The Greek drama Oedipus Rex is clearly a tragedy. It definitely 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 clearly 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; Polybus is king of Corinth. The tragic flaw, or
mistake that a character makes, in Oedipus Rex does not actually take
place during the story. We only watch as Oedipus and the rest of the
characters discover this mistake that was actually made long, long ago and
cannot be reversed. This tragic flaw is of course Oedipus killing his
father Lauis, 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 actually 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 actually 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 actually 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 servan ...