ing of Thebes. Oedipus tries to be an honorable king and defend the welfare of his people, yet he is unaware that he is the cause for his city’s affliction. As a prime example of the tragic hero, Oedipus experiences a quick change in his luck. Aristotle said that a tragic hero would “ change fortune from prosperity to adversity” (Wilkie and hurt 972). Oedipus is described as humanely intelligent and a vigorously active leader”(Wilkie and Hurt 735). Slowly Oedipus begins to realize his fate; the fate that he has lived his life to avoid. He has spent his life trying to avert the oracles that declared he would kill his father and marry his mother. After running away, Oedipus kills a traveler on the road to Thebes. He would later find out that this traveler was his father. Often times Oedipus would act in order to avoid his fate before thinking about what he was doing. His flaw is that he believes he can run away from or alter the effects of fate. Fate was guarded by the gods and so Oedipus is suggesting that he is capable of functioning without the help or intervention of the gods. His life displays an awkward possibility that one could kill his father and marry his mother. “Nothing is improbable in the life of a tragic hero”(Wilkie and Hurt 975). The story of a tragic hero is suppose to warn people that even the most pious can have a downfall. Oedipus finds his wife (and mother) hanged and stabs his own eyes out. This depicts Oedipus’s metaphorical blindness throughout the play and now after the realization his physical blindness. Oedipus begins as an extraordinary man and falls by some fault or frailty. Both characters are strong willed leaders who often times try to take control of too much at one time. They both display strengths and heroic characteristics. Odysseus is the embodiment of the ideal as the epic hero. On the other hand, Oedipus is a good man tested by fate and ...
