Tragic Hero Begins With an Examination of Term Paper

Tragic Hero begins with an examination of Oedipus Rex. But, while he is the archetype of this particular literary character, Hamlet is, perhaps, the most well developed and psychologically complex of tragic heroes. For the Greeks, all things in life are preordained, which is what makes for the tragedy of Oedipus - his attempt to make his own destiny. Over the course of time, however, while the form of the tragic hero did not change, the reason for his being tragic did. The social world of the Renaissance had shifted from a philosophy of determinism to one of individualism - that we all have the choice to accept or deny our relationship with God. This makes Hamlet a tragic hero who is punished not for a flaunting of destiny, but because he is mad. It is the purpose of this paper to examine both Oedipus Rex and Hamlet as tragic heroes who, because of their different social contexts, made for very different men.

The first work to be examined, is Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. In brief, this is a story about a man who falls in love with a woman who turns out to be his mother, and kills a man who turns out to be his father. The plot of Oedipus follows the even longer-standing tradition of the mythological tale. The hero must be confronted not only with the conflicts of his external experience, but with his own fatal flaws, and in the end must succumb to both as inevitably as fate. According to Aristotle, in his Poetics, "the plot should be so constructed that even without seeing the play anyone hearing of the incidents happening thrills with fear and pity as a result of what occurs. So would anyone feel who heard the story of Oedipus (Aristotle, 49)." So, the classical tragic plot is firmly defined within this drama. The fall of Oedipus is brought about by his uncontrollable passions, his fatal flaws.At every given step, he as a human possessing of free will, is actively making the choices that lead him to his tragic fall. Iocaste actually indirectly tells him of his fate when she yells, "You are fatally wrong! May you never learn who you are!" (Sophocles, 55). When Jocasta sees where Oedipus' action is leading: "In God's name," she cries, "if you want to live, this quest must not go on." Like Job, Oedipus turns a deaf ear to such counsel: "I must pursue this trail the end," (Sewall, 35). This man who was had been the vessel of hope for his people, who in their eyes could do no wrong. Yet, his anger, arrogance, and his temper prove to be his fatal flaw and bring down this great king. The violence of the classical dramatic tragedy is carried out ruthlessly in Oedipus. Oedipus kills his own father, marries his mother, and gouges out his own eyes. Sophocles' play certainly fits, then, within the definition of classic tragedy.

Millennia later, William Shakespeare wrote what has become an equally famous tragedy to Oedipus, his Hamlet. Here is another example of a dramatic plot which propels everyone within the play towards the same violent end. As in Oedipus, Hamlet has at every given step the ability to choose a different path. Yet, his own fatal flaws are what prevent him from actually making those smart choices. Unlike Oedipus, however, Hamlet starts out on the shady side of sanity to begin with. With a traditional tragic plot in line, the story of Hamlet unfolds like an ever tightening downward spiral. Often a classical tragedy will employ otherworldly forces to spur on the action. Oedipus uses the Oracle as the direct connection between the King and the Gods. In Hamlet, the ghost of Hamlet, Sr. firmly establishes what Frye refers to as "the demonic….....