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Oedipus The King Irony

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OEDIPUS THE KING-SOPHOCLES
DRAMATIC IRONY ESSAY
SUMAIA FARAH

In the play Oedipus the King, is a story that takes place in Thebes, Greece. This mythological sytory is about a King named Oedipus who has fulfilled his familie’s curse of killing his father Laius ( former king), and marrying his mother. Throughtout this mythical story, sophocles emphasizes the dramatic irony that enhances the tension throughtout the story. Dramatic irony enhances tension by making the readers anxious, by making it more interesting -attention grabbing.
Dramatic Irony enhances tension by making readers anxious. An example of this is on page 15 where King Oedipus states “ That man, whomever he may be, I banish him from this land where I sit on the throne and hold the power; no one shall take him in or speak to him. He is forbidden”. This is significant to how tension is enhanced because the irony of him banishing himself, and saying …show more content…

An exmaple of this is on page 22 where Prophet Tiresias says to Oedipus “ I say that without knowing it you are living in shameful intimacy with your nearest and your dearest, you do not see the evil in which you live’.The irony in this is that Tiresias is a blind prophet who is told to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth and no one will believe him. He speaks in riddles and he is telling Oedipus that he is living in shameful intamacy with his dearest- his mother. Tiresias is telling the truth but no one will believe him, and ontop of that Oedipus doesn’t understand. This makes readers interested because Oedipus than ridicules Tiresias cause he is blind and tells him that he is “ blind” to the truth. When Oedipus later becomes blind he realizes the truth of Tiresia’s words. Dramtic Irony is also found in the fact that it is a blind man who truly sees. This connects to it grabbing the readers attention because it keeps them interested and focused on the

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