Why Aristotle Viewed Oedipus As the Best Tragic Hero Literature Review

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Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex as the Epitome of a Tragic HeroThesisSophocles’ Oedipus Rex is the epitome of a tragic hero because he perfectly fits the formula for a tragic hero as set out by Aristotle—that is, he meets each of the four requirements of a tragic hero: he must be better than the average man; he must have manly valor; he must be believable and authentic; and he must have a consistent character.OutlineI. Oedipus Rex as a tragic heroa. The requirements of the tragic hero according to Aristotle’s definitionb. Sophocles’ Oedipus matches that definition perfectlyc. ThesisII. First Requirementa. Be betterb. Oedipus is great—he is king and is lovedc. He wants to do what is right to save the Thebans, which means he must find the murderer of the former king and bring him to justiceIII. Second Requirementa. Have manly valorb. Oedipus does not shy away from a challenge—that is how he became king in the first place—by solving the riddle of the Sphinxc. He stands up to protect the Thebans even if it is the cause of his own undoingIV. Third Requirementa. He is realb. He has imperfections like all men; his wrath and temper get the best of him at timesc. His punishment for his sins and crimes are haunting because he comes across as so believableV. Fourth Requirementa. Be consistentb. Like all people, Oedipus is conflicted at times—but this is consistent with his character: he wants the truth, but he also fears the truthc. He follows through with his intention because he is internally consistent from start to finishVI. Conclusiona. Oedipus meets all four requirements of Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero so well that he may be considered the epitome of the tragic herob. Have there been other tragic heroes? Yes—but Oedipus is the forerunner to them all and thus stands out as the epitomeBibiliographyAristotle. (1970). Poetics. (trans. by Gerald Else). MI: University of Michigan Press.Golden, L. (1976). Epic, tragedy, and catharsis. Classical Philology, 71(1), 77-85.Johnson, G. & Arp, T. (2018). Perrine’s Literature. Boston, MA: Cengage.Kanzer, M. (1950). The Oedipus trilogy. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 19(4), 561-572.Schaper, E. (1968). Aristotle's catharsis and aesthetic pleasure. The PhilosophicalQuarterly (1950-), 18(71), 131-143.Sophocles. (n.d.). Oedipus the King. (trans. By David Gene). Retrieved fromhttp://abs.kafkas.edu.tr/upload/225/Oedipus_the_King_Full_Text.pdfIn his poetics, Aristotle (1970) explains that in order for a character to be a tragic hero, he must have certain qualities that enable him to appeal to the audience at the same time that his fall can produce in the audience the necessary feelings of pity and fear so that the audience can experience catharsis and have negative emotions purged from the soul (Shaper, 1968).

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That is the point of tragedy, after all—so it is necessary that the hero of a tragedy have the four points that Aristotle identifies. These points are, first, that the tragic hero must be above the ordinary lot of common men: he must have stature, significance, some ability or quality that makes him better than men. Second, he must possess manly valor—that is, he must be morally good. Third, he must be real, authentic, believable—not so good that no one in the audience can relate to him (which typically means he should have some flaw or fault in this character). Fourth, he should be consistent in terms of character and not one way at one time in the play and then a surprisingly different way at another point in a manner that makes him seem like two completely different people (Johnson & Arp, 2018. Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex not only matches all four of these requirements but also stands out as the epitome of the tragic hero because he comes before all others so perfectly well as an example of a tragic hero. This paper will explain that Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex is the epitome of a tragic hero because he perfectly fits the formula for a tragic hero as set out by Aristotle—that is, he meets each of the four requirements of a tragic hero: he must be better than the average man; he must have manly valor; he must be believable and authentic; and he must have a consistent character.The first way in which Oedipus shows that he is the epitome of the tragic hero is that he is not only better than most men—he is great and by far their better. He….....

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