What is the tradegy in the play Oedipus Rex? Was Oedipus empathetic to his subjects?

You have
asked two questions, but I am allowed to answer only one at a time. You must list the second
question as a separate posting.

Theofis a famous one.

At
the start of the play, a Priest and people of Thebes come to Oedipus to ask for help, which he
promises. They tell him they have been hounded by terrible disasters because someone in Thebes
killed King Laius. Oedipus promises to find out what is going on.

The history
that leads to this point of the play is that Oedipus is the true son of Laius and , King and
Queen of Thebes. One day an oracle (fortune teller) declares that Oedipus will kill his father
and marry his mother. To prevent the prophecy from coming true, the parents decide the child
must die. A servant takes their baby to kill him, but decides instead to abandon him on a
mountain side, expecting he will starve to death.

After the servant leaves,
however, a shepherd finds the child and takes him to another country to avoid his fate.
Ultimately, the child finds his way into the household of King Polybus of Corinth, who raises
Oedipus as his own. Oedipus knows nothing of this. One day he is attacked by a two men on the
road; unknowingly, he kills his father, as he slays both men.

Oedipus becomes
King of Thebes because he solves the riddle of the Sphinx, a monster who was eating all
passersby if they could not answer his question. To further honor him, the people of Thebes
insist Oedipus marry Jocasta. No one knows that he is marrying his mother. They have
children.

After Oedipus promises to find the murderer of the former king, he
speaks to an oracle who tries to tell him that HE is the murderer he seeks. Oedipus does not
believe this. He feels that it is a plot by Laius' brother () to steal the throne from him.
Creon swears this is not true. To intercede for Creon, Jocasta repeats the story of her
husband's death as a witness had reported it to her.

Hearing the details,
Oedipus realizes that he did, in fact, kill Lauis, but believes that Polybus was his true
father, a man who died of old age; Oedipus therefore believes he did not kill his
father.

In the meantime, the shepherd who had left Oedipus on the mountain
side comes to Oedipus and reports that he was, in fact, the child of Laius and Jocasta. Jocasta
kills herself realizing she has married and born children to her son. Devastated by the truth,
Oedipus puts out his eyes, though this does not put his mind at ease. He asks Creon to care for
his daughter; Oedipus says his farewells to his daughters. Then he asks Creon to exile him from
the city.  And so the play ends.

In summary, the tragedies are that Oedipus
unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother (and they have children), his mother/wife
kills herself, and he blinds himself and leaves Thebes.