According to Aristotle, a tragedy is the imitation in dramatic form of an action that is serious and complete, with incidents arousing pity and fear wherewith it affects a catharsis of such emotions. Based on this standard, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles can be considered a tragedy. Oedipus was a King whose life fell apart after he found out the truth about his past. We will see the true effect of the definition in going through a list of five criteria necessary for a tragedy. The five criteria are: a tragic hero of noble birth; a tragic flaw; the hero's downfall; the hero's undeserved misfortune and his punishment exceeding his crime; a gain in self-knowledge and for the audience a feeling of catharsis at the end.
             Oedipus Rex obviously met the first of these five criteria. He was born a prince, the son of Laius and Jocasta who were King and Queen of Thebes. Even when they try to dispose of their son, the couple who adopts him was Polybus and Merope, King and Queen of Corinth. This quality set him apart from an ordinary person.
             All humans possess flaws, even noble ones, and two of Oedipus' tragic flaws were that he was very temperamental and easily angered. It was this short temper that caused him to quarrel with and commit the act of injustice, which was killing his father Laius, and then marrying his mother Jocasta. He was capable of controlling his emotions and chose not to. His short temper also caused him to blame Kreon and Teiresias for the former Kings' murder. Overconfidence was another flaw. Oedipus proved his intelligence superior to his countrymen and he is therefore respected and thought of as very smart for solving the Sphinx's riddle and as a result of that he began to believe that he was untouchable. He became a very proud man, too proud to see any truth in what Teiresias said; he refused to believe that he could have been responsible for such a horrible crime. He made the penalty for the murder...