Hamartia in Oedipus the King by Sophocles

The term 'hamartia' refers to the tragic flaw in the character of the protagonist which ultimately leads to his downfall. In Greek tragedy, the 'hamartia' can be described as a mistake in judgment defined by the actions of the protagonist, his emotional break down and also the cause of his twist of fate. It is a major theme of Sophocles’ tragedy "Oedipus Rex".

Most Greek tragedies feature a great man that suffers from a fatal flaw, to such an extent that he is destroyed. Oedipus is one such man, and his weakness, or hamartia, is his hubris, or great pride. Pride is enmity--it can be observed in those that see themselves as above others, and are easily angered by others challenging them. It was pride that caused Oedipus to unknowingly commit awful sin---killing his father, marrying his mother, and causing her to bear him children and siblings in one.

Oedipus' pride is so great that it makes him furiously angry with others, enough to want to kill them. When Oedipus hears from Teiresias, the blind prophet, that it was he who killed the late king and brought plague upon his people, he is furious, and convinces himself that Teiresias is lying, and is in the employ of his brother-in-law, Creon. he threatens the prophet, a servant of the God Apollo: "Do you really think you can say this unpunished?" (Sophocles 23).

He proceeds to accuse Teiresias of being a false prophet, a fake, and not a messenger from God. He no longer wants advice from Apollo's prophet-- he declares, "I did not know what nonsense you would speak, or I would hardly have sent for you" (Sophocles 25).In essence, he rejects the word of a God, through his servant. He believes Creon is attempting to take the throne. When he confronts Creon, Creon asks, "What do you want? To cast me from this land?" to which Oedipus replies, "Hardly--I want you to die, not flee" (Sophocles 32).Oedipus' pride is so great that he is willing to kill others that threaten him.

As the play continues, we learn that the pride and anger we see in Oedipus is nothing new--he confides in Jocasta that he heard a prophecy from an oracle that he would kill his father and marry his mother, and he fled his home, Corinth, to escape this fate--to attempt to escape the will of the Gods, and prove them wrong. He believed he could defy the Gods--a great example of hubris.

As he traveled away, he met a chariot on the road, and the chariot drove him off the road. Oedipus admits, "In my anger I struck the driver, turning me off the road, and the old man, when he saw, watched me as I passed the chariot and struck me on the head with the two-pronged goad" (Sophocles 38-39). Insulted at being pushed off the road, unwilling to move aside for a larger, more difficult to maneuver chariot, and infuriated that an old man would hit him on the head, Oedipus kills them all, fulfilling the prophecy of Apollo--he would kill his own father. Thus, Oedipus brings about his own downfall through his hamartia, his pride.

Even after the prophecies are fulfilled, Oedipus and his mother are not aware, until Oedipus begins digging up his past and attempting to find out who his parents are. Jocasta, Oedipus' mother and wife, begins to realize what happened, and begs him to stop. "No, by the gods! If indeed you care for your own life, do not go after this! I grieve enough...obey me, I pray. Do not do this...what I say is best." Oedipus replies, "I cannot be persuaded not to learn this clearly...what you say is best has long annoyed me" (Sophocles 48). In his pride, he ignores the warning of his wife, assuming she knows nothing he does not. Later, when he is questioning the shepherd who spared his life as a baby, he is angry when the shepherd refuses to speak. He threatens him multiple times, finally declaring, "You are dead if I have to ask it again!" (Sophocles 52). Oedipus is so determined to learn of his parentage that he ignores the warnings of others, refusing to believe they have wisdom he lacks. He drives on, heedless of their attempts to stop him, until he learns the truth of what he has done. His pride, his refusal to listen to others, strips away the protection of ignorance. With full knowledge of the monstrosity of what has happened, Jocasta hangs herself, and Oedipus blinds himself and goes into exile.

Taken in sum, Oedipus' hamartia, his pride, is the root of his misfortunes. He attempts to defy fate, ignores the prophecies of Apollo's servants, threatens those who do not submit to his will with pain or death, and refuses to listen to the council of those who know better than him. In the end, he has lost everything. One day he is king, a leader and savior of his people, with a wife and children he loves, and the next he is the most wretched of men, murderer of his father, husband to his mother, brother to his children. His mother and wife is dead, his eyes are blinded by his own hand, and his kindgom is in the hands of his brother-in-law and uncle Creon. Oedipus’ hamartia may most directly be his mistakes, but ultimately these mistakes flow from his ego. For Oedipus, hamartia certainly refers to a flaw.

Works Cited

Gantz, Timothy. Early Greek Myth. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.

Powell, Barry B. Classical Myth. Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1998.

Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Trans. J. E. Thomas. Clayton: Prestwick House, 2005.