Oedipus the King is a play written by the Greek playwright Sophocles. There are three tragedy plays, which is a trilogy, known as the Three Theban Plays which consists of Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus. In the play Oedipus the King, Sophocles presents Oedipus as a person who has excessive pride, also known as hubris. Through the use of sentence structure, punctuation and various rhetorical devices, Sophocles demonstrates Oedipus’ immense pride, which leads to his downfall.
In the play Oedipus the King, Sophocles presents Oedipus as a quite arrogant person. He has excessive pride, also known as hubris. An example of this is shown in Line 245, when Oedipus says, “You pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers.” Sophocles uses a rhetorical
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In the monologue, Oedipus brags about how the people will be kept safe as he said, “I am the land’s avenger by all rights,” Line 153-155. Situational irony is used in the sentence as it sets up for the later reveal of who Oedipus truly is, which is the murderer of Laius. This sentence also shows that Oedipus believes that the city is safe because he exists and that he can “fight” for the city, even though he is the one causing the plague. He is overly confident on his capability to face trouble. After knowing that the key to solve the plague is to find the murderer, Oedipus points out that if he was present then, “there would have been no mystery, no long hunt without a clue in hand”. This shows that Oedipus is confident that if he was at the scene of the murder, there would have been no murder of Laius. He believes that his skills and strength are beyond everyone else’s, and Thebes would definitely be saved with his presence. Sophocles is building up tension to lead up to the situational irony where Oedipus is the cause of the plague as he is the one who murdered