Dramatic Irony In Oedipus Rex Essay

There are a lot of plays that have irony. A Greek play called Oedipus have all types of irony. The author of the play Oedipus uses dramatic, situational, and verbal irony in his play. This play is about a man named Oedipus who becomes a king by killing his father which he was not aware of, later he marries his mother. This is a famous play because people all over the world have read this amazing play.

First, One of the irony in the play Oedipus is dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is when we know something that character in the play does not know. In the text one of the dramatic irony is "On the murderer this curse I lay (on him and all the partners in his guilt):- Wretch, may he pine in utter wretchedness! And for myself, if with my privity he gain admittance to my health. I pray the curse I laid on others fall on me" (line 280). This quote is a dramatic irony because this quote tells me that Oedipus didn't know that he have killed his real father whose name is king Laius, he was the king of Thebes. Oedipus grew up knowing that Polybus is his real father so he Corinth so he doesn't kill his father Polybus. This quote is important because Oedipus clearly curses himself of killing king Laius. Which he doesn't know that he was his real father. This quote shows me that this is …show more content…
Verbal Irony is when the words a character says mean the opposite of what the character says.One of the verbal irony from the text "What man who listened to these words of your would not be enraged- you insult the city!"(line 405). This quote is spoken by Oedipus, when he was accusing Teiresias for killing the king so Oedipus thought Teiresias was lying that he did not kill the king. Teiresias is right because Oedipus is the actual killer of theking. This is verbal irony because this is exactly the opposite what Oedipus said, Teiresias is not the actual killer Oedipus is. This is the example of verbal irony in this