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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
In three pages this paper compares and contrasts how the protagonists of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King (also known as Oedipus Rex) and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman satisfy the criteria of a tragic hero as Aristotle defined in his text Poetics. Six sources are listed in the bibliography.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGwillyoed.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
to be described as such. As with all works of literature, they naturally featured a protagonist Aristotle deemed as a tragic hero. According to Aristotle, such a hero
was an ordinary man who is profoundly influenced by some type of extraordinary sequence of events. He possesses some character flaw which the ancient Greeks referred to as hamartia
that was more often than not attributed to hubris or extreme pride. This flaw typically manifests itself in light of some type of irrational circumstance that takes place "outside
the action of the play" (Aristotle). Two protagonists that embody Aristotles definition of tragic hero at least within their particular time periods are King Oedipus of Thebes in Sophocles
Oedipus the King (also referred to as Oedipus Rex) and Willy Loman in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman. King Oedipus has always considered himself an outcast because he was
born not in Thebes but in the neighboring town of Corinth. He seeks for his subjects to accept him not only because he ascended to the throne after solving
the riddle of the Sphinx and marrying the widowed Queen Jocasta, but because he has earned their respect. When a devastating plague wreaks death and despair onto the Theban
people, Oedipus pride motivates him to make a deal whereby he reveals the identity of the individual who murdered his predecessor King Laius. He believes that once this conspiracy
is revealed once and for all, the dark cloud hanging over Thebes will finally be lifted. Oedipus plunges headlong into this pursuit, stubbornly refusing to heed the warnings of
the blind oracle Tiresias that this act will have serious repercussions for everyone. Ironically, Oedipus is so blinded by pride and so stubbornly confident in his own abilities to
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