t mistake leading to tremendous suffering and a fall from his high status. The tragedy derives from the fact that none of what occurs is the tragic hero's fault, for the tragic flaw predetermines his actions and seals his fate. This is the pattern found in the plays of Sophocles. The world of Sophocles is a world of myth brought into the human realm, and the tragic vision derives from the conflict between the actions of human beings and the requirements of the gods:
Compared with the Homeric epics, Athenian tragedy reflected a more conscious sense of the gods' metaphorical significance and a more poignant appreciation of human self-awareness and suffering. Yet through profound suffering came profound learning, and the history and drama of human existence, for all its harsh conflict and wrenching contradiction, still held overarching purpose and meaning. The myths were the living body of that meaning, constituting a language that both reflected and illuminated the essential processes of life.
Sophocles wrote about individuals who reflected the importance of order and obedience to both the gods and the state, though the two often clashed, as in Antigone. In Oedipus, Sophocles shows the suffering that can come when man does not heed the gods. Oedipus's fate is determined before the action of the play, and for that matter it is determined when he is born. His parents are told by the oracle at Delphi that their son would one day kill his father and marry his mother. They abandon the child, assuming that he has died, but he has not and many years later does kill his father and marry his mother, all without knowing who they are any more than they recognize him. Oedipus's fall comes as he learns of what he has done and is punished for it. In the Greek view, man is responsible for his actions and must suffer the consequences, though this is difficult to reconcile with the plot of the play because Oedipus's actions are both orda...