This sparked by a whole chain of events which led to Oedipus finding out the truth, Jocasta kill herself, Oedipus blinding himself and finally leaving Thebes. The man who erst was envied and respected was now an outcast, despised and hated. A tragedy must be an imitation of life in the form of a serious story that is complete in itself. In other words, the story must be realistic and cut in focus. A good tragedy would evoke pity and fear in its viewers, causing the viewers to experience a feeling of catharsis. Catharsis, a Greek word in origin, means purgation or refinement. Running through the gamut of these strong emotions would leave viewers feeling elated, in the same way we often claim that a good squawk would make a person feel better. Oedipus Rex is a perfect exercising of what Aristotle meant by a tragedy. It talks about a man who has no say in what path his life would take, a man who once had everything. He was a king, a good husband and father, a man contented with his lot in life who eventually lost his status, wife, children and home. He evokes sympathy simply because he was not evil or foolish, just human and fallible.