Tragedy in Ovid's Metamorphoses common one throughout the world of ancient tragedy. This theme is most clearly illustrated in Aeschylus' great trilogy the Oresteia and in Sophocles' trilogy on Oedipus. As in Hecuba's speech, characters from the works of Aeschylus and Sophocles both lament their great losses and what has led them to this point. One of the best examples of this theme that Ovid so clearly draws upon is the speech given by a messenger in Oedipus Rex that tells of the death of Jocasta and the blinding of Oedipus. This famous speech follows in the same theme of that given by Hecuba,
Oedipus at Colonus of guilt; the fact that Oedipus is "rationally innocent" – that he sinned unknowingly – decreases his guilt, allowing his earthly sufferings to serve as sufficient expiation for his sins. Darice Birge has argued that "Oedipus at Colonus" can be interpreted as a heroic narrative of Oedipus rather than a tragic one. It can be viewed as a transitional piece from the Oedipus of "Oedipus Rex" whose acts were abominable to the Oedipus we see at the end of "Oedipus at Colonus", who is so powerful that he is sought after by two separate major cities. The major image used