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Causes Of Hubris In Oedipus

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Causes Of Hubris In Oedipus
Throughout his journey through self-discovery, Oedipus exerts many hubris-filled tendencies. Sophocles did this for a specific reason, but some argue that this is the essential cause to his downfall at the end. I disagree with this statement and here is why: Oedipus’ hubris didn’t hurt him earlier in life, hubris has no connection to the conflict in his story, and the conflict would have arose without his hubris. Oedipus was likely always a proud man and showed it. “Oedipus whom all men call the Great” (7). He was the son of a king (not the one he thought, but that’s besides the point) and was then a king himself. Before Oedipus started searching for Laius’ killer, he felt on top of the world. “I would be very hard should I not pity suppliants like these” (11). Since this never hurt him earlier in life, it likely had no effect on the situation this time either. Not only did hubris not affect the downfall, but it really couldn’t have because the two are completely unrelated. Whether or not Oedipus wore his pride on his sleeve, the …show more content…
Well it was only after Creon told Oedipus that he must find Laius’ killer that his life came crashing down. “The God commanded cleary: let some one punish with force this dead man’s murderers” (125). He was just trying to save the city of Thebes by righting the wrongs the Oracles said to. “What is the rite of purification? How shall it be done?” (116). So even if Oedipus hadn’t shown hubris, he would’ve gone down the same path and discovered his true origins. So in conclusion, Oedipus didn’t need hubris to ruin his life. Destiny and reality did that enough for him. Hubris did nothing to change the situation except make the “tragic downfall” more dramatic and harsh on Oedipus. What can be taken from this is that correlation isn’t causation. Just because he showed his pride doesn’t mean that had anything to do with the main conflict of the
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