The Most Tragic of Tales

                Both King Lear and Oedipus Rex have been two of the more saddening tragedies that I have read. With both involving: dysfunctional families, killing ones’ own father, and eye gouging, it can be difficult to choose which one is the more tragic of the two tales. While one might think Oedipus Rex is more tragic than King Lear, in my opinion there are few statements that are more wrong. Allow me to explain:

                My first reason for believing that Lear is the more tragic story is that Lear is essentially just a sad, helpless, grumpy old man who’s probably living on borrowed time. Often, Lear appears to be senile and somewhat confused. He is far too trusting and hands over all of his power to his two daughters, who then betray him and try to have him killed. Oedipus is very different: a relatively young man probably in his thirties. He is not weak or senile of overly-trusting: he’s just not very bright. Other than that, he is nowhere near as pitiable as Lear, in my opinion.

                Next, we need to look at the plays’ endings: What did Oedipus lose? Well, first he lost his dignity, as he learned that for years he had been sleeping with his own mother. After which he discovered that he had accidentally murdered his own father. After learning what had happened and who she was now married to, Jocasta took her own life. So in total, Oedipus lost his pride and dignity, his power, his innocence (or whatever innocence he might have had), his home, and both of his parents (although one could say that he really emotionally didn’t, being that he never even knew they were his parents). Is this tragic? Yes, it’s heartbreaking. But to me, it’s nowhere near as bad as what Lear lost. Lear, like Oedipus, lost his land, his power, and his pride. But Oedipus lost much more: Oedipus lost not only any friends that he had, but he also lost his three children.

                Now, parents say that to lose a child is the worst thing anyone can ever face, but to lose all three at once, after two of whom tried to kill him, has got to be even more dreadful. To have them act out of greed and hatred toward him after he cared for them and raised him their whole lives, and to have banished Cordelia, the one daughter who really cared for him, it was no surprise in my mind that Lear’s sad old heart gave out. He had nothing to live for now; he had no purpose, no reason. After the deaths of his children, Lear’s existence was left hallow and dying, and so he died as a result. Oedipus, by no means had it easy in the end, but even if he never saw his beloved children again, I should think that he was happy that they were alive.

                This leads me to a question: if one’s life loses its meaning like Lear’s did, is it truly a life at all?