Through the play Oedipus The King, irony is a key factor to understanding the humor of the play. The use of irony helps the reader discover what kind of person Oedipus is. By using irony it helps readers better understand Oedipus’ stubbornness to learn about his past and that in the end nothing good comes out. Many examples are used in the story to show irony. He talks about Creons' message, and Jocastas' conversation with Oedipus to help reveal the dramatic and situational irony hidden in the story.
An example of irony during this play takes place is when Oedipus responds to Creon telling him the only way to get rid of the plague. Creon reports to Oedipus that they need to find and punish the one who murdered Laius. The instant that Oedipus heard this news, he stared looking for clues that could lead him to killer of Laius. “As for the murderer himself, I call down a …show more content…
Jacosta is telling Oedipus how an oracle told Laius (her husband at the tim) that their son would kill his father and marry his mother. She told him that the prophet was not correct and that this prophecy will never be true because at this child’s birth Laius had the child’s feet tied together and left on a mountainside to die from the elements. Not only that but she also told Oedipus the location where Laius was murdered, “at a place where three highways meet” (41). This upsets Oedipus very much since he recollects being in a place very similar to it and he now starts to have a slight fear that he was the murderer of Laius. The irony is that Jacosta assures Oedipus that the prophecy has not and definitely will not come true because of Laius casting the child’s feet together and bound him into the elements, while in reality this prophecy is coming true without anyone knowing. This prophecy becomes true because the man he killed where the three highways meet was Laius, and his wife (without knowing) is his
An example of irony during this play takes place is when Oedipus responds to Creon telling him the only way to get rid of the plague. Creon reports to Oedipus that they need to find and punish the one who murdered Laius. The instant that Oedipus heard this news, he stared looking for clues that could lead him to killer of Laius. “As for the murderer himself, I call down a …show more content…
Jacosta is telling Oedipus how an oracle told Laius (her husband at the tim) that their son would kill his father and marry his mother. She told him that the prophet was not correct and that this prophecy will never be true because at this child’s birth Laius had the child’s feet tied together and left on a mountainside to die from the elements. Not only that but she also told Oedipus the location where Laius was murdered, “at a place where three highways meet” (41). This upsets Oedipus very much since he recollects being in a place very similar to it and he now starts to have a slight fear that he was the murderer of Laius. The irony is that Jacosta assures Oedipus that the prophecy has not and definitely will not come true because of Laius casting the child’s feet together and bound him into the elements, while in reality this prophecy is coming true without anyone knowing. This prophecy becomes true because the man he killed where the three highways meet was Laius, and his wife (without knowing) is his