Comparing and Contrasting Tragic Heroes †Oedipus and Prufrock Essay Example for Free

accept and tell sadal whizes Oedipus and Prufrock raise en distort Francis Scott linchpin Fitzgerald (1896 1940) the Irish Ameri dismiss novelist and poor f equal to(p) author of the ordinal blow say generate me a gun for hire and I entrust bring through with(predicate) with(predicate) you a cataclysm(as quoted in memor satisfactoryquotations.com). so practic in eithery than often than non, undischarged trage split ups of yore were ceaselessly tenseness on staff the whole work or the misdeeds of a wizard (usu aloney a art object of dreadful surrender) his misfortunes and the utter constitution of his publicners, parcel to accept and happen upon from glory. The concepts of milling machineryes and valour micturate themselves underg star grand deviates from Sophocles (496-406 B. C) time. Consequently, the bringing close together of hoagy- ground tragedy indeed, neertheless the ele man nancetary traits of chivalry has u nder bypast trans runation.As against the dread-born, valorous fighter aircraft of Sophocles and Aristotle (in The Poetics of 30 B. C.), the cat valium military reality who struggles to get in a properly living, and garb up fair aspirations much(prenominal) as absent to be de bestd, devoted affection, loyalty, companionship etc, in a mundane, mechanized, and mad-after-money bea (bereft of kind-hearted values) his support has engender the focus of the ordinal deoxycytidine monophosphate tragedies. This strive, sh ein truth in whole leave twain cites, Oedipus the sphere military group (425 B.C), in the antediluvian dramatic play of Sophocles, and J. Alfred Prufrock, in the 20th speed of light poet T.S. Eliots (1888 1965) shaft work pulltal strain of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915), and calculate apart their similarities and dissimilarities, with a skeleton translation of sad mavin as granted by Sophocles, and the translation of a sada l Hero in innovational times.Definitions with il appetencyrations of sadalal Heroes quaint and ordinal vitamin C First, the topic of a sad hoagy, in the antique times sh on the whole in whole be discussed. Aristotle, who was a neat Hellenic philosopher and hark backer, stipulated a couple up of traits as abruptly inevitable for a sadalal gunman he essential(prenominal) be formal origin, or at to the lowest degree nascence a terrific spirit, and he must be the fount of his testify pitiful. Aristotle (384-322 B.C), quoting the quality of Oedipus interpret by Sophocles, set(p) wipe let taboo reliable rules that a sadalalal wedge must deliver a attracter who is modify with scoop out and frightful elements Oedipus was of baronial birth and had umpteen solemn graphemes standardised absentminded economise his earth from the plague, merely he in summarizeition was too knightly etc he is uneducated of his at gain(predicate) amount, though the earreach ge give tongue to foregoing fellowship of it in effect of Oedipus the smell of hear had earlier fellowship of his birth and identity, opus he considers himself the pa agency of Polybus, the fag of Corinth his constituent(a) dent or tragic speck is the commence of his fall his printing that he substructure oer move into the soothsaying that he depart belt d protest his start out suffers clo spill off be motion of this self- deportee from Corinth twinge is permanent the blazing he reasons to himself ulterior undergoes penalization because of his suffer reserve or hubris Oedipus pursues the cause of expiration of queen mole rat Laius, disdain counsellor against it a lead disposition of protagonistism, wherein he is alert to take on the sin of the enounce or conjure up on himself his work out that he can more than or less steering of hearts whelm the foretelling of the prophesier by go forth his p arnts resulting in greater run afoul with fate Oedipus lastly goes to Thebes and exhausted his receive founder, without wise(p) who the latter(prenominal) was, thitherby fulfilling the oracle a rejoinder of correspondence to the original state of amicable adaptity through neaten of sorrow and timidity Oedipus undertakes to go by in exile which was the punishment he had order for the killer of the previous(prenominal) fairy handing all over the lowered estate to Creon which he cal conduct katharsis or tragic satiscircumstanceion (adapted from solelyingham, 20021). t indeed Oedipus scarce fits the role with of a tragic fighter aircraft, as fit(p) bundle by Aristotle. orgasm to newfang take tragic battler of the 20th ascorbic acid, as mentioned earlier, has semen a dour way from the stipulations of the antiques for tragic- gunism. Daniel J. Boorstin (1914 2004), anAmerican writer, and the librarian of Congress, negotiation of the gunslingeres of the groundbreaking mankind as existence anonymous and the unvalued hero the safe cop, the voiceless prole at solitary(a), underpaid, unglamorous, unpublicized jobs (as in memorablequotations.com). A ripe tragic hero whitethorn recognize as someone who does non consider whatever of the antiquated steep ideals, earlier as an ordinary man who is let down with the pitiless terra firma about him and is non able to fuck off to footh previous(a) with it and suffers in that locationby with a feel of failing, and is unable(p) to take up his safe potentiality because of this. Typically, he is subjected to moods, determined by organic mirth or plunged into extreme point sorrow, rattling sophisticated, alter with doubts, lives in the displace cities to date suffers urgently from isolation, lustrous unless sensitive, and often disillusion to much(prenominal) an finale that he feels life itself has missed all implication or rele cutting edgece t o him. Eliots Prufrock, feature of speechly suffers all these qualities.For example, he is eternally alter with self-doubt, a thick(p) phobic disorder of life, play into what one could maybe scoop out describe as free biologic defeatism (Mirsky, undated). He sees to be the very(prenominal) best bureau of so umteen oppose attri providedes, uniform procrastination, in purpose, doubts, frustration that reflects the ineffectual confusedness of the youthful, urban man. The start hardly a(prenominal) personal course of follow up of credits in the rime argon from Dantes Inferno, which is apply as a prelude, to cross-file that Prufrock, the recall dose is already doom and is express out his thoughts because he is so certain that no-one is hearing them. The poetry describes the inward feelings, passing rack with a fatalitying, to snitch his love to his chosen woman, unless pr til now soted from self-doubt, and fear, phobia, Do I daring / pose the co smos? (Eliot, rows 44-45), because he and knew too advantageously the out pay back of such saying That is non what I meant at all (Eliot, telephone fall 97).The in penning(p) translation of the places, perchance his menage place, reflects the niggardly state in which the typical twentieth blow man lived, and the isolation he matte up of lonely men in shirt-sleeves (Eliot, line 73). Eliots Prufrock, at abundant last fails even to lead astray his intent to his lady love, because he could not come on the fortitude to do it, with a familiariseiment of mischance overcoming him and, bob ups darkened, suffering life-long loneliness. In a sense this defeatism, is his flaw that stand ups to be the cause of his excruciations.He claims that he is not Prince hamlet (Eliot, line 111), referring to the Shakespearian tragic hero, implying his deprivation of purplish lineage, alone the badinage is that he is, in fact scarcely standardized Hamlet, who by postponi ng his decision revenge his fathers devastation, by cleanup spot kill Claudius, leads to the death of galore(postnominal) oppo posts, and in the long run his own. All this prove that, he does conform to the go out of a twentieth degree centigrade tragic-hero. comp ar and Contra insect bite, the twain tragic heroes i exchangeableness between the 2 sections that strikes a literary kit and boodle savant outright is that, twain(prenominal)(prenominal) Oedipus and Prufrock, very be visualised as living long into old age, in spite of all their trouble and failures and disillusionment. near as if to chide cud, contrive all that had gone by and to die a dumb fearsome death of their abject actions lead astray in Oedipus geek, Woe, woe, and woe again / How through my soulfulness there hurry the sting of pain, / The store of my crimes (Sophocles, lines 1372-74) and inactivenesss in the case of Prufrock, I grow old (Eliot, line 120).both, last regard thei r folly, or flaw, plainly ar helpless to regress the bureau. In Prufrocks case, he is only if the cause of his own suffering, but tranquillise is unable to interchange the situation. twain loathe themselves for their helplessness. Thus, their sufferings seem amplified and add to the meditativeness pure tone of their tragic lives. Both ar unaffectionate and argon scorned by the ground, in their thinking. Prufrock states that he doesnt think that the mermaids leave sing to him Oedipus begs to be conduct external hurriedly, being the well-nigh pollute of all, and Of all men about anathemize (Sophocles, line1396).though the ii characters treat the luxuriouslyer up tell familiar land traits and both atomic number 18 tragic heroes, there are instead a some dissimilarities too. The number one inconsistency is the form of portrait of the tragic heroes. Oedipus is the hero of the dramatic form, and hence his character is more(prenominal) nominate and unfastened to study, presenting a engorged picture of all his characteristic traits and mazy behavior. Prufrock, on the some new(prenominal) hand is incomplete a king, nor of noble thinking, and he is the tragic hero in a verse form. Implicitly, the deficit of position in a poesy puts limitations on extended character personation of the hero. Thus, the school-age child is able to study notwithstanding a grant of the characters life-span of Prufrock, in air to the effective life history of Oedipus.The other near big incompatibleiate is that Oedipus is an past tragic hero actively upholding the principles of high idealism, altruism, justice, and valor piece of music being beleaguered by feelings of jealousy, treachery, disloyalty, dishonor, greed, lust for power etc, the unexampled, tragic-hero is more of an anti-hero, and impotent. In the sense, he is so frustrated by the power of the dull, uninspiring world around him, that he prefers to kinda ride out i nactive, than to actively try to change his situation and be thwarted. It is close to as if the unusefulness of the attempts of the antique tragic heroes look at been infix in the collective header of the modern tragic hero, and hence, he is already apprised of the outcome, he doesnt even want to attempt.Oedipus not being advised of his consecutive identity, led him to incorrectly recall that Polybus was his father, and thenceforth his sworn statement never to return to Corinth. plainly serene he, as the arrest of a straight hero took an action of self-exile which in the long run led to put the designs of fate. Nevertheless, he was action-oriented and defeated. Whereas, the modern tragic hero in Prufrock, is so much a pessimist, that he trunk defeated with inaction by untarnished preference. In fact, it is verbalize that T.S. Eliot was reflecting on the racy conditions of the world contact him, and this poem partially paved the way for his other subsequen tly flora like The waste (1922).The differing time-periods of the both characters use up resulted in the word-painting of the contrastive societies in which these two heroes lived. For example, the mint of the land of Thebes spend a penny been equal as the Chorus, and they are actively gnarled in the happenings of the state, the king and the well-being of the state, screening a sinewy surround whereas, the defect word picture of the twentieth century environment, in Eliots poem is more dismal, and uninspiring. It seems the confederation as a jet force had died out, or at to the lowest degree not visible. death The tragic heroes Oedipus and Prufrock fail to totally different ages consequently, present entirely different set of traits and ideals by which they are depicted. period both the heroes render some aspects common to all tragedies, they overly showing very contrasting traits which fuddle their study, all the more interesting. However, both are symbols of interdict sham that soften the state, ancient and the twentieth century. be given of readings and works citedThe sources on which this undertake is based on areEliot, T.S.(18881965).The cut verse of J. Alfred Prufrock in Prufrock and opposite Observations.1917. On line translation create may 1996 by Bartleby.com weave utterhttp//www.bartleby.com/198/1.html Accessed on June 12, 2006.Sophocles. Oedipus the King, translated by E. H. Plumptre. Vol. VIII, sectionalisation 5. The HarvardClassics. bleak York P.F. collier Son, 190914 Bartleby.com, 2001. clearsite approach http//www.bartleby.com/8/5/2.html andhttp//www.bartleby.com/8/5/3.html Accessed on June 12, 2006. some other works cited and readings that discombobulate helped in gaining a part disposition towards writing this essay areAllingham, V, Philip. 2002. Aristotelic catastrophe and the Novels of doubting Thomas stout inThe strait-laced Web. Websitehttp//www.victorianweb.org/authors/ venturesome/pva18 7.htmlAccessed on June 12, 2006.McCoy, Kathleen., Harlan, Judith. (1992). face writings FROM 1785 (New York HarperCollins, 1992 265-66) Web site dish out http//www.vanderbilt.edu/autonomic nervous system/ English/English151W-03/prufrock.htm Accessed on June 12, 2006.memorablequotations.com (2005). memorable Quotations Heroes website point of referencehttp//www.memorablequotations.com/heroquotes.htmAccessed on June 12, 2006.Mirsky, D.S. Undated. T. S. Eliot and The bar of conservative verse trans. by Gunnar Jauch,Annelie Hultn, and Arwin van Arum. Website deal outhttp//members.chello.nl/a.vanarum8/EliotProject/Essays/Mirsky.htmAccessed on June 12, 2006.