Drama Research Paper

(Name) (Professor) (Course) (Date) Topic: How Sophocles’ Oedipus exemplifies or refutes Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero Outline An introductory overview Contextual status of Oedipus in the play, the Sophocles Aristotle’s understanding on the concept of tragedy How Aristotle defines tragedy The lethargy of a hero towards his downfall, destiny and consequently the duel of punishment How Sophocles exemplifies the Aristotle view of a hero Oedipus exemplification of as the king The play as a tragic event Oedipus learns if his life history, and thereafter the falling of his life Aristotle point of view of Oedipus as he who brings fortune into his life Concluding remarks Introduction The play Oedipus was written by Sophocles and it was a tragic play. The play deals with both fate and destiny. In the play, there are a series of events that king Oedipus would not manage to escape. However, this is in line with the Greek society because it was a society which was based on legends and myths (Hogan 165). These myths and legends were being used to explain events. In addition, they had many gods, muses and fates that they used to explain many things that happened. This is what made Sophocles to write the play and explain how fates were able to work closely. The play depicts the main character, Oedipus, as a strong ruler who goes through fate. This is because of the actions of his parents who had disowned him when he was born as the oracle had told them that they were not supposed to bear children. At the start of the play, Oedipus is a ruler and is called to stop the plague in Thebes. In Thebes he got himself in an argument with an old man and he ended up murdering him not knowing that he was his father. This has earlier on been prophesied but he had refuted and ran away so that the prophecy could not be fulfilled. However, for him to end the plague, he was to look for the murderer and this meant that he was to hunt himself as he was the one who had murdered. Therefore, this paper seeks to understand how Aristotle viewed the concept of tragedy and if Sophocles exemplified or refuted this definition that Aristotle had of tragic hero. Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero According to Aristotle, a tragedy shows the downfall of a dignified hero and this might be through fate or will of gods (Silk 296). The powerful wish of the tragic hero to attain a goal unavoidably encounters limits. He also says that the hero must not meet his death at the end but he must go through a change in fortune. Aristotle defines Oedipus as a tragic hero in the sense that he was a king whose life fell apart when he discovered the whole truth about his life history. This is because he realized that he was a son of a king but was adopted by another family who all along thought that they were his legitimate parents. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero must be a source of his own downfall, his destiny is not deserved and also his punishment is more than the crime committed. In addition, he must also be from a noble family and be great. However, a tragic hero must be someone who is considered as being important and influential and errs in his judgment and must suffer for his actions. It is also through Aristotle that we learn that a tragic hero must learn som...