Oedipus
The play depicts the life of a character known as Oedipus, his life, actions, and the events that led to his downfall. Because of certain avoidable actions, Oedipus succumbed to failures. The mistakes he made during his life contributed significantly to his downfall. This flaws or mistakes are in different categories namely unmanageable temper, arrogance and pride, coupled with the desire to uncover the truth led to him to destruction, which he undertook for the good of the people. From the play Oedipus seems to be the cause of his downfall, which resulted from his actions (Ellen, 2005). A good and considerable leader ought to be conscious of his or her actions. He or she ought to take up full responsibility in case of any itch or mistake.
Controlling temper was a complicated issue for Oedipus; he had an exceptionally short temper. This led to his unethical or illogical actions. After pleading with Tireseas to disclose about himself to him, which Tireseas did, he lost his temper and the actions he takes are harsh and wrathful. His temper makes him flee from home after hearing the prophecy, which said he would marry his own mother and slay his dad. Another scenario where his displays his poor anger management capability is when he makes a mockery about Tireseas blind nature after he told him the truth (Ellen, 2005). A good leader should learn to embrace the truth and react positively to critics. The actions of Oedipus do not suggest in any way that he can embrace critics positively. If he cannot handle the truth than he cannot handle both the negative and positive critics, hence he is not a good leader.
Oedipus humility and the way of serving his people show his heroic nature he takes action whenever his people face any kind of danger. His flaw when undertaking such action is his pride, which is evident in almost all his undertakings. After the death of Laius, he vows to search for his killers and bring them to book. This heart of willingness to see justice served is a noble act that depicts hi as a person with his peoples interests at heart. His anger and temper always seems to taint his noble action as he goes ahead to curse the killers of Laius. Whereas the people view him as a hero, he only undertakes such steps to satisfy his ego showing his prideful nature. He also led him to marrying Jocasta, Queen of Thebes, instead of considering emotions or feelings of the heart (Ellen, 2005). He married Jocasta as show of royalty, when from his heart or emotions he never loved her as a partner but as his mother. A good leader should show humility as one of his or her virtues without expecting anything from the people. Oedipus only takes on noble causes to satisfy his ego. He does not undertake such steps for the good of his people. A good leader sacrifices for his or people not to satisfy his or her ego.
It is regrettable that his determination also contributed to his downfall. After the prophecy that he will slay his own father and marry his mother, Oedipus is determined to escape the prophecy and not do as it prophesies. He even flees from his homeland in order to avoid happenings of this prophecy from occurring. His act of fleeing does not help in preventing this prophecy from occurring since his pride and arrogance led him back to his homeland, where he eventually fulfils the prophecy. Despite his willingness not to do this unethical and immoral act of slaying his own dad and marrying his own mother, praises from people and his prideful nature drives him, back (Ellen, 2005). This shows that determination towards the wrong direction is harmful. In the case, Oedipus tend is determined that running from his motherland land will lead to impeding this prophecy, which turns out not to be the case. The urge of satisfying his ego leads him right back to committing the same acts he was trying to escape.
His quest to know the truth also led to his downfall in a number of ways. These include the following, after knowing the truth that he searched for; he becomes ungrateful to Tireseas who disclosed the same to him. This resulted to an event where he stabbed his eye leading to him becoming blind (Ellen, 2005). This action made him loose the honour his people had on him. From these actions, his people considered him as a petty leader with no control over himself. Despite the bitter nature if the truth, a leader ought to know how to handle himself since his actions influences the perceptions of his people.
The downfall of Oedipus also resulted from his ungrateful, unappreciative, and careless nature of handling vital issues. The manner by which he handles truths tabled to him shows his ungrateful nature. Instead of appreciating Tireseas discovery, he despises him and even makes a mockery out of his blind nature. A leader ought to respect the truth even if it does not go as per his or her expectation. Oedipus lacks this one quality. His actions show otherwise (Ellen, 2005). The manner by which he handles the news of his prophecy show his careless nature, he opts to run from the truth instead of plotting the best way of facing it. A good leader ought to learn how to face the truth even if it goes against the expectations he, or she had regarded the issue. Oedipus did not have to flee from his homeland. A good leader plots his or ways effectively to deal with any touching issue in his or her kingdom. He or she ought to withstand even the harsh times when there is no hope. The hope of a leader encourages the spirit of his or her people.
This act of running from the kingdom even depicts that he is a coward. Any coward leader puts his kingdom at stake, the chances of such a kingdom tumbling are maximized since he or she cannot take up strong decisions or stand. A good leader ought to be able to withstand pressure from all kinds of nature since the success of the kingdom relies on his or her decisions. From the play, it is evident that Oedipus is not a good leader with the people’s interest at heart. His actions are self-cantered. The qualities that Oedipus displays indicate failure and poor leadership strategies. Pride and ego satisfaction are qualities of poor leadership and should be avoided at all cost.
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Ellen McLaughlin, “Oedipus: A New Version” Arion 12.3 (Winter 2005): 74-133
