In the light of your understanding of tragedy and the tragic hero, how is Oedipus the King a tragedy?

One of the
earliest and most influential of all
definitions ofwas proposed by the ancient Greek philosopher
Aristotle in his
work known as The Poetics. Aristotle greatly admiredplay

the King (), and indeed he seems to have
considered
it the finest tragedy in existence. Certainly the play exhibits a
number of traits that
Aristotle considered crucial to a successful tragedy,
including the following:

• The play exhibits a
  reversal of the sort Aristotle admired, as when he
  writes,

Reversal of the Situation is a change

by which the action veers round to its opposite, subject always to our rule of
probability or
necessity. Thus in the Oedipus, thecomes to cheer Oedipus and
free him from his alarms about his
mother, but by revealing who he is, he
produces the opposite effect. (Butcher
translation)

• The play exhibits recognition,
  which
  Aristotle defines as a change from ignorance to knowledge. He also writes
  that
  

The best form of
recognition is coincident
with a Reversal of the Situation, as in the
Oedipus.

• Aristotle thought
  that the best tragic figure would be highly renowned and
  prosperous, as
  Oedipus is initially.
• Aristotle thought that the tragic
  
  effects of pity and fear could be produced simply from hearing the plot of a tragedy, so
  that a
  tragedys success did not necessarily depend on being staged with
  spectacular means. He felt that
  hearing the plot alone of Sophocles
  Oedipus could produce pity and fear,
  thus indicating
  Sophocles skill as a dramatist.
• Aristotle felt that a
  good
  tragedy usually involved some deed of horror occurring between friends
  or between members of
  the same family, as in
  Oedipus.
• Aristotle felt that a
  
  tragedy should exclude the irrational element, either from its plot or from its
  presentation
  on stage. He thought that the latter exclusion occurred in
  Oedipus,
  particularly concerning Oedipuss ignorance
  about the manner of Laiuss death.


• Aristotle believed
  that

of all
recognitions,
the best is that which arises from the incidents themselves, where the
startling
discovery is made by natural means. Such is that in the Oedipus of
Sophocles.

• Aristotle
  commended Oedipus for
  being neither too long nor too
  short. He considered it exactly the right size to be an effective
  
  tragedy.

Above all, Aristotle believed that

Oedipus revealed all the key elements of an effective tragedy €“
elements
that Aristotle explained succinctly when he wrote that

Tragedy . . .is an imitation of an action that is
serious, complete, and of a certain
magnitude; in language embellished with
each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being
found in separate
parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and

fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.

Aristotle's definition of tragedy is perhaps the
most influential that has ever been
proposed.  In formulating his definition,
he seems to have had Sophocles' play in mind and to
have tested his
definition at practically every point to make sure that Oedipus

Rex would be the perfect illustration of his theory.