The Tragic Hero Oedipus Story With Moral Lesson And Summary

THE TRAGIC HERO OEDIPUS – Have you ever heard of a tragic hero? Here’s the story of the tragic hero Oedipus with moral lessons and summary and learn the terrible ending of the hero.

The story presented how a leader figured out what was destroying the city and ended up destroying himself too. It also shows a leader’s too much self-confidence became the predicament of his tragic end.

The Tragic Hero Oedipus with Moral Lessons and Summary
The Tragic Hero Oedipus with Moral Lessons and Summary

The Tragic Hero Oedipus

One mythological time in Greece, King Laius of Thebes and his wife, Jocasta, received an oracle from Delphi about his fate. Apollo said his son would kill him and marry his wife.

Afraid the prophecy might come true when Jocasta gave birth, King Laius tied the baby’s ankles and ordered a shepherd to take it to the mountain and abandon it to die.

On the other hand, the shepherd takes pity on the baby and cannot fulfill his task. He passed the baby to another shepherd who gave it to the childless King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth.

They raised and loved the child as their own and called him Oedipus, which means ‘swollen feet’ in Greek.

As he grows into a fine young man, he travels to the oracle of Delphi and learns that he is fated to kill his father and marry his mother.

He was shocked by the prophecy of Apollo but confident that he could outrun his fate. He fled his parents to avoid the prophecy and traveled near Thebes.

At a crossroads, he met King Laius and killed him in a fight, not knowing it was his birth father. Then Oedipus reached Thebes.

Once there, he learns that a Sphinx, a terrible monster devours everyone who cannot solve his riddle. It was declared that whoever solves the riddle and kills the Sphinx will take the throne and marry Queen Jocasta, the widow of King Laius.

The Sphinx riddle says: “What goes on four feet in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?” Oedipus tried his luck and answered ‘a human’ for it crawls as a child, walks in maturity, and relies on a crutch when old.

With his answer, Oedipus successfully solves the riddle and kills the Sphinx. He married Jocasta, and together they had four children.

He does not know she is his mother and that their children are his siblings.
He happily lived with his family and as king of Thebes, but a plague struck the city. Oedipus sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to the oracle of Delphi to ask Apollo how to end the disaster.

Creon then returned to Oedipus and told him that Apollo demanded that they will find the killer of the previous king of Thebes, Laius.

Oedipus announces that no one can save Thebes but he alone. He once encountered the blind prophet Tiresias who first refused to believe that what Apollo declared would end the plague.

Angered by his refusal of the god’s prophecy, Oedipus accused Tiresias of the murder. But Tiresias asserted that the killer was among them and that the king’s murderer was the king, resulting in the city’s plague.

Oedipus tried to hide his sin and accused Creon and Tiresias of framing him as the murderer so that Creon could take the throne. He proclaimed that Tiresias was jealous of him, for he was the one who solved the riddle and not him.

As the three were arguing, Jocasta heard them and dismissed their words. She asserted that Laius died at a crossroad away from the city.

The details declared by Jocasta troubled Oedipus, for he once told her that he killed a man at the crossroads. It was before he came to Thebes and solved the riddle of the Sphinx.

Upon saying it, Jocasta realized the truth and feared it would destroy her family. She dismisses Oedipus’s fear by saying the oracles are not true.

But Oedipus didn’t let go of the challenge and demanded the shepherd who witnessed the crime. The shepherd narrates that King Laius ordered him to the mountain with a pierced ankle but pitied him.

Instead, he gave the wounded baby to another shepherd, that also gave him to King Polybus of Corinth, who adopted him. Which Oedipus thought to be his biological father is his adoptive father.

And so, the shepherds announced the crushing truth that Oedipus was the son of Laius and Jocasta and murdered his father at the crossroad. He is both the son and the husband of his mother.

The truth pierced Jocasta’s heart. She hurriedly went into her chamber and hung herself. Oedipus found her, and he, too, blinded his eyes with the pin Jocasta used to fasten her hair. And so, Oedipus, who was blind to the truth about himself, is completely blind.

Story Analysis of The Tragic Hero Oedipus

Oedipus is a typical example of a tragic hero. With his confidence that he will outrun the prophecy of the oracle of Delphi, he flees from his adoptive parents. He went straight into his biological parents and killed his father, not knowing the truth.

Thus, Oedipus may be a great leader and wise, but with his arrogance and hubris, everything the oracle said became true, and in the end, his pride and anger led to his downfall.

The Tragic Hero Oedipus Moral Lesson

  • One cannot control his destiny.
    • Oedipus attempted to escape his fate, for he thinks that the oracle of Delphi refers to King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth, his adoptive parents. But fate leads him to his biological father, and killed him and marries her mother.
  • Covering a sin can cause another.
    • The tragic hero tried to convince his people that he was not the murderer of King Laius and even accused Creon and Tiresias of framing him as such. But in the end, the truth came out: he killed his father, married his mother, and had children with her.

The Tragic Hero Oedipus Summary

King Laius and Jocasta of Thebes received an oracle from Delphi saying that his son would kill him and marry his wife. Laius pierced the baby’s ankles and tied them together when she gave birth.

He ordered a shepherd to take the baby to the mountain and leave it to die. The shepherd took pity and gave it to another, who gave the baby to King Polybus and Merope of Corinth.

They named him Oedipus and raised him as their own. As he grew up, he went to the oracle of Delphi and learned that he would kill his father and marry his mother.

Afraid of the prophecy, he fled from Corinth for the prophecy might come true. At a crossroad near Thebes, he killed his birth father, Laius. He then went to Thebes, solved the riddle of the Sphinx, and killed it.

He married his mother, Jocasta became king, and they had four children together. When a plague came to the city, the oracle of Delphi advised that King Laius’s murderer must be punished, and thus the truth about his roots was revealed.

Jocasta realized the truth and hung herself in her room. Oedipus found her, and he, too, blinded his eyes with the pin Jocasta used to fasten her hair. And so, Oedipus, who was blind to the truth about himself, is completely blind.

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