Throughout "Poetics," Aristotle describes the traits a tragedy must have to be successful. To support his arguments, he analyzes a number of tragedies, including many of Sophocles' plays, "Oedipus Rex" being one of them. Some of the traits Aristotle insists are fundamental to a tragedy include a successful plot structure, recognition scenes, and a correct choice for its hero. With "Oedipus Rex," Sophocles fulfills all of these requirements. According to Aristotle's definition of tragedy, the plot of this genre is above all the most important element, and for one to write a successful tragedy, one must have an excellent plot. In his "Poetics," Aristotle lists four characteristics that a good plot must have: order, amplitude, unity, and probable and necessary connection. The plot of "Oedipus Rex" contains all of these.
             When Aristotle describes what he means by order, he states that a plot has "a beginning, a middle, and an end." He continues by saying that by "beginning," he means "that which is not necessarily the consequence of something else, but has some state or happening naturally consequent on it." "Oedipus Rex," for example, begins with Oedipus awaiting Creon's return with the oracle's advice on the issue of the plague overwhelming Thebes. The beginning of this play already describes why we have started this way and, as Aristotle put it, a crisis like a plague is not necessarily the consequence of something else, although we, the readers, know that in fact that, in this play, it is. The middle, which Aristotle says, "is consequent and has consequences," depends on the beginning, just as the story of Oedipus depends on the news arriving from Delphi. The middle also has an impact on the end, when Oedipus blinds himself. The end of this play, according to Aristotle, should contain no consequences, and this is true of this play because Oedipus blinds himself, and that is the end. We, in fact, know, however, that the story con...