The Similarities Between Oedipus And Macbeth

Intellect is by far the most outstanding artistic element in both Oedipus and Macbeth as is seen in the overwhelming irony and bits of humor throughout both plays. In Oedipus, irony is the most prominent dramatic tool used throughout the entire story. As an overarching idea, it is seen in the fact that Oedipus condemns and is trying to hunt down a man who ends up being the king himself. This is also dramatic irony because the audience knows that Oedipus has fulfilled his prophecy, but he thinks he has escaped it. Found under this umbrella of irony are other pieces. For example, Oedipus is blind to the truth when he can physically see, and then he becomes physically blind when he finally sees the truth. Another example is when one of the messengers claims, “What we do to ourselves brings us most pain” (I.ii.1472). This is the irony of life.
In Macbeth, situational irony occurs many times throughout the story: Macbeth is told by the witches that he will be king, but it doesn’t …show more content…
One example is when Oedipus tells him in a rage to leave and hopes the plague kills him. Teiresias replies, “I would not have come, but you summoned me” (I.i.522). Going beyond these few lines and looking at Oedipus as a whole play, I believe that with a change in the point of view of the story, it could be seen as a black comedy. If the reader takes the point of view of someone close to Oedipus, the story is obviously tragic. However, taking the focus away from the tragedy that is Oedipus’s life, you are left with the irony of the gods waiting for an oblivious king to realize that the man he’s been trying to hunt down is himself and that he’s never actually escaped his fate. When you watch this play from over the shoulders of the gods, the tragic irony turns darkly comical as you watch them writing out cruel prophecies and controlling life below in the most chaotic