Essay on Sophocles' Clever Use of Dramatic Irony in Oedipus the King

There Oedipus marries Jocasta, his mother, but he does not know it’s his mother. There is dramatic irony in the play because the audience knows that Oedipus has killed his father, the Chorus on the other hand

Frank Jevons in “In Sophoclean Tragedy, Humans Create Their Own Fate” comments on Sophocles’ irony:

The famed Greek tragedy assumes much of its appeal from Sophocles's use of dramatic, cosmic, and situational irony. In a prelude to the play, the audience is assumed aware of Oedipus’ fate. Before the play even begins, common spectators enter with the common knowledge that Oedipus killed his father Laius and married his mother Jocasta. The aire of dramatic irony meets its peak when Oedipus desperately tries to find Laius’ murderer while the audience is aware that

In this play, verbal, dramatic, and situational irony can be found to show the “contradictory statements or situations.” Oedipus shows verbal irony through the beginning of the play. Verbal irony is defined as, “a figure of speech that occurs when a person says

Oedipus was arrogant enough to believe that he could see better than servants of the gods, but his sight was blind ignorance. In the end, Oedipus blinds himself, but he still tells his daughters that “I had neither sight nor knowledge then,” (Exodus. 253). Ultimately, Oedipus' fall from grace is an illustration of dramatic irony since Oedipus' heroics ruin his fate and he thus discovers that he was a truly a cursed villain rather than

Random House, Inc. 05 Nov. 2015. ). Situational irony is seen several times throughout the play, Oedipus the King. An example of situational irony in the play, Oedipus the King, is when Oedipus runs away from his parents in Corinth to escape his destiny of marrying his mother and killing his father, but in reality Oedipus actually ran towards his real parents, and ended up doing just that. This is an example of situational irony because Oedipus wanted to run away from his parents to get away from them so that he wouldn’t end up killing his father and marrying his mother, but his actions have the opposite effect of what is intended. This adds drama and suspense and helps moves the play forward, and adds a comedic effect due to the readers know what is occurring but not the character

In the play Oedipus, the audience finds out what happened to Oedipus and what his origins are before the characters do. As Oedipus searches for the cause of the plague and how his origins fit into it, the audience already knows the answers to these questions. This is an example of dramatic irony. That the audience knows, gives them a different perspective on Oedipus’s decisions, his thoughts, and his interactions with other characters, than had they not already known the background of the story. The characters’ actions are viewed differently by the audience, because they know what will be the result of the Oedipus’s search and of the other characters’ motivations. In addition, knowing the origin and background of the story gives the audience a different understanding of the characters’ control of their own fates. All of these aspects of dramatic irony affect the audience’s understanding of the story check for commas

In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, the theme of irony plays an important part through the play. What Oedipus does, what he says, and even who he is can sometimes be ironic. This irony can help us to see the character of Oedipus as truly a 'blind' man, or a wholly 'public' man.

Sophocles use of verbal irony demonstrates the capability to live without the truth. Throughout the play Oedipus is unknowing of how ironic his statements are. Oedipus is

A close interpretation of a scene in Oedipus King reveals interesting themes from the play. In this scene, Oedipus summons the blind prophet Tiresias, and asks about Laius’ killers. Oedipus explains about the curse placed in Thebes, and asks for Tiresias help. At first, Oedipus requests for help humbly, but with the prophet's refusal, the king grows increasingly impatient, eventually revealing his temper and even accusing Tiresias of being a complotter of the murder.

The first quality of Oedipus that justifies him as a tragic hero is in his lack of self-knowledge. Oedipus can be seen has someone who is not genuinely satisfied until he or she solves all of his life’s puzzles and the last riddle of his life. Oedipus physical strength gave him a great opportunity to be the king. This physical strength which he possesses and misuses also marked the beginning of his downfall. In the beginning of the play Oedipus has perfect vision; however, he is blind and ignorant of the truth about himself and his past. As a result; he gains too much pride and confidence and starts to believe he is impalpable. He desperately wants to know, to see, but he can’t. His actions must somehow overcome his blindness. Ironically, into the play a prophet was introduced, a seer, Teresias, who is physically blind, but who is clairvoyant. Teresias says to Oedipus, I tell you, no man that walks upon the earth/ shall be rooted out more horribly than you (S1. .1117). This describes Oedipus as a man ignorant to the true appearance of things, this blind man could see the truth about Oedipus, yet Oedipus in all of his physical strength cannot.

Dramatic irony involves the audience and encourages viewers to feel sympathy for Oedipus before the fatal truth of his birth is

During his life time, Oedipus was blind to truth, at first, he did not know that Jocasta and Laius were his actual parents. He even rebelled against anyone that would not give him the reason or someone that would contradict him. After so many attempts to evade the truth, he ends up giving up about what is the actual truth. He agrees and accepts that Liaus and Jocasta were his parents, and he ended up killing his father and marrying his mother; he was the one causing hopelessness in Thebes. After he starts to realize all these truths, he decided to blind himself, and become in Teiresias same position. “ And since you have reproached me with my blindness, I say – you have your sight, and do not see what evils are about you, nor with whom, nor in what home you are dwelling.” In this quote, a theme such as blindness is shown through Teiresias’ words to Oedipus, to whom he is telling that even with his physical sight, in the inside he is blind because he is unwilling to know the truth about his life. He also tells Oedipus that since he does not see the truth about his life, he doesn’t see the anguish of his life either.

Sophocles was born a hundred years before Aristotle and perhaps was not aware that he wrote a near-perfect representation of the tragic form. Almost certainly, however, he was conscious of the dramatic irony he carefully intertwined throughout the plot. Dramatic irony was a tool for Sophocles to advance the notion of the tragic one step beyond the simple fate of the main character. Dramatic irony is a literary technique allowing the audience to know of the character's fate well before such fate occurs. The difference between the audience's knowledge of the tragic circumstances and that of the ignorant characters heightens the depth of the tragedy. The more significant the ultimate sacrifice which the innocent hero makes, the more powerful the message sent to those in

Sophocles, an ancient Greek tragedian, composed a famous play known as Oedipus Rex. Sophocles use of different types of irony throughout his play allowed him to create a popular play. Irony can be best defined as that middle ground between what is said and what is meant, or others understanding of what was said and what was meant. Irony can be broken down into three different types: Dramatic, Verbal, and Situational. Sophocles enriched his play, Oedipus Rex, with irony to develop an easily understood and intriguing story.