Oedipus Rex is a Tragedy
Many things can describe a tragedy. However, according to definition of a tragedy by Aristotle, there are only five. The play has to have a tragic hero, preferably of noble stature. Second, the tragic hero must have a tragic flaw. Because of that flaw, the hero falls from either power or death. Due to the fall, the tragic hero discovers something. Finally, there must be catharsis in the minds of the audience. Oedipus Rex qualifies as a tragedy. It fits all the characteristics as defined by Aristotle. The tragic hero of a play is a man of some social standing and personal reputation, but sufficiently like ourselves in terms of his weaknesses that we feel fear and pity when a tragic flaw, rather than an associate, causes his downfall. Oedipus is the tragic hero in this play for many reasons. Even though he does not know it, he fulfills the oracle's prophecy by killing his father, Laius, and then sleeping with his mother, Jocasta. His father was just a tragic mistake. Oedipus thought that the person he killed was just a random person that was harassing him. Oedipus definitely has a tragic flaw; it is his quickness to take a pos . . .
The chorus cannot believe that even a great man like Oedipus, was brought low by destiny. " This was the first time that Oedipus is confronted with the idea that he might have fulfilled the prophecy. " Oedipus's quickness to take a position causes him to gouge his own eyes out and lose his power. If he had just one clue that he could have been the unwitting culprit, would he have acted differently? As a strongly principled man, Oedipus, like Socrates when faced with compromising his principles, chooses death over compromise. He feels that he is messing up his kids' life more than his own, especially his daughter. Oedipus directs any inhabitant of Thebes that know of any facts of Laius' murder to come forward without fear of reprisal, concurrently forbidding the withholding of information. Oedipus discovers that he has to do something to recover from his fall from power. He tells his kids to have a better life than he did. The only problem is the fact that almost all of the Thebes know what he did, so they know that he killed Laius. On his subsequent journey, he kills his father, comes to Thebes, and marries his mother. He is the one that is named as the killer of Laius. It is for them I suffer, more than for myself. Oedipus tells Creon, "Let them all hear it. ition and stubborn adherence in spite of personal hazard. He abdicates the thrown to Creon, and asks him to take care of his kids, and Creon agrees.
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