Oedipus the Tragedy

Imagine the pain of discovering that you had unknowingly murdered your father and then

married your widowed mother! This was the discovery made by the main character in Sophocles’

Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex, when he sets out to seek his true identity.

The philosopher Aristotle explains in his book The Poetics, that a tragic play arouses the

emotions of pity, fear, wonder and awe in the audience. The plot must be complex, and a

character should fall from prosperity to misfortune due to some type of mistake. Classical tragedy

also involves portraying the reversal of a situation, self recognition from a character, and human

suffering. The three unities, noble character, and a complex plot, are some of the criteria from

Aristotle’s Poetics that make Oedipus Rex a classic example of Greek tragedy.

Aristotle regards the plot as the most important parts of a Greek tragedy. He states

that “. . .the plot ought to be to be so constructed that, even without the aid of the eye, he

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Its complex plot, its tragic hero and

Oedipus’s tortured suffering, meet and exceed the parameters of classical Greek tragedy. In his blindness Oedipus receives none of the benefits of the living, but he is not

physically dead, and so his suffering does not. His tragic flaw is his lack of knowledge about his own identity, and

his persistence in learning the truth.

Oedipus may have been the greatest of men, the solver of riddles, but he could only solve the riddle of his origin by revealing a truth to awful to bear. Oedipus Rex illustrates the

characteristic of recognition when Oedipus comes to realize who he actually is, his father’s

murderer, and his mother’s husband. Oedipus Rex portrays

qualities of reversal when Oedipus, who was once superior, has now been reduced to an inferior

level.

Additionally, a tragic hero should also possess a tragic flaw, which leads to his own downfall. His tragic fate was prophesized to Oedipus himself, and also to Laius, his father, years

before.

Oedipus is not only physically blind, but his failure to realize the truth led him to intellectual

darkness. e tale will thrill with horror and melt to pity at what takes place . This inflicts greater pity from the audience.

In blinding himself, Oedipus fulfills an alternate death that heightens his suffering.

This is another of the mechanical parts required in a Greek tragedy. His

blindness is symbolized throughout the play when people contrast lightness and darkness.

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