Throughout ancient literature,
Pride has always been associated with evil – the Bible branded it as a cardinal sin with its victims subject to
eternal damnation, and in the world of Dante Alighieri, the proud were punished
in the deep abyss of Hell. As the main characters of the Greek Tragedy Oedipus the King and Star Wars, Oedipus and Anakin Skywalker share
a similar hamartia of extreme pride. Regarded as messiahs of their respective
worlds, they promptly turn proud and arrogant. Inevitably, the hubris of
Oedipus and Anakin Skywalker causes their ultimate downfall through the betrayal
of allies, the ignorant pursuit of knowledge, and the denial of fate.
Blinded by arrogance
and pride, Anakin Skywalker and Oedipus develop prejudices and false
assumptions which prompt them to turn against their allies. As a hero in the Clone
War, Anakin’s pride outgrows the councils of Yoda and the admonitions of
Obi-wan, which are meant to aid him in a time of uncertainty. Any contradiction to his will is seen by the
narcissist Anakin as a hindrance to his pursuit of power and a deliberate act
of betrayal. Particularly, as Padmé, his beloved wife, pleads him in
desperation to return from the “dark side”, the enraged Anakin shouts, “Liar!
You are with them! The Jedi turned against me. Don’t turn against me!” (Star Wars Episode III) This clearly
shows that a combination of pride and fear has turned Anakin paranoid, as even an
expression of love is seen to be an act of defiance. His lack of trust
eventually leads him to betray the Jedi alliance, and facilitated his
transition into Darth Vader. Similar to Anakin, Oedipus is intoxicated by the
euphoria of power and influence. His hubris creates an illusion of
infallibility, and leaves no room for self-reflection. He thinks that any crime
must have originated from other people. Analogous to Anakin, who fancied that
the Jedi were his enemies, Oedipus brands Creon the title of traitor without
concrete proof, “Do you have the face to come to my palace – you who are
convicted as a murderer, exposed as a robber attempting to steal my throne?”
(Sophocles, 30) This illustrates that as the King of Thebes, vanity and fear of
losing his power makes Oedipus implicitly believe in the willingness of others
to betray him. In doing so, he loses a valuable friend and counselor in a time
of great peril. In summary, the pretentious and conceited Anakin and Oedipus abandon
their allies and friends in delusion, which hastened their downfall.
Bolstered by the false
sense of security that spurred from hubris, Anakin Skywalker and Oedipus’s
adamant pursuit of knowledge triggered the chain of events that lead to their
tragic end. Anakin is well aware that he is the “Chosen One” prophesized to
save the galaxy, yet his impatience makes him resent the Jedi for holding him
back from the council. Being the narcissist that he is, the praises and
flatters of Palpatine easily seduces him to explore the insidious “dark side”
of the force. Feeding on the lies of Dark Sidious, Anakin’s reckless pursuit of
power soon gets him entangled in a world of suspicion and hate. Especially,
when Obi-wan confronts Anakin in hopes of redeeming him, Anakin says, “Don’t lecture
me, Obi-wan! I see through the lies of
the Jedi, I do not fear the dark side as you do. I have brought peace, freedom,
justice and security” (Star Wars Episode
III). This clearly demonstrates how Anakin’s initial motive of acquiring knowledge
becomes corrupted under the weight of ambition and pride. Likewise, Oedipus also
welcomes information, however damaging it might be, thinking that he can handle
them with impunity. In particular, completely ignoring Tiresias’s potential
reasons for reluctance, Oedipus forces him to utter the truth, which could have
been avoided: “You are the murderer; you are the defilement of this land” (21).
It’s apparent how Oedipus’s obstinacy sets in motion the investigation that
leads to his ultimate downfall. Furthermore, when Jocasta rushes away in grief after
realizing the truth, Oedipus still remains confident, “Burst out what will! I
shall know my origin, mean though it may be. I count myself the son of Good
Chance, the giver of success – I shall not be dishonored” (62). This clearly portrays
Oedipus’s blindness to the signs of impending disaster such as the distress of
others. Eager to discover the truth, he is oblivious to everything else. To
conclude, hubris leads Anakin and Oedipus to a reckless pursuit of knowledge,
which becomes a driving factor for their tragic end.
Anakin Skywalker and
Oedipus’s greatest act of hubris that leads to the final catastrophe is their
denial of fate. Anakin, after his marriage with Padmé, keeps on seeing visions
of “pain, suffering and death” (Star Wars
Episode II). His premonition that Padmé would die makes him anxious to save
her by any means, which becomes the chief factor in his decision to join Darth
Sidious. For instance, despite Yoda’s counsels: “Death is a natural part of
life. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. The fear of loss is a path to the
dark side” (Star Wars Episode II), Anakin still tries to defy the “inevitable”
by joining the “dark side” because he cannot restrain his love for Padmé:
“You’re asking me to be rational. That’s something I can’t do” (Star Wars Episode II). Ironically, by
joining the “dark side”, he becomes prone to anger and hatred, which eventually
leads him to kill Padmé and Obi-wan, the very people whom he once swore to
protect. Similarly, a crucial cause of Oedipus’s downfall is his unwillingness
to accept his fate. In doing so, Oedipus must reject the very idea that the
gods are in control of the lives of the mortals, which is the ultimate
proclamation of hubris. In fact, it was the very decision to leave Corinth that
leads him to kill his real father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. Even more
ironic is the fact that in the same sense that Anakin unwitting becomes the
very thing he swore to destroy, Oedipus himself is the culprit he curses and
thrives to find. He pronounces a devious curse on the criminal who killed Laius
– an act which only the gods are capable of: “I call down this curse in the god’s name: let them be destroyed by the
present plague, or something even worse” (16). Once again, by defying the will
of the gods, Oedipus becomes the victim of their wrath. In short, their most
prominent act of hubris, the denial of their fate, becomes the greatest
contributor to their downfall.
Oedipus
and Anakin Skywalker are great examples of the misfortunes that ensue when one
loses contact with reality and overestimates one’s own competence. Their
narcissism and departure from humility leads to the irrational distrust of
others. Moreover, the illusion of their invincibility makes them pursue their
goals recklessly without ever heeding the consequences. Furthermore, by opposing
their “preordained” fate, they unwittingly accomplish the very things that they
feared. Like Oedipus and Anakin Skywalker, achievement and greatness make us
liable to pride; in these moments, recall the timeless quote by Isaac Newton:
“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of
giants”.
Bibliography
Star Wars, Episode
III, Revenge of the Sith. By George Lucas. Dir. George Lucas. Prod. George
Lucas and Rick McCallum. Perf. Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, and Hayden
Christensen. 20th Century Fox, 2005. DVD.
Star Wars, Episode
II, Attack of the Clones. By George Lucas. Dir. George Lucas. Prod. George
Lucas and Rick McCallum. Perf. Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, and Hayden
Christensen. 20th Century Fox, 2002. DVD.
Knox, Bernand. Oedipus the King.
New York: Pocket Books, 2005. Print.
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