During the time of Ancient Greece, Aristotle, a great philosopher, wrote a book called The Poetics to describe what makes a great tragic work. Using Sophocles' Oedipus Rex as the basis for his book, Aristotle goes into detail about the plot, characters, and more, breaking down the components of a tragedy. Since the Oedipus Rex played an important role in the creation of Aristotle's book, it fulfills many of the Greek philosopher's requirements for a tragic work. According to Aristotle, the plot is one of the most important components of a tragedy. It must have a clear beginning, a middle, and a cascade of events leading to the end. The incentive moment in the Oedipus Rex is when Creon returns from visiting the oracle at Delphi with news about how to free Thebes from the plague which sets off the search for the previous king's killer. The climax of the play occurs when Oedipus realizes that he is the cause of the plague and must now punish himself. The epilogue occurs when Oedipus begs Creon to send him into exile. Character is also important in Poetics. An important aspect o...