The play that I studied and went through and analyzed is the Greek play, Oedipus by Sophocles.

Sophocles lived a long productive life in Athens. It was during his time that Athens became a
dominant political and cultural power after the Persian Wars, but before he died, he witnessed
the decline of Athens as a result of Peloponnesian Wars and the citys subsequent surrender to
Sparta. Sophocles saw Athenian culture reach remarkable heights as well as collapse under
enormous pressures. He was lucky in the sense that he was able to embody much of the best of
Athenian culture, he enjoyed success as a statesman, general, treasurer, priest, and last but not
least, prize winning dramatist. There are surviving fragments that indicate that he wrote over 120
plays but only a handful remains intact. Those that survive consist of the three plays that wrote
about Oedipus and his children- Oedipus the King,Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone and four
additional tragedies:Philoctetes,Ajax,Maidens of Trachis, and Electra.
His plays won numerous prizes at festival competitions because of his careful, subtle plotting
and the sense of inevitability with which their actions is charged. In addition, his development of
characters is richly complex. Instead of relying on the extreme situations and exaggerated actions
that earlier tragedians used, Sophocles created powerfully motivated characters who even today
fascinate audiences with their psychological depth. Besides crafting sophisticated tragedies for
the Greek theatre, he introduced several important innovations to the stage. What is the most
significant is that he broke the tradition of using only two actors, adding a third resulting in a
more complicated relationship and intricate dialogue among characters. He is also the first
dramatist to write play with specific actors in mind, a development that many playwrights,
including Shakespeare, exploited usefully. But without question, Sophocles greatest contribution
to drama was Oedipus The King which, has been argued , is the most influential drama ever
written.
In order to further explain and analyze the play, lets have a look at the characters in this play,
the characters in this play are Oedipus ,The King of Thebes, a priest of Zues,Creon, brother of
Jocasta, a chorus of Theben citizens and their leader, Tiresias the blind prophet, Jocasta the
queen and wife of Oedipus, a messenger from Corinth, a shepherd, a messenger from the inside
of the palace, Antigone and Ismene daughters of Oedipus and Jocasta , guards and attendants and
priests of Thebes.
The play begins with a disastrous plague attacking Thebes. As Oedipus is the King of Thebes
that become the king after he succeeded in solving the Sphinx riddle, all the Thebes people has
gathered to meet with their king and find a solution for the plague that they are suffering from.
The assembled themselves in front of the palace and wants their king to take action. Listening to
their problem, Oedipus announces that he already sent his brother-in-law, Creon to go to the
Oracle of Delphi to know how to help save their city. Soon, Creon returns with the news that, the
plague will only end when they find the murderer of the previous king, King Laius. The
murderer is living within the city and the oracle requires that the murderer is found and expelled
from the city of Thebes.Having a very shallow knowledge on the murder of the previous king,
Oedipus questions his brother-in-law, Creon about the murder and the murderer of King Laius
and he learnt that King Laius was murdered by thieves when he was on his way to meet and
oracle.He was tols that there was only a fellow traveler that travelled with King Laius that
escaped the incident alive.Oedipus promised that he would take the required actions to solve the
mystery of King Laiuss deadth and vowed to curse and to chase the murderer away. Oedipus
sends for Tiresias the blind prophet and asks him about his knowledge on the murderer.Tiresias
responds cryptically, saying that he can see the truth and the truth brings pain and only pain to
the bearer.
Initially Tiresias refused to say the truth but after Oedipus curses and insults the blind prophet
Tiresias, up to the point where Oedipus accused that Tiresias himself is the murderer.These
things flinged to him made Tiresias say and reveal that Oedipus himself is the murderer that he
is looking for. Oedipus being a proud man totally refused the accusation that he is the murderer
of King Laius. Oedipus that gets upset being accused as the murderer in return accused Tiresias
and Creon conspiring against his life and planning to take the throne from him. Oedipus
questions Tiresias why he did nothing to save Thebes from the previous plague that they were
suffering from some time back. He even bragged he was the one that saved this city from the
plague by answering the Sphinx riddle and release the Thebes as the Sphinx held the city and
refused to leave it until someone answers her riddle. Tiresias defends his skills as a prophet,
noting that Oedipuss parents found him trustworthy. At this mention of his parents, Oedipus,
who grew up in the distant city of Corinth, asks how Tiresias knew his parents. But Tiresias
answers enigmatically. Then, before leaving the stage, Tiresias puts forth one last riddle, saying
that the murderer of Laius will turn out to be both father and brother to his own children, and the
son of his own wife. After Tiresias left, Oedipus threatened to kill or to exile Creon for
conspiring with th prophet. At this time, Jocasta ,Oedipuss wife (King Laiuss widow)enters
and asks why the men are shouting and angry at each other. Oedipus explains the situation and
let Jocasta know that the prophet has charged him with the murder of King Laius and Oedipus
was comforted by his wife as she says all the prophecies are wrong .As a proof, she tells him the
oracle of Delphi predicted that Laius would be killed by his son , but the fact is that his son was
cast out of Thebes when he was a baby and the truth was that Laius was murdered by a bunch or
murderer.Her description of Laius murder ringed something inside Oedipus and he asked and
required ffor further detail from her . Jocasta tells him that Laius was killed at a three-way
crossroads, just before Oedipus arrived in Thebes. Stunned by the details, he let Jocasta that he
might be the one that killed Laius. He tells Jocasta that years back, when he was in a banquet in
his fathers kingdom, at which when he was the prince of Corinth ,he overheard that he is not
the son of the king and the queen. Oedipus then decided to travel to the Oracle of Delphi to know
the truth but he was not given an answer but instead he was told that he would kill his father and
would sleep with his mother. Knowing that such horrible thing would happen, he ran away from
his kingdom and never return ever since. It was then, on the journey that would take him to
Thebes, that Oedipus was confronted and harassed by a group of travelers, whom he killed in
self-defense. This skirmish occurred at the very crossroads where Laius was killed.
Oedipus sent someone to fetch the only person that survived the incident at once. The only
person that survived the attach is a shepherd and Oedipus hopes that he would be able to identify
the murderer and he hoped that he is not the murderer.Outside the palace,a messenger from
Corinth came and tells Jocasta that Oedipuss father, Polybus is dead and he wants Oedipus to be
back and to rule the Corinth kingdom. Jocasta becomes happy and rejoices that the oracle was
not true and Polybus, Oedipus father died of natural cause and he did not kill him. Jocasta calls
for her husband and as Oedipus comes outside of the palace, she tells him about the news and
both of them rejoice from the news and felt happy that the oracle is not true. He now feels much
more inclined to agree with the queen in deeming prophecies worthless and viewing chance as
the principle governing the world. But while Oedipus finds great comfort in the fact that one-half
of the prophecy has been disproved, he still fears the other halfthe half that claimed he would
sleep with his mother.To his surprise, the messenger remarked Oedipus that he doen not need to
worry about that because Oedipus is notbiological son to Polybus and his wife, Merope.The
messenger, who was a former shepherd knows for sure that Oedipus went to Corinth as an
orphan and as both the king and queen had no child, they took Oedipus and had him as their
child and the prince of Corinth.It was the messenger himself that took Oedipus back to Corinth
when he was still a new born.As told by the messenger, few years back, when he was tending
his sheep when another shepherd approached him carrying a baby, its ankles pinned together.
The messenger took the baby to the royal family of Corinth, and they raised him as their own.
That baby was Oedipus. Oedipus asks who the other shepherd was, and the messenger answers
that he was a servant of Laius.
Oedipus asks that this shepherd be brought forth to testify, but Jocasta, beginning to suspect the
truth, begs her husband not to seek more information. She runs back into the palace. The
shepherd then enters. Oedipus interrogates him, asking who gave him the baby. The shepherd
refuses to disclose anything, and Oedipus threatens him with torture. Finally, he answers that the
child came from the house of Laius. Questioned further, he answers that the baby was in fact the
child of Laius himself, and that it was Jocasta who gave him the infant, ordering him to kill it, as
it had been prophesied that the child would kill his parents. But the shepherd pitied the child, and
decided that the prophecy could be avoided just as well if the child were to grow up in a foreign
city, far from his true parents. The shepherd therefore passed the boy on to the shepherd in
Corinth.
Realizing who he is and who his parents are, Oedipus screams that he sees the truth and flees
back into the palace. The shepherd and the messenger slowly exit the stage. A second messenger
enters and describes scenes of suffering. Jocasta has hanged herself, and Oedipus, finding her
dead, has pulled the pins from her robe and stabbed out his own eyes. Oedipus now emerges
from the palace, bleeding and begging to be exiled.
He asks Creon to send him away from Thebes and to look after his daughters, Antigone and
Ismene. Creon, covetous of royal power, is all too happy to oblige.Now everything makes sense
to Oedipus.He was the murderer he was looking for and realizing that he is greatly sinned and
has caused a serious plague to hit the Thebes.He finally Thebes left and wondered with a servant
of him as Creon refused to kill him.
The single line from the play, Oedipus the king that is very important and stands out is the line
said by the Tiresias, the blind prophet in line 41 . Tiresias said to Oedipus that, I say , you are
the murderer that you hunt. This is the line that is the most significant in this whole play
because from this lines onwards are the moments where Oedipus faces his downfall as a tragic
hero. He should have been able to realize the truth in the blind prophets words and could have
prevented from his downfall but he is just too blind to see the truth. After these lines are the
moments where it become clearer that Oedipus is a tragic hero.
Aristotle in the Poetics defines the tragic hero as someone who is neither excessively evil,
someone who is rather like ourselves, who falls from prosperity into adversity because of an
error and/or character falling.
These are A tragedy, then, is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as
having magnitude, complete in itself; in language with pleasurable accessories, each
kind brought in separately in the parts of the work; in a dramatic, not in a narrative
form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of
such emotions. (Imgram Bywater: 35).


Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action of high importance, complete and of
some amplitude; in language enhanced by distinct and varying beauties; acted not
narrated; by means of pity and fear effectuating its purgation of these emotions. (L.
J. Potts: 24).


According to Aristotle, there are few characteristics that must be portrayed by the
characters in order for the character to be a tragic hero. These characteristics includes that the
character must be a noble stature and has greatness. In addition, the character must be in a high
position of hierarchy or high status and shows nobility and virtue as the part of the characters
innate characteristics. Though the tragic hero is pre-eminently great, the character is not
perfect. The hero's downfall, therefore, is partially the characters own fault, the result of free
choice, not of accident or villainy or some overriding, malignant fate. In fact, the tragedy is
usually triggered by some error of judgment or some character flaw that contributes to the hero's
lack of perfection as has been mentioned earlier. This error of judgment or character flaw is
known as hamartia and is usually translated as "tragic flaw". Often the
character's hamartia involves hubris which is defined as a sort of arrogant pride or over-
confidence and often this overconfidence and pride brings to the downfall for the character later
in the story. The hero's misfortunate is not wholly deserved as some other external force plays an
important role on the heros misfortune such as supernatural involvement.
Therefore it can be said that tragic hero that follows Aristotles definition is the hero that
discovers his fate by his own actions, not by things happening to him. The hero sees and
understands his doom, and that his fate was revealed by his own actions.
The tragic heros fate is often is tragic and makes the audience feels sorry for him but at the same
time they understand the reasons for his punishment. Besides that, most of the time , the
punishment is worse than dead as if in the Oedipus the king or a death in a bad way or a
disgraceful dead. A tragic hero is often of noble birth, or rises to noble standing .
The hero learns something from the mistakes that they themselves convict mistake. The hero is
faced with a serious decision such as life or death decisions and the suffering of the hero is
meaningful. There may sometimes be supernatural involvement in the case where Oedipus Rex
had supernatural involvement.
Oedipus Rex is another tragic hero that fits Aristotles characterization.He is a noble man
he is born of king.At the beginning in , he was said to be the King and Queen Corinths son but
later he discovers that he is the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta and this proves that he is of
high status and in high hierarchy.He potrays many good quality ,he is the best man alive in
solving riddles as said by Tiresias in line 501 page 1312 and he solved the riddles of the Sphinx
which earned him throne of Thebes and he become the King of Thebes. Besides that he is a
caring and and cares for his people. He addresses his people as my children and even before his
people come and ask him to seek answer for the misfortunes that they are having, he has sent
Creon to seek the answer for the misfortune that they are suffering from. He also portrays a soft
heart as he says that he suffers more than his people as he feels their suffering. He run away from
his original kingdom which he grew up in with the fear that the prophecy that said he will kill his
own father and marries his mother will be true and although it seems that he is coward that he
runs away but the truth is that he is afraid that the prophecy will be true .But then although he
has so many good qualities in him, he still have his flaws and his flaws made him a human all the
way.
Oedipus had his downfall because of his own fault, if he does not force the blind prophet,
Tiresias to tell the truth, none of the incidents that happens after that would been prevented and
thus he would not have his downfall. He forced Tiresias to tell the truth and Tiresias spills the
truth that he is the murderer of King Lauis and form there all the incidents starts to happen sand
things starts to fall apart and the truth revealed. The next mistake that he made is that he insist on
knowing the truth from the servant even though his wife Jocasta begged him not to. His curiosity
and the desire to know the truth ruined his life and make him a tragic hero. Although he is wrong
for killing his own father and marries his mother and have three children, none are entirely his
fault. He was not aware of the sins that he is committing because he was not aware of the truth
from the beginning and he learn the truth about his birth and his family when there is nothing
else to be done but the accept the fact about it. If he did not force Tiresias to tell him the truth or
if he did not force the servant to tell the truth, none of the secrets would have been revealed and
he would have been happy with the fact the prophecy did not become real as his father, King of
Corinth was dead because of sickness. In addition to that , another mistake by Oedipus is that he
is over confident with himself and his decision that it also played an important role .he is
confident with himself when he gets angry with Tiresias when Tiresias reveals he himself as the
murderer he is looking for .He even accuses Tiresias and Creon are plotting together to get the
throne .He us so confident that Tiresisas is telling a lie but its the truth.
In the end, his wife or his mother kills herself and Oedipus blinds himself and moves
away from his kingdom and gives the kingdom to his brother in law/uncle, Creon.It is a tragic
ending that Oedipus have to live with such a great guilty of killing his father and marrying his
mother. Oedipus is not completely to be blamed for his downfall as he did or he took the same
decision that any of us would have taken.
If I am in Oedipus place, I would have taken the same decision and did the same thing
that he did because no matter how great I am I am still a human with flaws .
If we are in his shoes no matter who we are, we would have made the same choices and
same decisions that Macbeth took and we as human will also be greedy and blinded by the
power .Even we would have done the same thing as he did which in the sense that we are
humans that makes mistake.








REFERENCES
1. http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/drama/g/Hamartia.htm
2. http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/heroicbehavior/g/Hubris.htm
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetics_(Aristotle)