Meet Me in the Middle

In the drama "Oedipus Rex" Sophocles employs a technique common of the Greek tragedies called "in medias res" or "in the middle of things." The audience is dropped right in the middle of the action and we learn the background of the story as the drama progresses. "In medias res" was employed throughout epic and mythical literature. Greek dramas developed out of those mediums so we find that it is frequently used.

As "Oedipus Rex" opens we find Oedipus as the King of Thebes and things are not going well. At all. There is a terrible plague and the people are suffering and dying. As the priest explains in the opening scene

"A blight is on our harvest in the ear,
A blight upon the grazing flocks and herds,
A blight on wives in travail; and withal armed with his blazing torch the God of Plague
Hath swooped upon our city emptying
The house of Cadmus, and the murky realm of Pluto is full fed with groans and tears."

But this is not the tragedy of this drama. So from there all sorts of horribleness ensues and as an audience we are filled about Oedipus's horrible back story.
Now what effect does "in medias res" have upon us as an audience in this play? As the audience experiences the story it is like we know the end from the beginning. This adds to the effect that tragedy is meant to have. Aristotle was of the opinion that tragedies were to help us experience two specific emotions, pity and fear. Since the audience is dropped in the middle our sense of pity and fear are heightened as we slowly experience Oedipus's downfall. We watch his terrible evolution and clearly see how it came to be. We knew it was coming the whole time and that makes the experience even more tragic.