“Courage,in the final analysis, is nothing but an affirmative answer to the shocks ofexistence.” ~Kurt Goldstein
Life happens. Events happen in your life that you have no control over. However it’s not those events that define you, it’s how you react to them that ultimately transforms you into the person you were always destined to be. Life happened to Oedipus. The “stuff” he couldn’t control was killing his father and marrying his mother because it is impossible to escape fate. I would argue that Oedipus had the most courage out of every character in Greek tragedy, Oedipus, because his courage outweighs his hubris.
Because Oedipus acts drastically, get gets drastic results. His hubris consists of anger, irrational actions, disrespect, pride and ignorance. However it is his courage that ultimately defines him over all of his hubris. He had the courage to attempt to escape fate by running away from his “dad.” He had the courage to answer the sphinx’s riddle. He had the courage to lead Thebes. Even in his downfall, he had the courage to bring justice by banishing himself from the kingdom: “And then he will leave Thebes, self-exiled, in order that the curse which he himself pronounced may depart from the house” (1243). He also blinds himself so he couldn’t see the destruction he had unknowingly caused “If I had eyes, I do not know how I could bear the sight of my father, when I came to the house of Death…” (1320). This proves that it was fate that determined Oedipus’ impact, not his original intentions: “For I am sick in my own being, sick in my origin” (1346). Although his fate had predetermined his course in life, his courageous character is what ultimately defines Oedipus in the final moment.
This is exactly true, although the thought of sleeping with your mother and killing your father is overall disturbing, you seem to put it in a way that makes it totally make sense. When you say that he used his courage to outweigh his hubris, it completely changed my idea of Oedipus. Before reading this I honestly just though he was a perverted guy who completely just screwed up his life, but you are right, it is fate that killed his life. Although he did still murder some people and did not think of that when thinking of why it was "his fault" , the rest of his life was fate. Good job connecting the topic paragraph with your detailed paragraph at the bottom.
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