Hecuba and
Oedipus are both tragic characters. They are relatively good people who have
very bad stories. Hecuba lost everything—she was one queen of the Trojans, a
mighty woman. She once had sons and daughters who were great and brought her
honur. But she lost everything after the Trojan War. Her children were killed,
she had to bury them herself. Her nation was no more, she became a slave to the
Greeks.
Oedipus also lost everything, though
in a very different way. He started out as the king of Thebes, wealthy and loved
by his subjects. He tried to do good and do right by his people as he tried to
solve the problem of the plague. However in his quest to help his people and
find the murderer of King Laius he uncovered a truth that wrecked him. He found
out that he was the murderer of the king, his father, he married his own mother
and his children were half siblings. Not only this but previously he had
decreed the outlaw of the killer of the King, so once he had uncovered the
truth, that he was the murderer, he became outlawed.
Both Hecuba and Oedipus have tragic,
heartbreaking stories. However in my opinion Oedipus is the more tragic of the
two. Hecuba does suffer many awful trials, losing her whole family as well as
her nation. However in the end she gets her revenge. She also didn’t have a lot
of control over her circumstances. There wasn’t a whole lot she could have done
to change things. However all of Oedipus’ problems were his own fault even
though he didn’t know it. He had a choice of what to do, he could have changed
things. Even though he didn’t know his choices would end how they did, he had control
of his situation. That is what makes him a more tragic character—his guilt and
the “what ifs” that would plague him long after he blinded himself and left his
country. He would always know deep down that everything that happened was all
his fault—that he brought everything upon himself even though it was
unknowingly. That makes him, in my opinion, much more tragic then Hecuba.
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