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The Tragic Hero
Introduction
A tragic hero refers to an influential or important person who commits an error in making a judgment and faces the severe consequences of his actions causing them to fall from high and social and political position. Besides, a tragic hero faces various adversities and demonstrates courage in the face of danger. However, the person may sometimes face downfalls but confronts them courageously. Moreover, a tragic hero confronts his downfalls that result from fate, his personal mistakes or because of some social reasons. Additionally, a tragic hero is a person of misfortune that faces him through misjudgment, leading to his downfall thus triggering feelings of pity and fear. Oedipus is a perfect example of a tragic hero because his pride blinds him from the truth, as his father threw him away to die in the mountains.
In his struggle towards escaping from the evil of his life, Oedipus encounters the doom he often strives to avoid. His name, Oedipus, meaning “swell foot” is as a result of his swollen foot. His parents throw him away three days after his birth because of the prediction that he would have to mill his father, the king and marry his mother (Koper 87). The shepherded meant to throw Oedipus in the mountains of Kithairo, pitied him and gave him to the shepherded of King Polybos in another kingdom. Oedipus gets a terrible, tragic mark on his swollen feet as a result of the skewer that his father uses to join his feet together moments before throwing him.

Raised in the new kingdom as adopted child, he grew up in Corinth without knowing his history. However, he gets to know the prophecy of his evil fate that he will kill his father and marry the mother. He precisely runs away to Thebes kingdom to avoid the prophecy without realizing that he was running into the fate that he was escaping. However, he finally fulfills the prophecy when he kills King Laius, his biological father and marries the queen, his biological mother.
Additionally, a plague struck Thebes, and the subjects ask King Oedipus to deliver them dorm the terrible situation. Creon, Jocasta’s brother, comes back to the kingdom from the oracle of Apollo and spills that the plague is a punishment to the people for the murder of King Laius. Laius was the immediate predecessor of Oedipus and the husband of Queen Jocasta, Oedipus current queen. Therefore, the citizens have to find and punish the murderer to lift the plague. The priest tells the king, “….a blight is on our harvest in the fields, a blight upon the grazing flocks and herds, a blight on women in labor; and all around, armed with his blazing torch the God of plague” (Dodds 183). The citizens sadly mourn the death of their relatives and King Oedipus ask them to discover and apprehend the unknown murderer of Laius. Oedipus makes a strong vow to find the killers of the previous king at all cost to avert the plague affecting the people of Thebes kingdom. However, he does not know that he is the murderer of the previous king.
Chorus, the representative of Thebes’ people, suggests that Oedipus should consult the blind prophet, Teiresias. King Oedipus confirms that he has already summoned Teiresias. Upon the arrival of Teiresias, he appears reluctant to answer the questions of Oedipus but rather warns him that he would not wish to know the true answers (Koper 90). Finally, after receiving death threats from the king, Teiresias laments that Oedipus is the killer and their union is a sinful marriage. However, Oedipus does not believe and considers the statement as an insult claiming that Creon paid Teiresias to make such allegations. Therefore, the furious Oedipus dismisses Teiresias who goes away repeating his statement that the killer of Laius is before him. The prophet confirms that a killer is a man who the killer is his mother’s husband, and he came to the kingdom seeing but will suddenly leave while blind.
When the servant of Thebes appears before the messenger from Corinth and recognizes him as the herdsman from whom he received baby years back, Oedipus realizes his mistakes but becomes too arrogant to admit his errors. She becomes devastated and grabs a sword in an attempt to slaughter Jocasta only to realize that she has hanged herself. Therefore, he tries to wipe it out when he blinds himself using Jocasta’s golden brooches which he takes from her dress and gouges out his eyes so that he will not experience the consequences of the horrible prophecy (Rudnytsky 466). The blind, bloody and miserable Oedipus displays himself to the people of Thebes and publicly takes the responsibility of murdering their king Laius as well as the defiler of his mother’s bed.
Finally, Oedipus requests Creon to let him go away from the city. However, Creon responds that he must consult Apollo. Moreover, Oedipus reminds that he declared banishment for the murderers of King Laius, and Creon agrees with the sentiment. However, Oedipus asks to see his children before leaving the city forever. Additionally, he requests Creon to take care of his children. Afterward, people lead Oedipus away from the kingdom of Thebes as his daughters and Creon goes back to the palace. The chorus itself laments the tragic fate of Oedipus and doomed lineage.
Conclusion
The play depicts Oedipus as a tragic hero who has pride that blinds him to see the reality. For instance, his biological father threw him away to die in the mountains, but a shepherded rescued him. Also, he runs away from Corinth kingdom to avoid killing his father but eventually kills Laius in Thebes. Besides, he commits to apprehend the killers of the king not knowing that he killed the father. The wise man, Tiresias predicts that he killed his father thus causing the plague which hits the people of Thebes but he refuses to believe. Also, Oedipus portrays the tragic character as a result of his struggle, and his weakness before the forces of destiny triggers pity and his tragedy evokes fear in the audience.

Woks Cited
Dodds, Erec R. “On misunderstanding the Oedipus rex.” null (Second Series) 13.01 (1966): 37-49. Print
Koper, Peter T. “Myth and Investigation in Oedipus Rex.” Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture 12.1 (2005): 87-98. Print
Rudnytsky, Peter L. “Oedipus and Anti-Oedipus.” World Literature Today 56.3 (1982): 462-470. Print