Dramatic Irony In Sophocles Oedipus The King

Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, has a central theme of “one cannot escape their fate.” This theme is created using elements of dramatic irony, including diction, dialogue, and situational irony. This play is a Greek tragedy and it means the audience is already somewhat familiar with the main characters and the plot. The advance knowledge the audience has about what happens is known as dramatic irony. Dramatic irony in Oedipus the King affects the theme of “one cannot escape their fate” because throughout the play the main character has a goal of avoiding what he believes is his dark future. The more Oedipus tries to escape his perceived dark ending, ironically, the closer he moves towards it. The use of dramatic irony means the audience
Oedipus’ desire to get to the bottom of the King’s murder is the first step that indirectly leads Oedipus into learning the truth about his own life. This part of the story is good use of dramatic irony; Thebes is actually plagued because of Oedipus’ earlier action of killing Laius, ironically making Oedipus the cause of the disease in the city. Oedipus doesn’t realize he is Laius’ killer and instead sees himself as the solver of the mystery. Oedipus, on line 80 demonstrates his ignorance of being the cause of the plague by saying, “After a painful search I found one cure: I acted at once. I sent Creon, my wife’s own brother, to Delphi – Apollo the Prophet’s oracle – to learn what I might do or say to save our city.” On line 110, Oedipus goes on to say, “How can we cleanse ourselves- what rites? What’s the source of the trouble?” An example of how dramatic irony in the play affects the theme is on line 248, where Oedipus says “I will speak out now as a stranger to the story, a stranger to the crime.” This is an example of dramatic irony because Oedipus is ignorant that he is the former King’s killer. He is also ignorant about what needs to be done in order to cleanse the city of Thebes, specifically that Oedipus himself must personally be held responsible for the
At the same time, Oedipus shows concern for his foster mother, Merope. He still believes that Polybus and Merope are his birth parents. As a result Oedipus is afraid to be close to Merope because of the oracle’s prediction that Oedipus would become his mother’s lover. Jocasta replies to Oedipus’ concerns by saying, (line 1070) “What should a man fear? It’s all chance, chance rules our lives. Not a man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. Better to live at random best we can. And as for this marriage with your mother – have no fear. Many a man before you in his dreams, has shared his mother’s bed. Take such things for shadows, nothing at all – live, Oedipus, as if there’s no tomorrow.” This is ironic because Oedipus does in fact share the bed of his mother, who is actually Jocasta, and yet he doesn’t know it. Only Jocasta and the audience are aware of this fact. Oedipus thinks Jocasta, in her comment, is referring to Merope, which is a twist. With the death of Polybus, Oedipus believes that at least half of the oracle’s vision was incorrect. This gives him hope that he will not become Merope’s