Report on Oedipus Rex and Dramatic Irony

Introduction of Oedipus Rex and Dramatic Irony

            In general, dramatic irony involves a scenario or a situation in which the protagonist is ignorant of the reality that is shared by the audience with the dramatist. He comes to find out about this reality later when he has either lost or he cannot do anything about it. When he has time, he acts in a mistaken way and chooses the direction which leads him to an ironic conclusion. In fact, what he expects is the opposite of what he really gets. In this paper, dramatic irony in Oedipus Rex will be discussed.

            Actually, the dramatic irony was quite a useful tool and a method for the writers of ancient tragedies because they seemed to base their plays on some renowned or famous myths. Therefore, the audience knew in advance what would be the result of play. In fact, they could easily comprehend the error in the understanding and thinking of character and the reality behind their actions and speech. Irony is incorporated into the very theme of Oedipus Rex. It would not be wrong to say that it is one of the main elements of the play. Oedipus Rex, as a play, is based on pervasive irony that is sought by Oedipus for finding the murderer. It is an irony that his curse falls upon himself and his story ends with the realisation that he cannot overcome his fate (Barstow, 1912).

            It is an irony that he ran madly into the ditch that he had been struggling to avoid. Throughout his life, he thrived to avoid it but he could not do so. He blinded his inner eyes by trusting his external ones too much. It is quite ironical that even though Oedipus is a good man and he puts everything in escaping the doom, he is unable to change his destiny. What leads him to his doom is that he is proud and arrogant. How ironic it really is that Oedipus considers and obeys the voice that he hears from his conscience but he disobeys the gods and commits unwitting crimes. In the play, he kills a man who is old enough to be his father while he marries a woman who was old enough that she could be his mother. It is even more paradoxical and ironical that he escaped from the Corinth, believing in the dangers of fate and because he thought that he could overcome fate. Since he had a terrible vision of himself, he rushed blindly into what he seemed was right and only pushed himself into an ironical situation.

The success and effectiveness of Oedipus Rex as one of the greatest tragedies is attributed to the amazing interplay of dramatic irony in the story. In the play, it can be seen that from the start of the play, the protagonist or Oedipus is not mindful of all the dreadful acts that he committed. For instance, he murdered an old man while marrying an old woman. However, the audience that watches the play understands all of these facts. That is why every reaction and word of Oedipus in association with the murder (Faber, 1970).

            The speech of Oedipus in which he demands people to reveal the identity of the murderer in the initial part of the story or play is quite an important instance to the irony. While he is demanding, he also realises, even if only by a little, that in cursing the murder of Laius, he is seemingly cursing himself. The curse is turned to be true when by the end of the play, Oedipus along with his whole play are sent to the life of suffering and pain. Yet another important instance of irony is a littler later when the old soothsayer seems to visit the king. When the blindness of Teiresias is ridiculed by Oedipus, he predicts the most unusual circumstances. The prophet becomes angry and he warns that even though Oedipus can see, he is blind. Meanwhile, when he will really become blind, he will begin to see the truth. He predicted that at the moment, Oedipus cannot see the truth but when he has thrown himself into his doom, he will finally begin to see what happened and how he contributed to it. TO audience, it is yet again ironic that Teiresias has no eyesight but he is able to see the truth better than Oedipus.

            In the play, there are several other instances of irony. For instance, in the very first scene or prologue, Oedipus is seen to be praising himself to be a famous and great king, and he also says that he will be again bringing light to darkness. However, to a spectator who already knows about the myth of Oedipus, the self-appreciation and confidence of Oedipus are quite ironic. In addition to it, when he adds that he will be acting on his own interest and not as if it were for a friend but for his own sake, to get rid of evil, spectators get to understand the subconscious dramatic irony. It can be seen that he is going to eliminate evil by taking fate in his hands. However, he is only doing the rights that he does not understand. Without even realising the darkness that is about to be experienced by him, he proclaims what should be done to the murderer, and he also decks some curses on his own self. The curse in itself is ironic:

“I pray to God, I pray that man’s life to be consumed in evil and wretchedness. And as for me, the curse applies no less if it should turn own that the culprit is my guest here” (Sophocles, 2020).

            It would not be wrong to say that Oedipus earns the sympathy of audience by being an ignorant person. For instance, he is not even sure of the curses that are about to be experienced by him. The failure of Oedipus in understanding Teiresias and the old shepherd’s reluctance are also ironic. The fight of Oedipus from Corinth is the most impactful and serious irony in Oedipus’s life. After all, for his whole life, he struggles to escape the horrible fate. However, he is unable to do so and he unknowingly triggers the whole situation. These ironic instances seem to evoke sympathy and pity in the heart of audience yet spectators cannot do anything more than just look at the poor man who tried his best but he only failed. The consolation sentence is that doing the best in life is actually life itself.

            In Oedipus Rex, dramatic irony is not only the mode and means of communicating thematic messages but it is also the theme of play. In fact, irony is what gives a new life to the old mythical story. There are various ways in which irony seems to work in this play. The thematic and central irony is that the quest of Oedipus for truth and knowledge, similar to every human’s, is absurd in the end. It is true that it is not possible to know the future. If there is something that understands and knows the future, and tells us about it, we still cannot do anything about it. After all, chances are beyond control and reality seems to go beyond our understanding. Therefore, the irony of Oedipus, his attempt of running away from his fate and future, and his efforts of pushing himself into his doom, are the theme and the content of play itself.

            It is believed by Oedipus that he is the wisest person in his kingdom as he has solved sphinx’s riddle and he is now ruling them. He is praised by everyone and he praises himself. However, what he does and what he thinks bring him to the darkness he always wanted to avoid. Teiresias is accused by him of lying and he is also scolded (Weil, 1968).

“You sightless, witless, senseless, mad, and old man!”

            However, Oedipus becomes the blindest person in his actions and beliefs. He put everything at the stake of what he saw form his external eyes. Perhaps, that is the reason why he destroys his external eyes by the end of the play. In oblique ways, he unconsciously speaks the truth.

“I say I take the son’s part, just as though…”

            From false confidence, he moves to partial truth before reaching disillusionment and then to realisation of all the wrong things and acts he had been committing. Ironically, things are revealed. Actually, he is adamant about proving things that he can never prove. Everything that he wants to prove seems to happen in reverse. Therefore, thematic reality is the gap between the reality and the understanding of Oedipus. In contrast with Oedipus, the audience is always more perceptive and knowledgeable. One blunder that Oedipus makes serve to raise doubts in us about his next attempt. However, in the end, even the audience seems to realise that not even a single human being is free from fate and the irony that it has in store for us. It would not be wrong to say that Oedipus’s irony is universal. Therefore, it is not possible for a person to smile at Oedipus in a smug manner. In fact, this irony is capable of terrifying the audience (Silberman, 1986).

            Generally, when irony is used structurally in a play or a novel, it is referred to as dramatic or tragic irony. For instance, in Oedipus Rex, the protagonist or Oedipus struggles to find the murderer of King of Thebes, without even knowing that he is the murderer himself. He does not even realise that other than just killing his own father, he also married his own mother. The audience already knows the truth and perceives the reality of his irony quite early in the play. Therefore, the audience anticipates the results which are not expected by Oedipus. His statements seem to become ironic when he exclaims:

“I must flee from Thebes. For fear of joining my mother in marriage and killing Polybos, my father.”

            He does not realise that he has already done both of these acts. It is such cases of dramatic irony that lend pity to the tragedy and cause the reader or audience of the play to feel pity towards the protagonist who is not only ignorant but also ill-fated. Therefore, the effect of tragedy is more long-lasting and profound.

Conclusion of Oedipus Rex and Dramatic Irony

            Overall, it can be said that dramatic irony involves a scenario or a situation in which the protagonist is ignorant of the reality that is shared by the audience with the dramatist. He comes to find out about this reality later when he has either lost or he cannot do anything about it. Irony is incorporated into the very theme of Oedipus Rex. As it has been explained above in the paper, irony is one of the main elements of the play. Oedipus Rex, as a play, is based on pervasive irony that is sought by Oedipus for finding the murderer. It is an irony that he ran madly into the ditch that he had been struggling to avoid. Throughout his life, he thrived to avoid it but he could not do so. He blinded his inner eyes by trusting his external ones too much. It is quite ironical that even though Oedipus is a good man and he puts everything in escaping the doom, he is unable to change his destiny.

            In Oedipus Rex, dramatic irony is not only the mode and means of communicating thematic messages but it is also the theme of play. In fact, irony is what gives a new life to the old mythical story. This play departs and conveys an important message to the audience. Sometimes even when we know what is going to happen in the future, we are unable to stop it from happening because we are powerless against fate. No matter what a person does, he is unable to run away from his fate. In the end, only fate will dictate what happens to the person.

References of Oedipus Rex and Dramatic Irony

Barstow, M. (1912). Oedipus Rex as the ideal tragic hero of Aristotle. The Classical Weekly, 6(1), 2-4.

Faber, M. D. (1970). Self-Destruction in "Oedipus Rex". American Imago, 27(1), 41-51.

Silberman, L. (1986). God and Man in "Oedipus Rex". College Literature, 13(3), 292-299.

Sophocles. (2020). Oedipus the King. Retrieved from Slps: https://www.slps.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=22453&dataid=25126&FileName=Sophocles-Oedipus.pdf

Weil, H. S. (1968). Oedipus Rex: The oracles and the action. Texas Studies in Literature and Language, 10(3), 337-348.