Dramatic Irony And Suspense In Sophocles Oedipus Rex

Every author uses a different style to bring action into their story. This helps drive the reader to continue on. In Sophocles’ Greek Tragedy Oedipus Rex, the author creates the sense of excitement and suspense without using an outside event through the use of dramatic irony, imagery, and foreshadowing. Sophocles uses dramatic irony to create the feeling of suspense by letting the audience know crucial details that Oedipus and his family are blind to. The motif of sight vs blindness is a major part of the story. Sophocles uses the event of Oedipus being blind to the fact that he killed his father to show this. The audience already knows who the real killer is, but there is suspense leading up to the reveal to Oedipus. The truth is finally told to him near the end of the play by the shepherd from Corinth. The shepherd tells Oedipus “If you are the man he says you are, you’re bred to misery”(1361-1362) The shepherd finally opens Oedipus’ eyes to who his parents are and what his fate is. …show more content…
The two main foil characters Sophocles creates are Oedipus and Tiresias. Tiresias is the blind prophet of Apollo. He is also one of the few characters who knows of Oedipus' true parentage. Sophocles uses this to create friction between the two over who is actually right. Oedipus thinks that he knows more than the blind prophet once he tries to tell Oedipus the truth. This creates some tension because Oedipus does not want to be insulted by Tiresias. Tiresias straight up tells Oedipus “You are an enemy to kith and kin in death, beneath the earth, and in this life.”(485-486) Although Tiresias is blind, he is not blind to the truth. Oedipus has perfect vision but is blind to the