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Aristotlean Concepts of Tragedy in SOPHOCLES Oedipus Rex

The treatise we call the Poetics was composed at least 50 years after the death of Sophocles. Aristotle was a great admirer of Sophocles Oedipus the King, considering it the perfect tragedy, and not surprisingly, his analysis fits that play most perfectly. Tragedy is the imitation of an action (mimesis) according to the law of probability or necessity. 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 is the tragic hero in Oedipus Rex. Oedipus Rex clearly meets the first of these five criteria. Oedipus is the son of Laius, who was king of Thebes. It proves that our tragic hero is noble in birth. King Oedipus can also be classified as a tragic hero because he is not perfect but most certainly has tragic flaws, one of them being excessive hubris and self- righteousness and he refuses to believe anyone who doesn't agree with himself. This is evident in the beginning of the play when Teiresias and Oedipus are debating about who killed Laius. Oedipus himself thinks of himself as the greatest person in Thebes, not only because he is the king, but also because he solved the riddle of the Sphinx. Because of solving the riddle of the Sphinx, he marries Jocasta, Queen of Thebes. It seems to be the biggest tragic flaw that eventually causes the downfall of one or more of the characters. As mentioned before, the tragic flaw of Oedipus excessive pride, His ignorance of his true parentage that led him to become unwittingly the slayer of his own father and continuing to find the person who killed King Laius; that he didnt noticed that he was the one. Catharsis is developed by the conjunction of stereotyped characters and unique or surprising actions or events over time. In Oedipus Rex, When the time that Oedipus known the truth, King Oedipus is confronted with ever more outrageous actions, until the catharsis/emptying generated by the death of his mother-wife, and by his own act of self-blinding. Oracles information that Oedipus had killed his father and married his mother brought about his mother's death and his own blindness and exiled from Thebes and surrendering all of his wealth and being punished for killing his father is a total reversal of fortune that we can observe from our tragic hero. Oedipus our tragic hero serve as a warning to humanity specially to all those people who have the wealth and power that is one also characteristic that our tragic hero must possess.

RENZ ALVIN P. ALMONTE BSME 3T

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