FREE ESSAY ON OEDIPUS' RUIN

OEDIPUS' RUIN

Oedipus' Ruin
Sophocles is perhaps one of the greatest tragedians ever. Sophocles said that a man
should never consider himself fortunate unless he can look back on his life and remember
that life without pain. For Oedipus Rex, looking back is impossible to do without pain.
This pain stems from his prideful life. Oedipus is aware that he alone is responsible for
his actions. Oedipus freely chooses to pursue and accept his own life's destruction. Even
though fate victimizes Oedipus, he is a tragic figure since his own heroic qualities, his
loyalty to Thebes, and his fidelity to the truth ruin him.
Oedipus' pride, strung from his own heroic qualities, is one factor that ruined him. A
hero prizes above all else his honor and the excellence of his life. When his honor is at
stake, all other considerations become irrelevant. The hero "valued strength and skill,
courage and determination, for these attributes enabled the person who possessed them to
achieve glory and honor, both in his lifetime and after he died" (Rosenburg 38). Oedipus
was certainly a hero who was exceptionally intelligent though one can argue that killing
four men at Phokis single-handedly more than qualified him as a physical force of
reckoning. He obviously knew his heroic status when he greeted the supplicating citizens
of Thebes before the palace doors saying, "I would not have you speak through messengers,
and therefore I have come myself to hear you - I, Oedipus, who bear the famous
name"(Sophocles 1088). Oedipus is guilty of Hubris- that is, that he is too sure of
himself, too confident in his own powers [and] a little undermindful of the gods" (Brooks
573). Oedipus, a hero of superior intelligence, also displays this uncompromising
attitude in his fealty to Thebes.
Oedipus' loyalty to Thebes is another factor that led to the tragic figure's ruin.
Aristotle explains that a tragic character is just and good, but his misfortune is
brought about not by wickedness or depravity but by error, pride, or frailty. Oedipus
fits this description perfectly. The story of Oedipus fascinates us because of the
spectacle of a man freely choosing, from the highest motives, a series of actions which
lead to his ruin. (Dodds 23). Oedipus could leave the city of Thebes and let the plague
take its course but pity for the sufferings of his people compelled him to consult Delphi
(Dodds 23). When Apollo's word comes back, he could leave the murder of Laius
uninvestigated, but pride and justice cause him to act. Oedipus can not let a murder
investigation go by without solving the riddle of who killed King Laius because his pride
overpowers him. Oedipus' pride reveals itself again in his loyalty to the truth.
Oedipus' constant struggle to discover the truth for the sake of his people ruined him
most in the end. Even though he is warned many times to stop seeking the truth, he keeps
on searching. Oedipus has to choose between his doom and an alternative which if accepted
would betray the hero's own conception of himself, his rights, his duties, but in the end
the hero refused to yield; he remains true to himself, to his physis (Knox 8). Therefore,
one can see Oedipus' need to uncover the truth about Laius and then about himself as
proof of his commitment to uphold his own nature, pride. Oedipus' quest for the truth
fits his self image as a man of action, the revealer of truth, and the solver of
riddles(Knox 28). He cannot live with a lie, and therefore must learn the truth behind
the illusion he has lived for so long. Teiresias, Iokaste, and the herdsman all try to
stop Oedipus, but he must read the last riddle, that of his own life. As the truth
unfolds, the people of Thebes see Oedipus as prideful and overweening, and they call on
Zeus to correct his pride (Sewall 36). The hero's conscious choice to pursue and accept
his doom makes him a tragic figure. 
Oedipus Rex single-handedly ruined his own life through his overweening pride. Oedipus'
pride as a hero, a loyal King, and a truth seeker turned him into a tragic figure. He is
a victim of fate, but not a puppet because he freely sought his doom though warned not to
pursue it. Fate may have determined his past actions, but what he did at Thebes he did as
a free individual. It was his own choice to kill the men at Phokis, his own choice to
seek an answer to heal his people and his own choice to learn the truth. He claimed full
responsibility, as a hero would, when Choragos asked what god drove him to blind himself.
Oedipus' pride stood in the way of a life full of happiness. Sophocles ends this tragic
story by warning his audience not to take anything for granted lest they suffer like
Oedipus, a lesson many should take heed in. 
Works Cited
Brooks, Cleanth. Understanding Drama. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1948. 
573-585.
Dodds, E.R. On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex. Twentieth Century 
Interpretations of Oedipus Rex: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Michael J. 
O'Brien. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1968. 17-29.
Knox, Bernard M.W. The Heroic Temper: Studied in Sophocean Tragedy. Berkeley: U 
of California Press, 1964.
Rosenberg, Donna. World Mythology: An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics. 
Illinois: Passport Books, 1988.
Sewall, Richard B. The Vision of Tragedy. London: Yale University Press, 1959. 25-
43.
Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Perrines's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. 7th ed. 
Ed. Thomas R. Arp. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1998. 948-953.