Oedipus

The tragic protagonist of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex.

Character Traits

• Conscientious and patriotic ruler
• Quick to rage — anger — does not listen to anyone
• Confidence in human intelligence — self-confidence
• Man of action and decisiveness, even if imprudent
• Obdurate — Jocasta says “You’re so unbending” (l. 769).
• Courage in the face of despair
• Impiety — disdainful and supercilious
• Wants to know the truth at all costs

Much of the tension in Oedipus the King revolves around dramatic irony: the gap between the one meaning known by the audience and the other known to the players:

• Every step prompted by his intelligence is one step closer to tragedy
• His knowledge is ignorance
• His clear vision is blindness

Oedipus falls because of the man that he is, not through some random event in nature or fated outcome. His self-discovery comes at a huge cost: his own destruction. Although the oracle predicts what Oedipus will do, it does not determine the latter’s actions. Oedipus has erred in his faith in human intelligence; there are powers in the universe that are beyond our control and our understanding.

Aristotle mentions Oedipus Rex eleven times in his Poetics. Aristotle’s obvious favor of Sophocles’ play suggests that it is the measure of all tragedy.