Essay About Classic Tragedies And Oedipus Rex

Oedipus Rex
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Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex is one of Greek literatures classic tragedies. It
supports and demonstrates Aristotle’s view on tragedy in the story, and ultimately
defines how this drama is a tragedy. He talks about tragedy being “an imitation of a
noble and complete action” (Witt, 165) along with being artistically enhanced with
fearful incidents. Important parts of tragedies also include plot, character, diction,
thought, spectacle, and melody. Tragedies are imitations of human action, life,
happiness, and misery, all of which are qualities that Oedipus Rex possess.
To understand exactly what a tragedy is, one must first understand what
Aristotle’s view on the matter. In The Poetics, he stated:
Tragedy is, then, an imitation of a noble and complete action, having
the proper magnitude; it employs the language that has been artistically
enhanced by each of the kinds of linguistic adornment, applied
separately in the various parts of the play; it is presented in a dramatic,
not narrative form, and achieves, through the representation of pitiable
and fearful incidents, the catharsis of such pitiable and fearful incidents.
(Witt, 165)
That means that Aristotle understood tragedy as an artistic writing form that had a full
story with action and fearful events. There is a strong mood and emotion throughout
the work. Aristotle also says to note that tragedies “influence the soul” (Witt, 165).
Which directly correlates to the previous statement that a strong emotion and mood
should be kept steady through the work. One strong emotion in the story of Oedipus
Rex is anger. When Oedipus finds out that someone killed King LaДЇos, he is angry and
wants to search for the killer. The same emotion is present when the blind seer,
Teiresias, tells Oedipus that he himself, was the king’s assassin. Other specific events
in the play also spark the emotion of anger and keep it throughout the story.
Aristotle’s point in The Poetics is that a tragedy must have strong emotion to be
successful.
Another point about tragedies, also expressed in The Poetics by Aristotle, is
that tragedies include plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, and melody. The plot
in Oedipus Rex goes over how the hero tried to find King Laįos’ murderer and helps
the city overcome a harsh disease. Character in the play includes: being a hero,
loyalty, honestly, acceptance, courage, intelligent, taking responsibility, and
compassion. Characters in the play that are important are: Oedipus, the blind seer,
Teiresias, Achilles, Kreon, Antigone and Ismene, King LaДЇos and IokastДЄ, the
messengers, and the priest. Overall the whole story has diction, thought, melody, and
spectacle.
Aristotle says that tragedies are imitations of human action, life, happiness, and
misery. Oedipus Rex includes all of these qualities