What is a tragedy? It is a dramatic composition dealing with a serious theme, typically that of a great person destined through a flaw of character to downfall or destruction. Oedipus clearly fits this definition. Through his own tenacity he pursues the truth against everyone's advice. The knowledge of his beginnings is the cause of his downfall. Oedipus had to know the truth and in his pursuit he is destroyed. Oedipus being the hero of Thebes wants to save the city once again and the only way to do that is to avenge this death which he is ultimately responsible for. It is this very characteristic that made Oedipus great. He was the one who solved the sphinx's riddle and saved Thebes from doom. His fortitude will not let him continue until he has rid the city from the plague.
The argument can be made that Oedipus did nothing to cause his destruction in the first place. His fate was sealed at birth through the actions of his father. Maybe that was an allusion to original sin and the rest of humanity. We are constantly trying to make amends for a sin we did not commit. Oedipus did not commit the fatal flaw, it was his father. By consulting the oracle, King Lauis set the events in motion causing the demise of his family. Its funny, his father's pursuit of knowledge was the root of all the evil and it was Oedipus' intelligence and stubbornness that finally did him in.
Oedipus is a tragic figure. He was a strong, intelligent, brave, and a good ruler. By all accounts he was a great man but his past was too horrible not to come back to haunt him. He must be punished for disturbing the natural order of things. In the end his Achilles heel was his own hubris.
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