uth. The Greek hero is more of a thinker than a violent individual. He tries to outwit everyone including his fate. He has a high level of hubris. This is exactly the cause of his death making his fight nearly pointless. Oedipus deals with the human struggle for knowledge, first for knowledge of the evil, but ultimately for self-knowledge. Despite the advice of others, Oedipus remains with his illusion, he must find the truth even if it will destroy him. Oedipus is a tragic hero according to Aristotle’s Conception in The Poetics. He is not the victim of fate expressed in the oracles. His tragedy results from within his character. He sees things only his way, and driven by his uncontrolled emotions, ends up dead. The tragic hero yearns to believe that there is purpose to his actions, yet many of his actions lead to pain and disaster. He evolves thinking about right and wrong or good and evil, believing that these come to him as divine revelations. Yet he often discovers that his morality produces immoral results, and his good is often evil.It is common to all characters in a tragic situation that they are confronted with a choice. “Choice is at the heart of tragedy”. This choice may be taken without much consideration, it may be taken deliberately but in ignorance of the whole truth (Oedipus) and it may also be taken because it is imperative (Antigone). Greek tragedy, then, is an expression of man realizing that his human standards have become questionable.Sophocles’ Antigone and Oedipus make a commentary upon the ideals of Greek humanism, specifically the individual’s responsibility in society and morality. Both Antigone and Oedipus make several moral choices and suffer the consequences. In the case of Antigone, her choice to bury her brother is not a fatal mistake that results in her death. It is a brave act that upholds a moral right in the face of capricious human justice. She also distanced ...
