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Dramatic Irony In Oedipus The King

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Dramatic irony is that irony which can be understood by audience but not by characters. Dramatic irony is of three types: verbal irony, tragic irony and situational irony. In this play, dramatic irony has been used for many purposes. In this essay, the irony used to emphasize Oedipus’ complex past will be discussed. To understand that lets discuss Oedipus’ past first. Oedipus was only son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. When King Laius went to Delphi to discuss it with Apollo’s ministers, he was told that this son of his will kill his father (King Laius) and marry his mother (Queen Jocasta). After hearing this news, Jocasta arranges the death of infant to stop the oracle from happening. She sends the baby with a servant to be left …show more content…

In the play, Oedipus orders that the murderer of King Laius must be caught and punished while not knowing that he did it himself. In his ignorance he asks his subjects that if any of them know the murder then they should come forward. And, punishment would be just banishment but they did not tell and he found the murder then nobody will talk to him, he will be excluded from religious rituals and will be considered the most unclean creature (Sophocles, p32). Thus, condemning the murder he condemns himself. Another example of is when Oedipus tells Jocasta that he ran away from his home because he heard the oracle of Apollo that he will kill his father and marry his mother. He did not wanted to do it so he ran away (Sophocles, p47). But he did not knew that he was adopted. So, by trying to save his parents, he ran away and came the city of his actual parents and married his mother, Jocasta. While coming to this city he killed his father, King Laius. So, while trying to save his parents he ruins his …show more content…

To save his parents from the tragedy of oracle of Delphi, Oedipus leaves his home and moves to another city. Not knowing that he is adopted he comes his birth place. Killing his father on the way to this new city, he marries his mother on his arrival to the city after defeating the sphinx. Thus, fulfilling the foretelling that he tries to escape. This murder of his father and marriage to his mother cause diseases to spread in the city as punishment of patricide and incest which are most unforgivable sins. And, gods punish whole city for these is hideous

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Although he was ashamed of the life he had been living, he realized that the mistakes were his own, and no one can bear the weight but him. He even said it himself “No one but me can bear this weight.” The grave consequences which Oedipus suffered in the end consisted of the loss of his mother/ wife by suicide, as well as his grief becoming a threat to himself, as he stabbed his own eyes out, blinding him permanently. After suffering dreadful pain from these actions in grief, Oedipus went on to face the other consequences given by the gods and Creon. He cursed himself many times in the book saying that whoever killed Laius should be banished or killed, and he would even go on to be cursed by his wrongful actions of incest.

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Some examples of dramatic irony are “Sowed the same womb as his father” line 558. Another quote the shows dramatic irony is “He will turn out to be the brother of the children” line 551. Both of these quotes show dramatic irony the first one is because no one knew Oedipus married his wife and everyone thought

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King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth decided to adopt the baby and raise him. As Oedipus is growing up, someone told him that King Polybus and Queen Merope were not his real parents, Oedipus wanted to investigate the matter, so he ended up in Delphi, to consult the oracle. When he was in the oracle, he was told that he would kill his father and marry his mother. After hearing this, he thought the prophecy meant Polybus and Merope, so he decided not to return to Corinth and headed to the city of Thebes.

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In the beginning of the story, Oedipus is told to find the murder of King Laius so he says “If anyone knows the man who killed Laius, I order him to tell me everything” (Tragedian, 680). Dramatic irony comes into play here because the readers and many other characters within the story know the murder is Oedipus yet Oedipus himself does not know the truth. Dramatic irony can happen in any story, as readers we can understand the situation much more than the character which give us more incite then the single character within the story, allowing us to guess what may happen in the

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Ordering their servant to take their son to dispose of him, went to go get rid of the baby, but instead of killing him he gave it away to the king and queen of Cornith. Oedipus grow up without realizing he is adopted until one day he is out with some friends drinking, one of his friend that night told him the truth. Finding out this. He travel to Delphi 's to search for the truth. But once he get their he told about a prophecy where he kills his father and marry his mother.

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In the play, Oedipus the king by Sophocles, the audience sees many dramatic ironies. Within this dramatic irony, they have previous knowledge about what is going on and what is being said, but the Character does not know the truth about what is going on. In the play, Sophocles uses dramatic irony to illustrate about Oedipus’ ignorance about the truth in Tiresias’ speech, which is symbolized as “blindness”, which contributes to the foreshadowing of Oedipus’ future. The dramatic irony within the play, that repeats a lot, is that Oedipus doesn’t know the truth, that he fulfilled the prophecy in which he will kill his father, Laius, and marry his mother, Jocasta. Tiresias even tells Oedipus that he doesn’t know the truth when he mentions to

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