Oedipus, the main character of "Oedipus, the King" suffers from hamartia and frailty which leads to his downfall. Oedipus's flawed character traits: pride (hubris), stubbornness, and disrespect precipitate his tragic fate and death. Oedipus, king of Thebes, is a flawed protagonist in Sophocles' "Oedipus, the King." He is an imperfect human being who makes mistakes in his life. His mistakes, however, are very tragic and exceed what he deserves. He is ignorant of his true identity and does not accept his gods' prophecy about him. He tries to avoid the horrendous fate of his gods in his life and causes blasphemy, parricide and incest unintentionally and unknowingly. His first mistake is trying to ignore the rumors that his adoptive parents are not his real parents. He flees Corinth to avoid his prophesied fate believing that his adoptive parents are safe away from him. As fate would have it, he unknowingly kills his real father at a crossroads due to his bad temper, reckless anger and self-defense. Unfortunately he fulfills his birth prophecy, The Oracle of Delphi: “His beloved children will be shown / a father who is also a brother; to the one who gave birth to him, son and husband; to his father / to his fellow bloodline and murderer” (lines 462-465) Oedipus, with his hasty actions and decisions, commits terrible sins: he kills his father, commits incest and disobeys the gods. His destiny continues its path when he becomes king of Thebes. Decipher the enigma of the monstrous Sphinx by answering correctly: it is man, who crawls as a child, walks as an adult and uses a stick as an old man. He gains power over the people of Thebes. He considers himself powerful and powerful above all. He demonstrates his true arrogance and egoic character in verse 8: “I, Oedipus, a n… middle of paper… looks in ways to the future, not to the past, I cannot see the truth until after it has become clear to everyone else” (1424). Walton concludes: “we feel compassion for Oedipus, as Freud tells us, because, on some level, his fate could be ours” (1424). Oedipus appears as if he has everything a man could want; but, in seeking the truth, he loses everything. Fate is unfair: it shows up unexpectedly when we least expected it. Works Cited Sophocles. “Oedipus, the king”. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing: ed. Edgar vs. Roberts and Robert Zweig. Compact 5th edition. Boston: Longman, 2012. 969-1004. PrintWalton, J. Michael. "Oedipus, the King (Oedipus Tyrannus) Play by Sophocles, 430 BC" Reference Guide to World Literature. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. 3rd ed. vol. 2: It works. Detroit: St. James Press, 2003. 1423-1424. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Network. November 11. 2013.