Oedipus Rex Questions and Answers
by Sophocles

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Discuss Oedipus as a tragic hero. discuss Oedipus as a tragic hero?

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Bruce Bergman eNotes educator | Certified Educator

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The tragedy of Oedipus comes about due to circumstances beyond the hero's control. This is crucial for a tragedy and for the construal of a tragic hero. Though Oedipus is far from perfect, his doom is not of his own making. In fact, he struggles to be good and virtuous. The fate set for him is unavoidable, however, and his weaker traits ultimately become prominent as he realizes his powerlessness. 

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Being of noble birth is not really necessary to be a tragic hero, but in most of the famous cases, such as Shakespeare, he is. That's because the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Being of noble birth also increases the hubris that was Oedipus's flaw.

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Lori Steinbach eNotes educator | Certified Educator

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Oedipus is a tragic hero for several reasons.  According to Aristotle, several things have to be true in order to make him a tragic hero. 

  1. He must fall from a high place to a low place, which Oedipus does.
  2. He must have some sort of fatal or tragic flaw (hamartia) which Oedipus does.
  3. He must be, at least in part, the cause of his own demise, which Oedipus is.
  4. His punishment must, to some degree, outweigh the severity of his crime, which is true of Oedipus.
  5. His story (life) must inspire pity and fear (or awe and sympathy) in readers, which happens in Oedipus.

 

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Student Answers

ichengoba | Student

tragedy is the highest poetic form and all forms of art are based on imitation. Although they may differ from each other in three different ways. An epic poetry and dramatic poetry differs on the basis of manner of imitation, which is further divisible into tragic and comic on the basis of object of imitation. Thus, in a tragic form of art, men better then ourselves are immitated.

Oedipus is shown as a man of noble origin who later makes a fatal or a tragic flaw by marrying his mother and killing his own father. Out of ignorance his acts become the cause of his own desmise.  Bringing about in the readers the purgation of emotions of 'pity' and 'fear'. which are the necessary characteristic of tragedy as stated in aristotles defination of tragedy or  atragic hero. Oedipus suffers when he learns about the truth and his own flaw. He sure is a tragic hero.

missnicelady | Student

He is from high noble birth.

He has virtuous intentions

1. To save thebes from it's plague

2. to find the assasin

3. and to banish the assasin from thebes

He realizes what he has done wrong and grows from it.

1. he accused creon and tiresias of gaining up on him and accusing him(when creon comes back to oedipus after oedipus has gouged his eyes out. oedipus feels remorse for what he said to creon earlier) 

2. killed his father and married his mother- feels regret

 

 

THAT IS ALL I KNOW!! good luck

 

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