Hamartia in Oedipus the King :: Greek Tragedy Tragedies Oedipus Essays

Hamartia in Oedipus the queer According to Aristotle, the tragic scrapper is impeded by a differentiable characteristic or character trait which leads to his ultimate demise. This trait is know as hamartia, or the tragic flaw. This characteristic is said to not simply lead to the heros demise but whitethorn also enable the proofreader to sympathize with the character. So it follows that in Oedipus the King, a Greek tragedy, the tragic hero Oedipus should have some sort of flaw. However, after close examination of the text, no distinguishable flaw is revealed. Although Oedipus appears to have many flaws on the surface, namely his low temperament, carelessness, curiosity and pride, close examination of the text reveals that he has many plainly flawed characteristics that are not only justifiable but in some cases to be expected. One might expect that a readily and even murderous temper would be considered a serious encumbrance to Oedipus. However, he is quite justified in his rage against Creon and Tiresias, and he has peachy reasons to suspect them of plotting against him. From the view point of Oedipus, he has just discovered that the spring male monarch Laius was savagely murdered along with the members of his entourage. Furthermore the murder has to date to be solved many years later, and the gods have placed a plague on his city until the murderer(s) is apprehended and punished. After learning of the last of Laius, Oedipus concludes that the murderer is a thief, so daring, so wild, hed kill a king? Its impossible, unless conspirators paid him murder in Thebes (140-142). Creon concurs that this thought had also crossed his mind. So with this evidence, it is easy to see why Oedipus is distrustful of his own peers. Maybe the demonstrable killing of Laius and his four servants is an extreme display of Oedipus murderous temperament. While it may seem a bit extreme in hindsight, at the m of the incident his actions are totally justifiable. Oedipus describes the incident as thus as he wasmaking his way toward this triple crossroad he began to see a herald, then a brace of colts drawing a wagon, and mounted on the bench . . . a man, just as Jocasta described Laius, coming face-to-face, and the star in the lead and the old man himself was about to thrust him off the road-brute force - and the one shouldering him aside, the driver, he struck him in anger - and the old man, ceremonial occasion Oedipus coming up along his wheels - he brings down his prod, two prongs straight person at his head(884-893).