In one day, a man's life is untwisted as he finds out that he is the cause of a terrible pestilence that is inhibited in Thebes. His fate has caught up to him and there is nothing he can do but live in sickness. Sophocles "Oedipus the King" is a tragic play which discusses the tragic discovery of Oedipus that he has killed his father and married his mother. The story of Oedipus was well known to the Athenian's. The main character Oedipus is the king of Thebes by solving the riddle of the Sphinx. He them had promised the citizens of Thebes that he would find the person responsible for this blight. While in searching he discovers that it is really him who is responsible. According to Aristotle's definition of tragedy, Oedipus the king is the perfect example because it has many incidents that arouse pity or fear, it has a tragic hero, and it accomplishes catharsis (purification by release) of such emotions.
One definition of Aristotle's tragedy is to have a tragic hero. To be a tragic hero you must be from a good fortune. In the play Oedipus says, Polybus was my father, king of Corinth, and Merope, the queen, my mother. I was held greatest of the citizens in Corinth. (145)". This shows that he did in fact come from good fortune. He was like a prince of Corinth. Another thing a tragic hero has to have is a flaw in his life. When he says, "Then I would not have come to kill me father and marry my mother infamously. Now I am godless and child of impurity" (169). Oedipus says this because he now knows that his life was a flaw. These two lines tell us that a tragic hero has to have a flaw and come from good fortune.
Another thing needed to be a tragedy is to have incidents that arouse pity or fear.
