How Does The Play Oedipus The King Relates To Injustice And Undeserved Suffering

Sophocles portrays the tragedy of Oedipus in the play Oedipus Rex. This is in accordance with the Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero that Oedipus fulfills. That are, firstly, a tragic hero ought to be responsible for his own ruin; secondly, the tragic hero's providence is not justified; thirdly, his chastisement surpasses the offense; fourthly, the tragic hero need to be from a noble descent and have prominence. Aristotle makes Oedipus as an ideal tragic hero and asserts that for a hero to be tragic, he needs to be a powerful and important man, but that who suffers the consequences of his judgmental mistake. This is observed in the meeting between Oedipus and Teiresias, whereby Oedipus forces him to disclose his providence as well as his father's name. But Teiresias declined by assuaging Oedipus by saying that “you and your most dearly loved are wrapped together in a hideous sin, blind to the horror of it” (Sophocles 428). Here the wisdom of the great Oedipus is shattered as he proceeds on inquiring. Again, when the truth comes out, Oedipus replies: “Light, I shall not look on you Again. I have been born where I should not be born, I have been married where I should not marry, [and] I have killed whom I should not kill; now all is clear” (Sophocles 1144). This represents the tragic fate of the great Oedipus.

We see that the hero in the play is wrong at many instances in making judgments. This is true when he leaves the place where he was raised thinking that he would evade his fate. Yet if we consider it an act of love of parents, then this action could not be wrong. He acted out of love ad respect for the people whom he assumed were his parents. But on the other hand he acted against his own destiny. Any wise man would not evade the things that have been written in the fate. And yet Oedipus tried to evade his fate, that is yet again another of his mistake making him a tragic hero. Then he kills his own father. Killing his own father unknowingly may not be too much a mistake, but surely marrying the widow of the king does. Both the king and the queen were far much older than Oedipus. And when Oedipus falls ...