An Analysis of the Uses of Dramatic Irony throughout Oedipus Rex Dramatic irony is extremely prevalent throughout the entirety of the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Dramatic Irony is defined as when the audience knows something that the characters do not. Through the chorus, the audience is told in the introduction that Oedipus is guilty. Throughout the rest of the play, the audience is aware of Oedipus’ guilt while he is trying to solve the crime on his own. Sophocles uses the literary device of dramatic irony to enhance the play by helping the reader make emotional and cultural connections, as well as aiding in the development of major themes throughout the play.
Dramatic irony was highly prevalent in Greek theater. Sophocles’ use of dramatic …show more content…
Through giving the audience a sense of sympathy, Sophocles made Oedipus Rex into the type of play that keeps the audience’s attention through feelings, rather than just loud attention grabbers. For example, in scene two when Oedipus tells his brother-in-law Creon, “if you think a man can sin against his own kind and not be punished for it, I say you are mad.” (Sophocles 29) The audience, who actually know what Oedipus did, can understand this as Oedipus unknowingly justifying the gods’ anger toward him, and demanding that he himself will find punishment. The audience may feel sympathy at this point, due to the fact that Oedipus has absolutely no idea what is in for, or the audience may find it humorous that he is aimlessly throwing around blame and hate, when in the end it was oedipus himself who committed the crime of killing the original king, his father, Laios. Either way, Sophocles is providing the audience with a feeling of personal connection to this play by encouraging emotion and …show more content…
At the time that Sophocles wrote this play, the story was already quite popular, and people would have seen it multiple times in the theater. Sophocles added a great deal of dramatic irony in order to add curiosity, suspense, and make the audience feel more connected to the story, without them feeling like they were just watching the exact same story again. Dramatic irony adds suspense to scene 1 when Oedipus is begging Tiresias to tell him who murdered king Laios, and Oedipus tries to force him to speak, saying, “What you say is ungracious and unhelpful to your native country. Do not refuse to speak.” (Sophocles 17). The audience already knows that he is going to say that it was Oedipus, and we as the audience are waiting to see what kind of a reaction he is going to have Tiresias tells Oedipus the truth. This literally has the audience sitting at the edge of their seats waiting for how the characters will react to different situations or revelations. This use of dramatic irony to add suspense would not have been a completely new concept for the traditional Greek audience, but the extent that it was used in the play would have been. Sophocles balanced his story to have this main literary feature running throughout the entire story, but not being the main focus of his entire play. This kept his work new and
Dramatic irony was highly prevalent in Greek theater. Sophocles’ use of dramatic …show more content…
Through giving the audience a sense of sympathy, Sophocles made Oedipus Rex into the type of play that keeps the audience’s attention through feelings, rather than just loud attention grabbers. For example, in scene two when Oedipus tells his brother-in-law Creon, “if you think a man can sin against his own kind and not be punished for it, I say you are mad.” (Sophocles 29) The audience, who actually know what Oedipus did, can understand this as Oedipus unknowingly justifying the gods’ anger toward him, and demanding that he himself will find punishment. The audience may feel sympathy at this point, due to the fact that Oedipus has absolutely no idea what is in for, or the audience may find it humorous that he is aimlessly throwing around blame and hate, when in the end it was oedipus himself who committed the crime of killing the original king, his father, Laios. Either way, Sophocles is providing the audience with a feeling of personal connection to this play by encouraging emotion and …show more content…
At the time that Sophocles wrote this play, the story was already quite popular, and people would have seen it multiple times in the theater. Sophocles added a great deal of dramatic irony in order to add curiosity, suspense, and make the audience feel more connected to the story, without them feeling like they were just watching the exact same story again. Dramatic irony adds suspense to scene 1 when Oedipus is begging Tiresias to tell him who murdered king Laios, and Oedipus tries to force him to speak, saying, “What you say is ungracious and unhelpful to your native country. Do not refuse to speak.” (Sophocles 17). The audience already knows that he is going to say that it was Oedipus, and we as the audience are waiting to see what kind of a reaction he is going to have Tiresias tells Oedipus the truth. This literally has the audience sitting at the edge of their seats waiting for how the characters will react to different situations or revelations. This use of dramatic irony to add suspense would not have been a completely new concept for the traditional Greek audience, but the extent that it was used in the play would have been. Sophocles balanced his story to have this main literary feature running throughout the entire story, but not being the main focus of his entire play. This kept his work new and