Aristotle and Oedipus Rex
Aristotle and Oedipus Rex
Throughout his life Aristotle invented many theories and among them is the tragic hero theory. He defined a tragic hero as a noble man with heroic qualities which later changes due to a tragic mistakes emanating from his heroic qualities. The Sophocles in Oedipus featured the tragic hero theory in his play. The play exhibited a tragic hero in Oedipus, son of a great king with great reputation and fortune, who made a mistake of killing his father in order to marry his mother, a tragic flaw which caused his downfall. The ultimate downfall is however excessive and terrible. He explained it in a drama and strictly defined the characteristics and roles of a tragic hero. A tragedy must be complete by having a beginning, middle and the end (Sophocles, 2008).
Oedipus life was characterized by hamartia or tragic flaws which eventually led to his downfall. Oedipus was born and raised in a noble family his father was a king of Corinth by the name Poly-bus who demanded respect from people and those around him (Aristotle, 2017). He however murdered Laius and Sphinx in order to become a king. As the ruler of Thebes, he commanded huge respect from his subjects and these significantly increased his power and status in life. As the dynasty rule required, the widowed wife of Laius was to be given to him as a reward of being the current ruler of Thebes (Sophocles, 2008). Oedipus believed that no one could stop him from doing what he felt was the right thing to do.
Oedipus was overconfident a tragic flaw which led to his downfall. Hubris or overconfidence is a flaw that can be seen when Oedipus killed the king and Thebes was attacked by plague. The plague invasion was believed to have been caused by the death of Laius and in order to rescue the situation Oedipus was to find the killer (Sophocles, 2008). It should be remembered that Oedipus was the one who ordered the killing of the caravan ferrying king Laius, and even though he never thought the king was amongst the people killed, he went ahead and vowed to investigate and punish Laius killer. His overconfidence character was also portrayed when he vowed to banish the killer, thus sealing his fate. After a thorough investigation Teiresias found out the truth, but was reluctant to confide the whole truth to Oedipus. The overconfidence quality caused Oedipus to reprimand Teiresias to relay the truth to him. Additionally, he vowed that he will not relent until he finds the killer and punish him. The pride in him led to many injustices like defying fate (Aristotle, 2017).
peripeteia, a Greek word which means a reverse of fortune which is disaster was us by Sophocle as a major plot in Oedipus Rex Drama. Oedipus Rex meets the five criteria of a tragic hero as explained by Aristotle. As a son of the king, Oedipus was of noble birth, had great fortune, but his tragic flaws such as excessive confidence, false accusation to people, and defying gods and the ultimate king Laius destroyed him. Revelation of the truth by Teiresias that he was the killer of his own father was rejected by Oedipus. As a result he harshly condemned Teiresias and Creon for planning to illegally take away his throne. The character of pride, wrath and speedy judgment are some of the character flaws that come out clearly by Oedipus behavior (Aristotle, 2017). It came out when Jocasta, Laius widow and the sister to Creon came out in defense of his brother.
The anagnorisis character portrayed by the bad temper and irritability is a flaw that is displayed from the play (Aristotle, 2017). He never accepted corrections from his mistakes positively. Instead he felt irritated by such revelations and in many instances went ahead and wrongly accused people in order to cover up his mistakes. He also ordered the killing of a caravan who cut him off on his way to Thebes and among them was his father (Sophocles, 2008).
The arrival of Corinth messenger with the news of Poly-bus death and the revelation that he took Oedipus to Poly-bus while he was an infant and that Poly-bus was not his real father was the beginning of his downfall. The messenger’s intelligence which linked Oedipus to Laius and Jocasta as his true parents completely destroyed his life. Initially upon receiving the news about the death of Poly-bus, Oedipus was reluctant of returning home for the fear of inheriting his mother. But when the truth unfolded he had already inherited his real mother Jocasta. Upon revelation Jocasta noted the probability of Oedipus being her son, and she tried to urge him not pursue the killer of Laius, but Oedipus never heeded. The downfall finally landed when the messenger produced a herdsman who identified Jocasta as the biological mother of Oedipus thus proving he was the killer he was looking for. Likewise, the truth revealed that he had been living with his biological mother as a wife, which was a taboo. And as earlier promised and vowed, he was condemned by his own words of being banished and exiled from Thebes, since he was Laius murderer (Sophocles, 2008).
Oedipus life was characterized with excessive suffering which causes catharsis. The revelation of truth about him being the son of Laius and Jocasta and self-condemnation of banishment and exile produced the desired terror and pity as outlined in cathartis. Although Oedipus initially depended all his mistakes and to an extent went ahead to accuse those he felt posed a threat to his life and throne, the truth could not be hidden forever. According to Aristotle, nobody likes downfall, tragedy therefore attracts fear and a feeling of catharsis, a Greek word meaning purification (Aristotle, 2017). The viewers are left hanging wondering what Oedipus will do after the truth came out. He was stripped off all his power and authority as he was guilty of killing his father. Additionally, the shame of patricide and incest after being in an intimate relationship with his mother was vivid (Sophocles, 2008). The script therefore evoked pity and fear to the viewers, and caused an elation feeling which at some point makes the viewers to cry and ultimately feel better. Crying is thus a purification process which makes the viewer’s feel better.
The heroic tragedy was evident when Oedipus accepted his fate and urged that this was preordained before his birth. He also acknowledged that he was guilty of killing his father and consequently the bearer of self-imposed sentence. Oedipus determination to know the truth, acknowledgment and acceptance of the result and fate portrays him as the strongest and greatest leader of all time. The play therefore ended in a high note as it praises Oedipus despite of the tragic flaws that befell him. The destiny of a man is determined by his last day of judgment and not the accumulated wealth and power during his tenure.
References
Aristotle (2017). “The Poetics of Aristotle”. Retrieved June 16, 2021 from google books
Sophocles (2008). “Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the King”. Retrieved June 16, 2021 from google books