Essays on Hamartia

English 224: Fact, Truth and Fiction

Greatest American literary works of the twentieth century, such as from Herman Melville’s Moby –Dick, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, and William Faulkner to Jon Kraukaur’s Into the Wild published in 1992 have always expressed strong disillusionment, depression and a desire to escape from the present conditions into the wild or alternative world. Leslie Fiedler identified that the central theme of U.S Literature is escape of American boys from the existing society and embrace a journey or quest into the unknown world. It is the arbitraries of the modern society which forced the writer to chronicle the ...

Oedipus Rex is an astounding and great Sophoclean play which portrays a tragic hero in a unique way. The play was composed during the ancient Greece time when Sophocles took advantage of the using character flaws in the drama. He gave Oedipus the role of a tragic hero to ensure that he captured the attention of the audience. Sophocles’ play was outstanding because the play-watchers felt to be part of it and experienced a catharsis of reactions. At the beginning of the play, Sophocles gives Oedipus a decidedly recognized character with a high sense of intelligence. Oedipus is portrayed as a privileged individual who is not ...

Oedipus Rex, written by the Greek playwright Sophocles, tells the story of the titular King Oedipus, who reaches the status of King of Thebes only to become embroiled in an investigation into the murder of the previous king, Laius. Over the course of the play, he is informed of a prophecy in which he is said to kill his father and marry his mother; despite the inevitable nature of this prophecy, Oedipus refuses to believe it. However, once he is told that he was the one who killed King Laius unknowingly in a raid some time ago, he learns that he ...

The play “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles begins with Oedipus the king explaining his concern about his citizens thus: “My zeal in your behalf ye cannot doubt; Ruthless indeed were I and obdurate, If such petitioners as you I spurned” (11-15). These lines clearly establish the fact that Oedipus is a good king and looks after his kingdom, Thebes, quite well. However, this is not enough. No matter how well Oedipus governs his kingdom or how valiant he is, tragedy befalls Oedipus through what can be said as “Hamartia”. Hamartia or tragic flaw is what brings down a great character and ...

Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex essentially bulges, pregnant with the themes of hubris and hamartia that the Greek playwright so frequently used. It is the play’s protagonist, King Oedipus, who is the unfortunate soul born unto a terrible prophecy that foretold that he would one day kill his very own father and marry his mother. In order to prevent such a horrendous nightmare from occurring, Oedipus’ father sent baby Oedipus to be murdered but he was instead given to the childless king and queen of Corinth to be raised as their own. Oedipus in later years hears rumors of the prophecy. In ...

Death of a Salesman is a story that represents the real and contemporary American society and their dreams and aspirations. It is a story of the common people and their dreams. The title itself reveals the tragic end of the protagonist Willy. As far as the tragic flow of the story is concerned, it can be studied as the modern version of the Aristotelian tragedies, though it can be a comparative analysis with some resemblances and some differences. The story fulfils many parameters of the tragedy. Only the difference is that unlike the typical Aristotelians tragic hero, Willy does not belong to the ...

Introduction

Oedipus tragedy is predicted even before his birth in the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, as his father, Laius, will meet his fatal death in his hand and he will marry his own mother, Jocasta, when he grows up. The oracle is the major reason for his parents to infanticide him. Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher, adverts Oedipus as a best example of tragic hero ever. Aristotle’s panorama about Oedipus is vividly described in the following lines: “must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous-a personage like Oedipus” (Poetics XIII paragraph 2) and “he who hears the tale ...

According to the ancient Greeks, a hero was an immortal religious figure that had received cult honors and was anticipated to come back, so to bring prosperity to the entire community (that worshiped the hero), including the animals and the fertility of the crops (Nagy). However, a hero could also be a mortal, hence a literary figure, whose life had to undergo an ordeal, in order to receive immortalization after he dies (Nagy). Born with a heavy legacy already on his shoulders, Oedipus spent his entire life trying to avert an ominous prophecy that placed him as the person that would kill his ...

The main characters of Shakespeare’s works are usually somewhat tragic in nature – they often end with something bad befalling them because of dramatic irony. With his play Othello, the eponymous figure is a tragic one, in which the fact that he is of a different race leads Iago and others to plot against him and bring about his downfall. Shakespeare’s Othello is shown to be a heroic African figure adopted by the Romans, perpetually battling the prejudices of others to get by in his own work and life, just to be taken down by a villainous figure who is afraid of ...

Essay

Can you ever love your mother too much? In an essay of at least 1000 words, compare and contrast the two characters, Oedipus and Hamlet.

Thesis

While love—towards anyone or anything—can be beautiful when passionate, when it hinders on obsession, love can often render more harm than happiness, and in the case of Oedipus and Hamlet, their obsessive love caused their tragic ending. However, in both their cases, it was not the love for their mothers that cause their downfall, and so, it cannot be said that they suffered and caused suffering because of their attachment to their ...