The Greek drama Oedipus Rex is a tragedy. It meets the five main criteria for a tragedy: a tragic hero of noble birth, a tragic flaw, a fall from grace, a moment of remorse, and catharsis. Oedipus Rex meets the first of these five criteria. Oedipus is the son of Laius, who was king of Thebes. Even at the beginning of the story, when we are told that Oedipus is the son of Polybus, he is still of noble birth; Polybius is king of Corinth. The tragic flaw, or mistake that a character makes, in Oedipus Rex does not take place during the story. We only watch as Oedipus, and the rest of the characters discover this mistake that was made long, long ago and cannot be reversed. This tragic flaw is, of course, Oedipus killing his father Louis, and then marrying Jocasta, his mother. We realize that these actions have taken place much earlier in the story than the characters do. However, both of these events took many years ago.
             The fall from grace in Oedipus Rex is when Oedipus, Jocasta, and all the other characters in the story realize that Oedipus did murder Laius and that Jocasta is indeed his mother as well as his wife. This occurs rather quickly, very close to the end of the play. The audience sees this coming long before it does, however. In one of the passages of Oedipus speaking with Jocasta, just about everything is spelled out for us. Jocasta speaks of Laius leaving the castle with just a few servants and his being killed where three roads meet. Oedipus claims that he murdered somebody where three roads met, who had a few servants with him. As though this isn't enough, Jocasta describes Laius to Oedipus by saying "his figure was not much unlike your own" (p. 27). Oedipus, after hearing all this, says "O, it is plain already!" (p. 27) indicating that he was the killer of his father. He goes on to make sure, even though it is obvious that he was Laius's killer. The moment of remorse came at the end of the story when one of the servants...