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Oedipus Dramatic Irony

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The classic Greek Play; Oedipus the King by Sophocles is an intricately put together play that uses dramatic irony to toy with the audience’s emotions. The dramatic irony throughout the play allows the audience to know certain details that the main character, Oedipus the King, does not. The prophecy that claimed him from the very beginning, what he’s been trying to get away from the majority of his life, that makes him essentially blind, reads that; Oedipus will shed his father’s blood and sleep with his mother. Oedipus does fulfil his horrible fate before he knows he has already done it and the events that lead and entice the reader along the way make the dramatic irony in this play surreal. This changes how the audience perceives Oedipus, …show more content…

Sophocles introduces the plot with a tragic murder that had engrossed itself around The City of Thebes. Laius, King of Thebes, had been murdered and in addition there is now plague in the city that is diffusing. Oedipus sends Creon (his brother in-law) towards Apollo to discover a solution and end this awful plague that has been killing crops and people. Oedipus wants there to be an end to this calamity and lucky for him, Creon approaches Thebes from Apollo’s with a solution; find the murderer of King Laius to stop the plague. The audience knows that King Laius is Oedipus’s real father and is also aware that Oedipus is the murderer since his prophecy. Oedipus, upon hearing this news decides to curse the murderer if he does not come forward with his wrongdoings. The curse begins with; “…Banish this man – never shelter him, never speak a word to him…drive him out…he is plague...”(266-279) The dramatic irony makes the audience more sympathetic towards the tragic hero because Oedipus did not know that it was himself that murdered and shed his father’s blood. The audience pities and sympathizes Oedipus for he tried to find the murderer by going so far as to bestow a curse on the killer then ends up being the killer. Oedipus put the curse on himself and all he has been attempting to do is to find the murderer to put an end to the …show more content…

Ironic faults and mishaps are his forte in this Greek tragedy especially on page 216; a scene in the play that illustrates Oedipus’s meeting with a messenger from Corinth. The messenger came from Corinth with dire news; Polybus, king of Corinth, has passed away. Polybus was Oedipus’s “father”. This brings grief to Oedipus and joy because, Oedipus knowing his prophecy, believes that he has broken his thought to be fate because he did not kill/shed his “father’s” blood. His father died of old age. On lines 1050-1080 Oedipus expresses his emotions on Polybus’s passing; “…sickness then poor man…all those prophecy I feared – Polybus packs them off to sleep…” (Lines: 1050-1080) Oedipus makes peace and realizes his worries were nothing but infantile except the dramatic irony in this entire conundrum is what evokes sympathy from the depths of the audience. The dramatic irony of this situation is that Polybus is actually Oedipus’s adopted father and King Laius is his real one, so he did fulfil his prophecy. The messenger informs Oedipus; “You were a gift, years ago – know for a fact he took you from my hands…Laius…the king who ruled long ago…”(p.216) The dramatic irony makes the audience more sympathetic/benevolent towards Oedipus because Oedipus spent so much of his time trying to stay away from Polybus, who Oedipus thought was his “father”, because of the prophecy, but instead he ended up running straight into his real parents and in the end

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With the realization of his demise, Oedipus tries to protect himself from punishment and shame by gouging out his own eyes and exiling himself out to die in the place destiny prevented him from dying originally. After many years of luxurious living, Oedipus’s predestined fate tears his life apart and returns him to the place he should have died as an infant, the mountain. Through the use of, departure, initiation, and return, Sophocles displays the journey of Oedipus. Not only is Oedipus the King evidence of the use of the hero’s journey throughout many famous plays, movies, and books across all cultures and time periods, but it also seen as a perfect tragedy, in which the audience experiences both pity and fear for the main

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The prophet, Teiresias, reveals Oedipus’s curse of murdering his father and sleeping with his mother. “To Delphi, and Apollo sent me back / Baulked of the knowledge that I came to seek. / But other grievous things he prophesied, / Woes, lamentations, mourning, portents dire; / To wit I should defile my mother’s bed / And raise up seed too loathsome to behold, / And slay the father from whose loins I sprang” (Oedipus, 791-797). This is Oedipus’s true reality, but his acerbic attitude denies the possibility of its legitimacy.

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Oedipus the King is a tragedy that was written by Sophocles that emphasizes the irony of an irony of a man who was determined to trace down, expose and punish an assassin who in turn became him. Oedipus the King is also known as Oedipus Rex or Oedipus Tyrannus. The art is an Athenian play that was performed in ages approximated to be 429 BC. Oedipus the King would later in the play fulfill the prophecy that he would kill his father and later on marry his mother. There is a twist of an event in the play where Oedipus is looking for the murderer of his father to bring to a halt the series of plagues that are befalling Thebes but only to find he is in search of himself (Rado, 1956).

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As more information is uncovered, Oedipus’ legacy is exponentially diminished as a childhood prophecy revolving around Oedipus, murdering his father and marrying his mother, is brought to light. Knowledge possesses the power to catalyse devastation in stages as demonstrated through Oedipus’ ignorance, his overwhelming curiosity, and his psychological anguish. From the beginning, Oedipus was raised in a legion of lies, believing Merope and Polybus to be his true parents. This cloak of ignorance not only shielded Oedipus from the knowledge of his biological parents, but allowed the prophecy to act as a catalyst for his fleeing of Corinth.

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‘But why? If I’m their son--Merope, Polybus?’ ‘Polybus was nothing to you, . . . not in blood’ “ (305). The Messenger attempts to inform Oedipus that Polybus is not his actual father, but Oedipus is hidden from the truth his whole life.

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Introduction The story of Oedipus the king is gloomy, yet captivating. Going from a child bond around the feet and abandon by the mountainside, to marrying his mother, his story is intriguing. In search of the truth about the prophecy and putting an end to a plague Oedipus, search for king Laius’s killer, did somethings inadvertently, making him a tragic hero. His search for truth in the death of Laius the king, as well as his birth led to the ultimate destruction and downfall of his life.

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The Queen, Jacosta, Oedipus’ wife tells him not to believe in the prophet, because they’ve been wrong before, she then tells Oedipus about how she and King Laius had a son who was prophesied to kill Laius and sleep with her but since the child was supposedly dead the prophecy couldn’t be true. Oedipus becomes a bit weary because as a child an old man told him he was adopted and that one day he’d kill his real father and sleep with his mother, Oedipus did also kill a man at a crossroads which sounded like the way Laius died. Oedipus continued questioning the messenger and found out that he was the man everyone spoke of and Jacosta then comes to the realization that Oedipus is her son and kills herself.

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