Aristotle who comprised his poetics through the analysis of plays and poetry was highly interested in Sophocles' work and the concept of tragedy as a whole. "Tragedy, then 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 proper purgation of these emotions. " (Aristotle Chap.VI).
.
Aristotle goes on to examine what he thought were the most important elements in a tragedy, "it is not the function of the poet to relate what has happened, but what may happen, what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity. "(Aristotle Chap.VI) This idea of the law of probability and necessity fit perfectly with Oedipus the King in terms of the on-going struggle with fate which proves far more effective over the physical struggles that arise. .
In relation to Greek tragedy the question of just how central is violence in tragedy is interesting considering that no blood was spilled on stage in Greek tragedy. In fact the tragedy was in the description, the dialogue of the characters. The only way that, as an audience we could determine the scale of violence occurring was from the offstage screams, the effect after on characters and by analyzing who was committing the violence. For this reason, I want to analyse why violence is not at the center of a tragedy by using Sophocles Oedipus the King as an example, and how "the most extreme forms of tragic violence are presented as off-stage events, out of sight but very much within the emotional reach of the audience. (Albert Henrich).
We know that in Oedipus the King the chorus plays a significant role and in the bloodiest moment in the play, it is not the violent act that we see but the description of it is given by the reliable chorus.
