I'm not exactly sure on this one, so I'm just going to throw out a couple of ideas.
1. He is demonstrating that there is a difference between different types of intelligences. While Oedipus is smart enough to solve the riddle, he failed to realize the truth about who he is, and the prophecy. This is tragic because the character whom we see as being extremely intelligent is now seen as a fool.
2. He is showing that even a man as brilliant as Oedipus (as shown in his solving the riddle and being a great king) is not smart when compared to the gods. Oedipus could not be outsmarted by the riddle, but he was outsmarted by Apollo's prophecy. The purpose of this could be to put people in their place, or simply to acknowledge the power and greatness of the gods. I am not sure if this would qualify as being tragic because he doesn't really fall from power, he just gets... overpowered?
I'm not exactly sure on this one, so I'm just going to throw out a couple of ideas.
ReplyDelete1. He is demonstrating that there is a difference between different types of intelligences. While Oedipus is smart enough to solve the riddle, he failed to realize the truth about who he is, and the prophecy. This is tragic because the character whom we see as being extremely intelligent is now seen as a fool.
2. He is showing that even a man as brilliant as Oedipus (as shown in his solving the riddle and being a great king) is not smart when compared to the gods. Oedipus could not be outsmarted by the riddle, but he was outsmarted by Apollo's prophecy. The purpose of this could be to put people in their place, or simply to acknowledge the power and greatness of the gods. I am not sure if this would qualify as being tragic because he doesn't really fall from power, he just gets... overpowered?