Pride In Oedipus The King's Pride

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Oedipus and Pride
Sophocles uses the characterization of Oedipus and specific details to illustrate the ways in which pride can drag down even the greatest people. He shows us that despite all of his superhuman attributes and feats which put all others to shame, he is still but a mortal man. Oedipus seems to have never learned that those who fly too close to the sun will lose their wings. He went against an oracle which made a claim against because he thought he was above it. He killed a man who he never truly knew because he didn’t think of the consequences. He attempted to remedy his failures and as he did everything slowly unraveled, tearing his life to shreds and leaving him a pathetic silhouette of what he once was. All of these have one thing in common, they lead back to his pride, and show that even the greatest of men may fall to themselves in the end. Sophocles shows people …show more content…
Dramatic irony aside, it is uncertain as to why he wanted to do this. Perhaps Sophocles wanted to show how Oedipus desired vengeance not because of his father’s death, but because it was an insult to him. Surely, the idea that anyone would dare challenge someone who shares the bloodline of Oedipus is an insult. As far as he is concerned, his name ought to prevent anyone from threatening him and his family. He did not seek to return the favor of his father’s killer due to some sort of moral code, but simply because he was too proud to allow someone to challenge him. It can be seen as he gets caught up in his own mind, in a whirlwind of malicious thoughts, to such an extent that he doesn’t even seem to properly mourn his father’s death. This entire journey and everything he has done nin it has not been about helping people or making things right, it has been about himself the entire time, and Sophocles shows that the right things done for the wrong reasons will almost always lead to

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