Sophocles’ Clever Use of Dramatic Irony in Oedipus the King Essay

Dramatic irony depends on the audience’s knowing something that the character does not, and in this play the audience knows Oedipus faith before he knows it himself. In this play there are several parts where Sophocles conveys his plot through dramatic irony. Dramatic irony underlines how partial human perceptive can be even when it is most reasonable and how agonizing it can be to be the costs of the misinterpretation, in some sense foreseeable. Dramatic irony is also use by Sophocles to make the audience feel their taken part of the play knowing the fate of the main character, making the audience wait in suspense wanting to know how Oedipus would react to his fate. The other use of the dramatic irony was to foreshadow which is a key component of great literature.My edition is a little different than the required text, so the lines numbers and wording is a little different. The first dramatic irony point of the text was in the begging with Oedipus conversation with the priest. Oedipus opens the play speaking of the sickness of the people of the city and the sickness of himself. The city asks him to rid the city of this plague or sickness. He tells the city only end when the murderer of Laius, the former King of Thebes is banished. At this point the dramatic irony is arousal as Oedipus himself is the cause of this sickness outspread. Sophicles use of dramatic irony leaves the audience is tension because they know Oedipus is the murderer and they want to know what will happen next when Oedipus finds out that he is the actual killer. And when the audience or reader is constantly questioning and want to know what going to happen then the work outcome is interesting and attentive. “As for the murderer himself, I call down a curse …

…ters as he went off to exile in where his parents intended on the wild hills of Kithairon. By Oedipus blinding himself he is punishing himself and creates the ability to posses more knowledge and ability to see like Teiresias.Sophocles cleverly uses dramatic irony to help communicate his plot by retain the attention of the readers and audience. In this play he uses dramatic irony is several scenes. Again dramatic irony is when audience knows something the main character does not. In this piece the irony of being blind and being able to see physically but not being able to see the truth of your own life is the causation of this entire play. The plague he bring to his land and cursing himself by making a vow to find the killer and destroy him is ironic but at the same time the audience sees drama since they know he has cursed himself and is out to destroy himself.

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