Aristotle's Favorite Tragedy: Oedipus or Cresphontes?

The Poetics is considered the foundation of Western dramatic and literary theory, and readers interpret Aristotle on the basis of Chapter 13 to claim that Oedipus, with its pity, fear and horrible ending, is always the finest type of tragedy. Some specialists, however, discuss Aristotle also stating in Chapter 14 that the happily-ending plays like Cresphontes are the finest, with the type of plays like Oedipus, which involve an agent killing or committing great suffering to a family member and only recognizing the family connection afterwards, being second-best. This passage obviously creates a dilemma. No commentator has ever been able to resolve it to the satisfaction of the profession, and as a result Oedipus maintains its stature. Indeed, the specialist Elizabeth Belfiore recently published ("The Elements of Tragedy," in A Companion to Aristotle, ed. Georgios Anagnostopoulos, 2009) a defense of Oedipus as the best play for Aristotle in spite of the explicit ranking of Chapter 14.G