pride: the tragic flaw of oedi

The play opens with the people of Thebes stricken with plague and begging for the help of Oedipus. Oedipus is their hero, their savior, and rightly so. He saved them from the Sphinx with his powerful intellect and remarkable courage, and has continued to live his life as their honorable and good king. Oedipus is in every sense, a true hero, and a self made man, all of which is worthy of the respect and admiration of his people, and Oedipus is remarkably aware of this fact. He knows that he is wiser than most, and considered closer to the Gods than any other man. He is proud of all he has done and knows that he is capable of more. It is this swollen pride that causes his eventual downfall to be so tragic. Oedipus is a fictional character, and in the eyes of Sophocles, completely unable to defy the gods and avoid his horrible fate of patricide and incest. What makes the story tragic is not that Oedipus commits these unthinkable crimes, but that this brave, compassionate hero is striped of his dignity and confidence and transformed into an absolute wreck of a man, a lost soul. And it is his pride and strength that causes that conversion to be so terribly tragic.

We are shown Oedipus’ fear getting the better of him in his conversation with Creon. He accuses Creon of plotting against him with Teiresias in order to overthrow Oedipus and take on the role of king. When Creon asks Oedipus to hear him out, he responds by saying “I doubt your eloquence will teach me much. You are my bitterest enemy; that I know” (540-541). Oedipus now refuses to even listen to Creon because he “knows” that Teiresias’ prophecy is corrupt. Because of his pride, he is still unwilling to even consider that he could ever be responsible for the death of King Laius. Here Oedipus’ fears have developed into full-blown denial. He refuses to even listen to Teiresias and only makes his situation worse.

It is because Oedipus thinks so highly of himself that he reacts so badly to Teiresias’ initial refusal to share his prophecy and then his eventual oracle. Oedipus blinds himself with his stubborn pride. Teiresias tells Oedipus that he does not want to share his knowledge with the king. This leads Oedipus to believe that Teiresias is hiding incriminating information from him. Because he thinks so much of himself, Oedipus decides that he “knows” that Teirisias is wrong and lashes out, calling Teiresias an “insolent scoundrel” (line 335) and accusing he and Creon of lying and attempting to frame him. He responds angrily saying:

Oedipus’ fearful denial, which stems from his swollen pride, is maintained right up until it is no longer possible to look past the truth. Because Oedipus’ pride had been so great, his own self-image rose, perhaps, too high, and the result is what makes his story so tragic. Oedipus’ realization that he is indeed guilty of both patricide and regicide absolutely levels him. He would have been able to deal with the situation better had he not immediately rejected all evidence that pointed to him as Laius’ murderer. The realization would have been gradual and the acceptance, possibly, gentler. Instead, Oedipus maintains his high view of himself until it is impossible not to see the truth (that he is an incestuous murderer). At this point, the two personas are so dramatically different that Oedipus is completely destroyed. Because of his pride, his own self-image rises incredibly high, and the higher one rises, the harder is their fall. The play closes with Oedipus referring to himself as one “hated

Some topics in this essay:
Oedipus Oedipus, Jonathan Lear, Teiresius Creon, Laius Oedipus’, Instead Oedipus, Creon Oedipus, Flaw Oedipus, people thebes, sphinx powerful intellect, makes story tragic, pride own self-image, saying “i, priest people, swollen pride, oedipus’ pride, pride own, powerful intellect, refuses listen, tragic oedipus, king oedipus,