Tragedy is one of the most compelling forms of entertainment, which originated from the Greeks. The play "Oedipus Rex" was the first play of a trilogy written by the famous Greek man, Sophocles. Through many reviews and critiques, many have argued that Laius, who never actually appears on stage, is the most tragic figure in the play. This can be seen by many aspects in the play, such as, the tragic hero must not be a perfectly good man, the tragic hero is brought to disaster by his own hamartia, and that the consequences of the hero's fall produces suffering and calamity far beyond the hero.
One of the most important elements of a tragic hero is that he must not be perfectly good, as seen with both Oedipus and Laius. In Oedipus and the Sphinx Oedipus" bravery and courageousness is shown by how he saves the town by killing the Sphinx, "Oedipus pledged to rid the country of the terror, and so he set out to find the Sphinx" (Sophocles 1), therefore setting him up to be the town hero and King. Oedipus becomes King, and hero of Thebes; he demonstrates characteristics of being a perfectly good man. From the beginning of the story, Oedipus and the Sphinx, Laius shows characteristics of a bad person by trying to go against the Gods, and by sending his child away to die. At the beginning of Oedipus and the Sphinx, Laius" tragic characteristics are revealed, "Laius, in an effort to escape fate, abandoned Oedipus on a mountaintop too die" (Sophocles 1). By sending his son away to a mountaintop, two tragic characteristics are revealed because he is trying to defeat the Gods, and kill his own son. Towards the middle of the story, "Oedipus Rex" another tragic characteristic is revealed through Laius. While Oedipus is explaining how he killed Laius, he also reveals how Laius" guards were very rude, and how Laius hit him over the head. Oedipus reveals to Jocasta what happened on the day he murdered men on a road, "And he who was in front as well as the elder himself were for driving me vigorously from the path from his chariot, watched for me to go past and then on the middle of my head struck me with his forked goad" (Sophocles 22).
