Tragedy, starting with the Greeks (Oedipus the King), working to Shakespeare (King Lear), and evolving even more to the 20th century (Death of a Salesman), has changed a great deal over the years. Progressing gradually at some points to some points of sharp contrast. The tragedy we know today is very different to what the Greeks saw in there tragedies.
             Oedipus the King is a classic Greek Tragedy. It follows the unities that the Greek's had to follow, it takes place in a 24 hour time period, only one location, and only one plot. Oedipus' major down fall is pride this is also the downfall of every other protagonist in Greek tragedy. Oedipus was fated to marry his mother, kill his father, and to bear kids with his mother. This fate he could not avoid exactly as every other major character in Greek tragedy could not avoid his downfall. In the Greek Tragedies fate played the biggest role of all. Fate being completely unavoidable. Oedipus was completely oblivious to the fact that he killed his father and that he married his own mother He was even to proud to admit that he did all this when the highest and most respected oracle, Tiresias, told him. Tiresias had never been wrong and Oedipus accuses him of being a liar and taking money from Creon to tell him that. "Creon, the soul of trust, my loyal friend from the start steals against me... so hungry to overthrow me he sets this wizard on me, this scheming quack, this fortune-teller peddling lies, eyes peeled for his own profit--seer blind in his craft!" Oedipus rose to power when he answered the riddle of the sphinx, here he became King because the true king was dead. This rise then fall seems to draw a watcher in and make them feel more pity for Oedipus.
             Unlike Oedipus the King, King Lear takes place in more than a day and contains more than one setting, and there is the plot of both Lear and Glouscester. Pride, however, is part of Lear's downfall. He is to proud ...