Why is oedipus the king a tragedy

It should not be the doing of the external forces, like supernatural forces or of fate and chance. Besides the tragic plot, we have a typically tragic character, Oedipus. Oedipus is a tragic character because he is a great man with some ideals and with a commitment to find out the truth and cure the problem besetting is country.

But like a tragic character, he has a tragic weakness. His tragic weakness is that in the confidence of what he knows or can know he becomes too careless and disrespectful towards the gods, the fate that the oracles have disclosed for him: he defies to any inner voice and wisdom with regards to fate and destiny.

Another tragic element in the play Oedipus Rex is its tragic atmosphere. From beginning to end, we are exposed to very serious and frightening situations. The dramatic conflict among the characters and the dramatic tension that builds in our minds never settles down; and there is no comic element, even like in Shakespearean tragedies.

Like in a typical tragedy, the dramatist has designed even the dialogue so carefully as to create and sustain a very serious tone and mood throughout. The hopes that always lead us to fear, and the anxiety that always leads us to frustration finally contributes to the catharsis.

Oedipus fits this precisely, for his basic flaw is his lack of knowledge about his own identity. Moreover, no amount of foresight or preemptive action could remedy Oedipus' hamartia; unlike other tragic heroes, Oedipus bears no responsibility for his flaw. The audience fears for Oedipus because nothing he does can change the tragedy's outcome. Finally, Oedipus' downfall elicits a great sense of pity from the audience. First, by blinding himself, as opposed to committing suicide, Oedipus achieves a kind of surrogate death that intensifies his suffering.

He comments on the darkness - not just the literal inability to see, but also religious and intellectual darkness - that he faces after becoming blind. In effect, Oedipus is dead, for he receives none of the benefits of the living; at the same time, he is not dead by definition, and so his suffering cannot end.

Oedipus receives the worst of both worlds between life and death, and he elicits greater pity from the audience.

Second, Oedipus himself and the Chorus both note that Oedipus will continue after the tragedy's conclusion. Unlike, for example Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, and Orestes the heroes in the Orestia trilogy , Oedipus' suffering does not end with the play; even so, the conclusion also presents a sense of closure to the play.

This odd amalgam of continued suffering and closure make the audience feel as if Oedipus' suffering is his proper and natural state. Clearly, Oedipus' unique downfall demands greater pity from the audience. Oedipus fulfills the three parameters that define the tragic hero.

En route he fulfills the first part of the prophecy when he kills a man, the king of Thebes and his true father. Upon arriving in Thebes, he saves the troubled city by solving the riddle of the Sphinx, then he marries the widowed queen his mother and becomes the new king.

Because of his hubris, he was blind to all of the warning signs about the path he was travelling. He refused to see. In the end, when all is brough to light, he blinds himself, so he finishes the play literally as blind as he figuratively was throughout. The moral of Oedipus Rex is that it is useless to try to escape the power of fate.

By the time Oedipus becomes king of Thebes, he believes he has overcome the prophecy. He is now successful in every way: a happy husband, a proud father, and a respected leader. The main idea of Oedipus the King by Sophocles is that one cannot defy the gods without suffering severe consequences. The play is about Oedipus, the king of Thebes, who inadvertently kills his father and ends up marrying his mother.

Even when the terrible truth is revealed, he remains in denial. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus killed his father by striking the older man with his staff. He had just visited the oracle at Delphi and was upset with the information he received. As a literary device, hubris is commonly exhibited by a tragic hero as their tragic flaw, or hamartia.

The extreme pride or arrogance of hubris often consumes a character, blinding them to reason and resulting in their ultimate downfall. Although they show it in different ways, Oedipus and Othello both suffer from a similar character flaw, the sin of pride. At the end, Oedipus physically becomes what he had metaphorically been throughout the play: blind.

As a result, Oedipus Rex demonstrates how blindness is a choice, not a physical disability, as even a person who can physically see can still act ignorant towards their actions and outcomes of their fate. Therefore, sight and knowledge are directly and ironically related.

Tiresias reveals a prophecy which states that Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother.