Put together, his mistake and sense of arrogance magnify his tragic flaw. Throughout the story, Oedipus is not only arrogant but also obnoxious, childish, self absorbed, and willfully blind to the truth. All of these characteristics lead to his ruin. They demonstrate that Oedipus is far from perfect. Exemplifying these qualities enable Oedipus to set himself up for a great fall.
Imperfections within the personality of the hero are revealed to the audience to be the ultimate cause of their downfall. In a typical situation it involves the hamartia and uncontrollable emotions which lead to errors in judgement or arguments and deaths in the hero or surrounding characters. In Oedipus's case, he is portrayed to be irritable and have a very hubris nature. Oedipus is not
Tragic Hero Essay A heroic figure that possesses a character flaw which eventually leads up to his or her defeat is know as a tragic hero. This character is known to be both good and noble, but suffers many flaws that do not bring out the best traits that he or she has. In the play “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare, Marcus Brutus qualifies to a high extent as the tragic hero. One of Brutus’ flaws has was that he had a lust for power. Others easily manipulated him into any situation, which resulted in him joining the conspiracy.
Using Oedipus as an ideal model, Aristotle says that a tragic hero must be an important or influential man who makes an error in judgment, and who must then suffer the consequences of his actions. Those actions are seen when Oedipus forces Teiresias to reveal his destiny and his father's name. When Teiresias tries to warn him by saying I say that you and your most dearly loved are wrapped together in a hideous sin, blind to the horror of it (Sophocles 428). Oedipus still does not care and proceeds with his questioning as if he did not understand what Teiresias was talking about. The tragic hero must learn a lesson from his errors in judgment and become an example to the audience of what happens when great men fall from their social or political positions.
A Tragic hero is some literary character who makes an error of judment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces brings on a tragedy. Oedipus’s tragic flaw was his intelligence paired with arrogance and metaphorical blindness that leads to his destruction when it drives him to search for the truth. Hamlet’s tragic flaw is when he tries to avenge his father he hesitates in his actions and his thirst for revenge. Othello’s tragic flaw is his gullibility and jealously. Willie’s tragic flaw was he doesn’t know from reality from fantasy.
His tragic flaw was hubris, meaning the maximum amount of pride and overconfidence. This flaw lead to hamartia meaning errors and weakness in judgement. Because of this obnoxious flaw he contained, he didn’t notice the problem that laid before him. The way Oedipus Rex saw this problem was like a “transparent see through window.” In front of him yet didn’t notice, looking beyond it. Oedipus Rex is unable to escape his misfortune that is destined to happen, because of he is struggling with this tragic flaw.
Oedipus, like many men, has his flaws. His tragic flaw is what makes him a tragic hero and what leads to his downfall. From his rashness to overbearing pride, Oedipus is not perfect. And it is these flaws that bring his expected descend from glory, not destiny nor fate. It wasn’t fate that caused him to kill Laius, or took him down the path to Thebes, or even to leave his home land with no prior plan to go anywhere, it was his rashness and pride that caused him to act out on anger and little thinking.
There isn’t a shred of the Othello from Act one left by the tragic ending of the play as highlighted by Lodovico “thou Othello, that wert once so good.” The mere possibility of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness and the question of her fidelity are unbearable for ‘valiant’ Othello, he would rather “the general camp, Pioners and all, had tasted her sweet body” than to have doubts floating in his mind. These suspicions planted by Iago eventually corrupt his mind and blind his sense of reason that leads to his tragic downfall;
Othello, despite his noble characteristics and valiant conduct, is shown to have weaknesses vulnerable to Iago’s hidden agenda. Othello’s noble traits of being easily influenced leads into his own downfall, a De Casibus tragedy. Othello being the tragic hero who’s mental condition decays into their own downfall due to outside forces, in Othello’s case jealousy and hate which have sprouted
Macbeth is a tragic hero, a person of high rank who is brought to eventual ruin by a flaw in his character Macbeth`s tragic flaw is his ambition,which leads him to a series of bloody and increasingly indefensible acts. The most apparent flaw, and perhaps the most in Macbeth`s character, is his lack of patience and temperance. These shortcomings haunted Macbeth,causing him to let his overvaulting ambition rush fate, and hasten his doom. Macbeth could not wait for an appointment to a position of more power. Instead , he murdered the king to take his place.