A tragic hero has the potential for greatness but is doomed to fail. He is trapped in a situation where he cannot win. He makes some sort of mistake, and this causes his fall from greatness. A tragic hero is usually born into nobility, and falls because of a certain flaw such as pride. Sometimes too much self-confidence leads to disaster as in the classic novel Oedipus theKing The pride that Oedipus has causes him to make the numerous errors of judgement that inevitably leads to his exile and his fall from greatness.
Before his downfall Oedipus is very intelligent, clever, and of high stature because of his nobility, all of which a tragic hero overall possesses. He is a very important man and very influential. He even saves Thebes by answering the riddle of the Sphinx, which no one else could do. Oedipus fits the first requirement of a tragic hero because he has greatness and then he falls from his superiority.
The cause of his ruin is pride. Repeatedly Oedipus makes poor decisions because of his overwhelming pride and self-confidence. Oedipus ignores Tiresias and his warnings of searching too far for the truth. Pride affects his judgement in many important situations.
The last and most important reason that Oedipus is a tragic hero, is that he alone makes fateful decisions, which lead to his downfall. Even after Oedipus hears the prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother, he still kills a man and marries a woman, who are both about the same age as his parents would likely be. His pride clouds his good judgement. .
Throughout the novel Oedipus is an example of a tragic hero. He falls from greatness because of his pride, and he makes fateful decisions with his poor judgement. Oedipus is a tragic hero by definition.
