Sophocles Use Of Dramatic Irony In Oedipus Rex

Dramatic Irony in Oedipus Rex

In the tragic play, Oedipus Rex, dramatic irony plays a big role throughout the story. Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something that the characters do not know. In this case, the audience knows that Oedipus has, in-fact, killed his father and married his mother, but Oedipus does not know. Sophocles, the author of the play, uses dramatic irony throughout the story to alter the audiences perception of the characters. While watching the play, the audience already knows the main plot of the story which allows Sophocles to craft his writing in a different way. He uses dramatic irony to manipulate the audience into feeling empathy for the main characters. During a fight with Oedipus, Tiresias, a blind profit, states, “ The man that you have been looking for all this time, The damned man, the murderer of Laius, The man is in Thebes. To your mind he is foreign-born,But it will soon be shown that he is a Theban….” (“Oedipus”. Scene 1, 435-438). Tiresias is explaining that the murderer of the former King, Laius, is still living in Thebes which

When Tiresias had an argument with Oedipus he said, “Listen to me. You mock my blindness, do you? But I say that, you with both eyes, are blind: You cannot see the wretchedness of your life, Nor in whose house you live, no, nor with whom. Who are your mother and father? Can you tell me?...” (“Oedipus”. Scene 1, 398-402). This makes the audience question Oedipus about how much he really knows or how smart he is. In the beginning of the play the audience believes that Oedipus is a very smart and intelligent leader and feels envy toward him. But as the play progresses the audience soon realizes that he is relatively ignorant and they pity him rather than envying him. These feelings developed because of all the decisions he had made and the repercussions that he would soon have to