Tragic Heroes of The Iliad and Oedipus Rex Analysis

Calvin Coolidge once said, â€Å"Heroism is not only in the man, but in the occasion† (brainyquote.com). Heroes are among one of the most popular literary figures of all time. A Greek philosopher, Aristotle, wrote his notion of classic from of heroism called tragic heroism in his work entitled Poetics. In Poetics, Aristotle explains that there are certain qualities that a tragic hero has that can qualify him or her as tragically heroic. Two Grecian literary legends, Achilles from Homer’s Iliad and Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, fit the description of an Aristotelian tragic hero. Achilles, from Homer’s The Iliad, is a tragic hero. Achilles’s quick rage coincides with a key characteristic of a tragic hero. Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae takes†¦show more content†¦For example, he is an unbeatable war machine because he possesses armor crafted by the god Hephaestus to protect him in battle against Hector, leader of the Trojans. Achilles temper and hi ghborn status qualify him as an Aristotelian tragic hero. The titular character from Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, also corresponds with Aristotle’s idea of a tragic hero. He is a flawed character, his weakness being his excessive pride and over confidence, which is a qualifying factor found in tragic heroes. A plague is present in the city of Thebes, and Oedipus has turned to Tiresias, an old prophet, for advice. However, Tiresias informs him that Oedipus himself is the murderer of King Laius and he has brought this plague to the city. In response, Oedipus says, â€Å"Not twice shall you say calumnies like this and go unpunished† (Sophocles 433). Oedipus’s egotism is well exhibited with his conversation with Tiresias. The fact that he denies Tiresias, an all seeing man, shows that he is entirely too self-important. His hubris, or arrogant pride, ends up affecting his destiny, which is to kill his father and marry his mother. Also, his downfall is not wholly deserved, according to another Aristotelian quality of a tragic hero. Since it is his fate to kill his father and marry his mother, he cannot avoid it. After the tragic events of finding out his prophecy is true and that his mother and wife has killed herself, Oedipus ashamed, blinds himself in order to never see his deceased parentsShow MoreRelatedComparison of Oedipus Rex and a Raisin in the Sun Essay1874 Words   |  8 Pagesto Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Greek and Roman plays, and even Indeed ancient Indian plays (a common Indo-European Tradition), usually had a pivotal character that â€Å"held the play together†. Also there would be a Chorus that would come into play when the tragedy would begin unfolding. The Greco-Roman variants were almost always tragedies. Be it Homer’s Iliad or Odessey. The hero after long travails always seemed to return to nothing and would come to grief. Achilles, Priam, Agamemnon, Oedipus, allRead MoreFall from Grace: Satan as a Spiritually Corrupt Hero in Miltons Paradise Lost2859 Words   |  12 Pagesadmirable qualities, is ignoble down to the core in everything he has done - especially including his war against God - and that he is not the protagonist of Paradise Lost, but rather he is the antagonist who creates the conflict. In a more in-depth analysis of a hero, Joseph Campbell briefly defines a hero as someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself(p143) in his book The Power of Myth. Some of the aspects of a hero as explained in The Power of Myth include a call toRead MoreAncient Greek Culture2704 Words   |  11 Pagesin the Western world. It became the model for all later literature. Greek writers introduced several important types including lyric and epic poetry, tragic and comic drama, and several important historical essays and dialogue (Myrsiades, 2013). Two of the most famous epic poems were written by Homer entitled â€Å"Iliad† which tells about the Trojan War and the â€Å"Odyssey† which tells about the adventures of the Greek hero Odysseus when he returns home after the fall of Troy