Sophocles' Oedipus Rex (the King) and Seneca's Oedipus Contrary to Sophocles' Oedipus which was written for the Greeks, a peaceful and wise audience, Seneca's Oedipus was written for the Romans, a militaristic and violent community. Seneca successfully appeals to elements of Roman literature; therefore, Edith Hamilton in The Roman Way calls him the "father of sentimental drama". Seneca wrote the work around 50 AD, about 480 years after Sophocles' production. The Roman audience preferred a melodramatic plot rather than the tragic theme of the former Oedipus. Seneca, in rewriting the play Oedipus, makes significant changes to suit the Roman audience, particularly changes in plot and style. Melodrama in this sense (compared to tragedy) elicits more emotional and pitying reactions and any evidence of fear is removed; on the contrary, the emotion of pity is exaggerated and accentuated. Greek wisdom and their ability to see beauty in all life created a desire for tragedy that elicits reactions of both pity and fear; according to the Greeks, tragedy portrays humanity at its best, upright in suffering and capable of heroism overcoming evil. Edith Hamilton in The Roman Way says: “. . . the unfamiliar and the extraordinary were to them (the Greeks) on the whole repellent and they detested any form of exaggeration.” He goes on to say, “Greek tragedy had no appeal since the Romans understood the words.” The Romans considered life cheap, almost worthless; thus, to appeal to this audience, Seneca made fate seem merciless, while Sophocles suggested a tragic flaw, indicating the character's partial guilt. The plot of Sophocles' and Seneca's Oedipus is more or less the same. Oedipus... at the center of the sheet... concentrated on destiny, Seneca addresses the ferocious Roman audience to which he writes, as opposed to the thoughtful Greek audience of Sophocles. Roman audiences desired more violent literature and responded to the concept that fate and predestination were inevitable, while Greek audiences defined tragedy, including a tragic character flaw, as humanity at its best because the character becomes wise. Seneca, in rewriting the original tragedy of Oedipus, eliminates any indication of fear, focusing completely on the emotion of pity. While Sophocles' Oedipus can be called Greek tragedy, Seneca's Oedipus exaggerates pity and disgust and must be classified as melodrama. Instead of arousing pity and fear in the audience, Seneca uses changes in plot and style and simply appeals to the emotion of pity to cling to his Roman audience..