Oedipus Tragic Hero

Oedipus Rex has many ups and downs in the tragedy when he is trying to figure out his true identity. He does this to save his people from the plague. He becomes a beloved and well-respected king in the City of Thebes due to his actions. Oedipus also has many attitudes in this tragedy. His life shows him to be a tragic hero. He is considered a tragic hero because of a remarkable birth, his attaining greatness, and his major downfall. The first reason why Oedipus is a tragic hero is his remarkable birth. Oedipus is the son of Laius and Jocasta, the king and queen of Thebes. Still as a baby, Laius was revealed a prophecy, which revealed that he will be killed by Oedipus and he will marry his wife. In order to prevent the prophecy from being true, Laius pierces Oedipus’s ankles and ties them together. He was then given to a shepherd, who is “belonged to Laius” (1060), to be taken to Cithaeron. Then he was given to a messenger, and then the messenger gave Oedipus to Polybus and Merope, King and Queen of Corinth. “Polybus has no children” (971), so he …show more content…
He figures out his true identity which caused his downfall. Oedipus gathers information from many people like the shepherd and the messenger to realize he is the son of Laius and Jocasta. It affected Jocasta that she took her own life. There they “saw her hanging, her body swaying from the cruel cord she has noosed about her neck” (1213-1214) when they opened the doors. Oedipus rips “her gown the golden brooches” (1218) blinding himself. Oedipus did this because he did not see the truth about his identity as well as the actions that he made before the plague happened. His arrogance to find the killer of Laius also led to his downfall. Even though he wants to save Thebes, he got carried away when talking to Teiresias. Teiresias tells Oedipus that he is the one who is the plague and that he is “the pollution of this country”