Tragic Flaws in Oedipus the King Essay example -- Oedipus the King Ess

Oedipus the King, Sophocles classical Grecian tragedy, presents tragic flaw(s) as the cause of the near-total destruction of the life of the protagonist. This essay examines that flaw. In his essay Sophoclean Tragedy Friedrich Nietzsche agrees that there is an error within the protagonist, but refrains from specifying only what it is The most pathetic figure of the Greek theatre, the unfortunate Oedipus, Sophocles takes to be a noble man c all tolded to error and alienation in spite of his wisdom, unless called too, in the end, through monstrous suffering, to radiate a magic former rich in a blessing which works even subsequently he passes on. . . . these very actions attract a higher, magical circle of influences which earthly concern a new world upon the rubble of the old (16-17). Not all critics believe that there was error within the protagonist. Some critics, like Herbert J. stamp in his essay How Sophocles Viewed and Portrayed the Gods, believe that Oedipus had no tragic flaw, that he was an innocent victim of the gods Nor is there in Oedipus the King the deep wizard of outrage that modern readers may feel. None of the characters, including the chorus, complains that Thebans are suffering for no fault of their own, in this plague sent by the gods they simply befool that Thebes must be properly purified of its defilement. Although technically innocent, Oedipus accepts his guilt. . . .(56) This reader, however, disagrees with the above critic, and agrees with Aristotles analysis. In his essay On Misunderstanding the Oedipus the King, E. R. Dodds takes the reader back to Aristotle in his consideration of this question of the flaw I shall take Aristotle as my starting point. . . . From the thirteenth chapter of... ...clean Tragedy. In Sophocles A Collection of Critical Essays, change by Thomas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Sophoclean Tragedy. In Sophocles A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by T homas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. Segal, Charles. Oedipus Tyrannus Tragic Heroism and the Limits of Knowledge. brisk York Twayne Publishers, 1993. Sophocles In Literature of the Western World, edited by Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. NewYork Macmillan publish Co., 1984. Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Transl. by F. Storr. no pag. http//etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/ face/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi Van Nortwick, Thomas. Oedipus The Meaning of a Masculine Life. Norman, OK University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.