"Oedipus Rex", was written by Sophocles. This play is a Greek tragedy. Many audiences have admired it for years. What makes the play so popular is that it has the exact ingredients that a prototypical tragedy is supposed to have. Aristotle had certain criteria that made a play qualify as a tragedy. A tragedy is when a protagonist is going toward a significant and noble goal and the antagonist stops him/her from reaching this goal. This could be another person, the environment, or his/her tragic flaw. The tragedy occurs when the protagonist fails to reach his/hr goal. Thus, making the story a catastrophically. Oedipus followed Frietag's pyramid of how a play comes together. This essay will discuss why this play was so admired, why it was one of the most dramatic plots, and what the outstanding characteristics were. All of these concepts will be discussed in further detail in the following paragraphs.
             The reason tragedies were created, and why the audience enjoyed them so much was for emotional purposes. Tragedies are not sad the entire time. There are many humorous and ironic parts throughout the play to keep the audience intrigued. The irony in this play was dramatic meaning that the audience knows what is going to happen way before the protagonist has his/her anagonorisis. This is the moment of understanding in the play where the protagonist, in this case Oedipus, realized that he did not outwit the gods and what the oriole said was going to happen comes true, which is that he killed his father and married his mother. The audience is supposed to feel catharsis at the end of the play because in some sense they are glad that something this bad did not happen to them. Also many people may cry at a play of this manner and in the end they feel better, because crying relieves tension. These things are key because when watching the play the audience has a few laughs, but they know what the outcome will be. Because of ...