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David Efford
Ms. Chavez
English 2
12-4-2015

Aristotle once said that "A man doesn't become a hero until he can see the root of his own
downfall." A tragic hero is one whose judgements lead to their own destruction. For one to be
considered a tragic hero, they must be of noble status and virtue, have characteristics of a normal
person, a flaw or error in judgement, their punishment must exceed the crime committed, the
hero realizes that his actions brought upon his/her downfall, and a theme or lesson is learned in
the end. I believe that Oedipus is the embodiment of a tragic hero. He possesses all of the
qualities needed to be one.
To start off, Oedipus does possess noble status and virtue. He becomes king of Thebes
after he defeats the Sphinx. He is regarded as a wonderful king by his people, as he cares for
them greatly. His personality is respectable and is a man of truths. Even after all of this, he is
nowhere near perfect. As any tragic hero, Oedipus has qualities of an everyday person. He makes
mistakes like everyone else. He is, as well, short tempered and impulsive. He tells Tiresias to
leave his sight and to never appear in front of him again after he would not share the truth with
him. He is also over-confident to point that he compares himself to gods.
Furthermore, Oedipus has what every tragic hero has, which is a flaw of some sorts. This
is the result of the characters free choice and not fate or by accident. Oedipus main flaw in the
story is his pride. This makes him stubborn and unwilling. Even though he seeks the truth, when
he is told something he does not like, he will not accept it. He cannot see it even if it is given to

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him. Oedipus did not deserve his tragic ending. This is because he did not acknowledge that he
had done these actions, unaware of the truth for years. It was due to his blatant ignorance of
whom he really was that led to his downfall in the end. In reality, his punishment greatly
outweighed his crime and he does not deserve such a fate.

It is shown that what Oedipus discovers in the end is himself. He finally knows who he is
and is brought to the light of his fathers death. He is the one who killed is father and married his
mother, as predicted by the oracle so many years ago. There is also irony given at the end of the
story, Oedipus blinding himself, as he now sees the truth. The theme or lesson given to the
audience throughout the story is that the truth can be blinding. If one desires to be blind to a truth
they do not want, then they will have to face what comes afterwards, as Oedipus did. The reader
experiences pity towards Oedipus, as they know the truth that he so greatly tries to figure out.
They also experience horror and fear as Oedipus stabs his eye out after he discovers and comes
to terms to the truth.
Oedipus as a tragic character is heroic. His struggle is pitiable because of his unknowing
demise towards fate. His tragedy arouses fear in us, because he is in the same predicament as us.
The irony of his fate comes when fate has done what it needed to do before he even started
believing in it. The tragedy of Oedipus is that of the realization of his failure. His story tells us
that man can do his best to avoid what he doesnt want, but even then, cannot overcome what is
predetermined by fate.

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Works Cited
Hamilton, Edith. "Oedipus." Mythology: Edith Hamilton. New York: Spark Pub., 2002.
256-261. Print.