Oedipus Rex Dramatic Irony Analysis

645 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Dramatic irony in Oedipus Rex essay

Irony The plot of Oedipus Rex uses dramatic irony as a key narrative element. From beginning to the end, Sophocles expose the audience to irony. The result is both shocking and devastating for multiple main characters. Oedipus, for example, states the weight of the punishment Laius’ killer will face. This builds irony because Oedipus is Laius’ killer, but he does not realize it yet. As realization of Oedipus’ crime against the Greek gods begins to set in, so does the climax and resolution of the irony. Overall, Sophocles’ use of dramatic irony is integral to both the progress of the play and to its climax. At the start of the play, Oedipus states: “There is not one of you so sick as I. For in your case his own particular pain Comes to each singly; but my heart at once Groans for the city, and for myself, and you” (3). In Oedipus’ first few lines, Sophocles introduces irony. Oedipus explains that he is the most sick in the city, and that he is the city. However, the truth is that Oedipus is the sickness. Oedipus reiterates his own destiny, which is the …show more content…

“What followed; snatching from her dress gold pins Wherewith she was adorned, he lifted them, And smote the nerves of his own eyeballs; saying Something like this, they should see no more” (45). As such, Oedipus becomes the full focus of irony, as he now knows the truth, while wishing that he never knew it. Oedipus could not see the truth when he had his sight. As such, Oedipus went on a search to cure his ignorance, while Tiresias was fully aware of the truth (12). However, searching for the truth reveals that Oedipus is the problem, and it was hidden in plain sight. Lastly, Oedipus’ life comes to full circle as he now accepts the role of one who knows, while wishing he doesn’t know. A question to investigate is how Oedipus’ character changes throughout the play, which is revealed by changes in his

Show More
Related

  • Oedipus Rex: An Emotional Battlefield

    1811 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex introduced the one of the most important tragic heroes of Greek literature. First performed in the fifth century B.C.E., the play is centered around Oedipus, the king of the Greek city-state Thebes, and his struggle to conquer his emotions as he seeks out the true story of his life. This work, inspired by a well-known Greek myth, scrutinizes both the tragic flaws of Oedipus and his heroism. Examples of Oedipus’ tragic flaws abound in the play. In his condemnation of Tiresias and Creon, Oedipus is controlled by his emotions. However, the heroism of Oedipus is also an essential theme of the drama, though it is often downplayed. Despite this, careful analysis can uncover many instances in which Oedipus exhibits his heroism by attempting to control his emotions and discover the truth of his origins. In his finest moments, Oedipus is in complete command of his emotions as he searches for the truth, while at his nadir, Oedipus is completely controlled by his emotions and is absolutely unpredictable. This contrast is, in large part, what makes Oedipus a tragic hero. Oedipus, King of Thebes, is among the greatest Hellenistic tragic heroes because of his fight to overcome his greatest flaw, his uncontrollable anger, as he heroically searches for the truth.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: The Tragic Flaws Of Oedipus

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    The great Sophoclean play, Oedipus Rex is an amazing play, and one of the first of its time to accurately portray the common tragic hero. Written in the time of ancient Greece, Sophocles perfected the use of character flaws in Greek drama with Oedipus Rex. Using Oedipus as his tragic hero, Sophocles’ plays forced the audience to experience a catharsis of emotions. Sophocles showed the play-watchers Oedipus’s life in the beginning as a “privileged, exalted [person] who [earned his] high repute and status by…intelligence.” Then, the great playwright reached in and violently pulled out the audience’s most sorrowful emotions, pity and fear, in showing Oedipus’s “crushing fall” from greatness.

    Read More

  • Oedipus Tragedy Analysis

    1976 Words  | 4 Pages

    He is blind from the truth even though he has physical insight. A fellow Theban, Tiresias knows the truth, but even when he told Oedipus that he was the murderer of his King Laius, he refused to believe it. Oedipus refuses to believe anything he was told because he believes that he ran away from his true fate. Without knowing anything about his real father or mother, he ends up fulfilling the prophecy. He kills his father, Laius and married his mother, Jocasta. Oedipus displays his arrogance many times throughout the story. In the beginning of the story, he says “Yes, I whom men call Oedipus the great” (Sophocles 23), showing a sign of his arrogance. Oedipus shows off his arrogance again by saying that everyone should know him because of the deed he has done (Sophocles 33). He saved them the Sphinx and gained an enormous amount of confidence because of it and also because he was rewarded the Queens hand in marriage. Oedipus once again shows his arrogance when he tells the people of the Thebes that he can find the murderer of Laius on his own without any help (Sophocles 28). The irony of Oedipus’s hubris is that he even determines what his downfall will look like: “That man, whoever that man be, I, this country’s reigning king, cut off from every fellowship of speech and contact, sacrifice and sacrament, even ritual touch of water, in this realm” (Sophocles 32). Oedipus’s downfall can only be blamed on him because of his

    Read More

  • AP Open Response, Oedipus Rex

    514 Words  | 2 Pages

    Insuring the portrayal of his theme, Sophocles targets the tension of his tragic play, Oedipus Rex, through the growth of the main character, Oedipus, rather than the mystery. Utilizing literary devices such as dramatic irony, soliloquies, and foreshadowing, Sophocles reveals to the audience the conclusion to the mystery of Oedipus before the hero has solved it himself; forcing the audience’s attention towards character growth of the hero, over the actual development of the mystery.

    Read More

  • Use of Dramatic Irony in Oedipus the King

    406 Words  | 1 Pages

    The behavior of Oedipus is ironic, because he is not capable to grasp the truth that is being unrevealed before his eyes. Oedipus is blinded by his ignorance. He is a very confident man and powerful in the way he acts and talks. Oedipus is so blind to himself, that instead of relying on the oracles, he counts on his own knowledge to find out the truth. Oedipus is destined from birth to someday marry his mother and to murder his father.

    Read More

  • Oedipus The King Sight And Blindness Analysis

    634 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the play Oedipus The King written by Sophocles, sight and blindness is highlighted multiple times. Sophocles uses blindness/sight as motif in this play to create an abundance of dramatic irony. The dramatic irony is used to develop the plot of the play, making it increasingly interesting and intense for the viewers and/or readers. Oedipus, the main character, creates dramatic irony with this motif, by being oblivious to the facts, contradicting his sight, and finally, the realization of the truth. Through these ways, Oedipus creates the majority of dramatic irony throughout the play.

    Read More

  • The Illusion of Oedipus Rex

    409 Words  | 1 Pages

    "How dreadful knowledge of truth can be when there is no help in truth! I knew this well but did not act on it; else I should not have come" (Line 101). Tiresias admits his grief to Oedipus and tells him that it is his job to tell the truth. Although Oedipus cannot see past reality, Tiresias, who is literally blind, sees the truth in Oedipus’s life. "But I say you, with both eyes, are blind: you cannot see the wretchedness of your life..." (196). As Oedipus argues with Tiresias, he says in return, “You blame my temper but you do not see your own that lives within you; it is me you chide” (369-72).

    Read More

  • Audience engagement in King Oedipus

    1166 Words  | 3 Pages

    The most effective feature utilized by Sophocles is irony because it builds tension, keeps the audience alert and has the effect of black comedy. The most common kind of irony is spoken irony which occurs in most dialogues. Oedipus bans himself in the beginning ?His fate will be nothing worse Than banishment? (Sophocles 31) which is ironic. This example has both a tension building effect and an amusing effect on the audience, which further engages them. When Oedipus is talking to his real mother, Jocasta he says ?still to fear?my mother?? (Sophocles 52) it has an amusing effect on the audience. The overuse of irony is very effective because Sophocles is constantly recycling it, which gives a more humorous and irritating aspect to the play.

    Read More

  • Comparison of Oedipus the King and Death of a Salesman

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dramatic irony in Oedipus the King is evident throughout, which is similar to the latter play, but in a different form. In here, the irony is evident. Oedipus the King revolves around characters' attempts to change their destiny (which fails) - Jocasta and Laius's killing of Oedipus and Oedipus's flight from Corinth. Each time somebody tries to avert the future, the audience knows their attempt is futile, creating irony. When Jocasta and Oedipus mock the oracles, they continue to suspect that they were right. Oedipus discounts the oracles' power, but believes in his ability to uncover the truth, yet they lead to the same outcome. His intelligence is what makes him great, but it is also what causes the tragedy. When he ridded Thebes of the Sphinx, Oedipus is the city's saviour, but by killing Laius and marrying Jocasta, he is its affliction, causing the blight that strikes the city during the opening. Meanwhile, the characters, especially Teiresias, mention sight, light, darkness, &c as metaphors, while referring to `seeing the truth'. However, while Teiresias knows the truth and is blind, Oedipus can see all but the truth. When he discovers the truth, he becomes blind. Also, he does not just solve the Sphinx's riddle - he is its answer. His birth is mentioned throughout the play (crawling on `4 legs'), and he never relies on anybody but himself (`standing on his own `2 legs'),...

    Read More

  • Seeing the Truth in Sophocles´ Oedipus the King

    766 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Oedipus the King, Sophocles suggests that the impact of seeing the truth is harmful rather than enlightening. Whenever Oedipus strives to discover more to strengthen Thebes’ perspective of him, it leads him closer to his fate as determined by prophesy. Tiresias stands as a model in the play for the individual who is able to see the meaning beyond plot of events although his is blind, and Oedipus represents the oblivious arrogant individual who is never content because they need to be the unsurpassed individual. In the play, Sophocles illustrates the downside of a personality like Oedipus who desires to see the truth by ending the play with the brutality of gouging out his own eyes. Ultimately, the play reinforces that seeing the truth is harmful and being content with what you have, without greedily striving for more, can help avoid fate and a related deposition.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: Characterization

    2442 Words  | 5 Pages

    Everyone else is ill, but no one is as ill as Oedipus, for all the rest suffer individually, while he alone suffers collectively. He is a one like no other one. As ruler he is like the one that without being a number is the principle and measure of all numbers. Oedipus’ illness or disease is truly unequal to the citizens,’ for he is the source of theirs, but he regards himself as ill only because his grief is the sum of each partial grief. Oedipus always speaks for the city as a whole (109).

    Read More

  • Oedipus The King Tragedy Analysis

    1733 Words  | 4 Pages

    Irony used from beginning to end and with each statement made by Oedipus about finding the killer of Laius. Although the audience is familiar with the story they are fully invested in Oedipus. Because Sophocles uses irony in his play it makes the audience empathize with the protagonist. Oedipus becomes human, a tangible character that experiences the same emotions as everyday people. The thing that makes Oedipus even more human is that he is a victim of a fate assigned to him before he was born. He unknowingly carries out the prophecy destined for him which leads to the discovery that he was abandoned at birth by his biological parents; with this discovery a sense of his identity is taken from him. A character so arrogant normally does not receive empathy from the audience, however, he is still very much an innocent fragile human being punished for his father’s defiance. Sophocles used irony to bring a new twist to a familiar story. The use of irony keeps the audience ahead of the protagonist yet still eagerly awaiting his reaction to the obstacles before him; even though they know his fate the audience wants to see how he deals with his unfortunate

    Read More

  • Use of Irony in Oedipus the King

    310 Words  | 1 Pages

    Oedipus is self-confident, intelligent and strong willed. Ironically these are the very traits which bring about his demise. Sophocles makes liberal use of irony throughout “Oedipus the King”. He creates various situations in which dramatic and verbal irony play key roles in the downfall of Oedipus. Dramatic irony depends on the audience’s knowing something that the character does not and verbal irony is presented when there is a contradiction between what a character says and what they mean. Both of these elements are used effectively to develop the tale of Oedipus.

    Read More

  • Oedipus and Tiresias

    1032 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus and Tiresias, characters of Sophocles' play "Oedipus Tyrannus," are propelled to their individual destinies by their peculiar relationships with truth. Paranoid and quick to anger Oedipus, is markedly different from the confident and self-assured Tiresias. In the dialogue between the two men, Oedipus rapidly progresses from praise of Tiresias as a champion and protector of Thebes in line 304, to blatantly accusing the blind prophet of betraying the city in line 331, to angrily insulting him in line 334. Rather than be intimidated by the protagonist's title and temperament, Tiresias draws strength from what he knows is true and is able to stand his ground.

    Read More

  • tragoed Elements of Tragedy in Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex)

    463 Words  | 1 Pages

    As each successive "layer of the onion" is unpeeled, Oedipus is brought a step closer to realizing the true nature of his actions. Foretold in prophecy and initiated by his anger, the downfall of Oedipus comes to fruition as all facts gradually come to light. This "enlightening" starts with the revelations of a blind prophet named Tiresias. Though sightless, Tiresias can "see" the truth. He argues with Oedipus ".you have your sight, and do not see..

    Read More

More about Oedipus Rex Dramatic Irony Analysis

Open Document