Irony in Oedipus Rex Essay

Irony is the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning. In Sophocles play Oedipus Rex, there are a number of examples of irony. Examples such as (Sophocles, 1045 l 251-256), and (1074 l 997-1004), and also (1077 l 1081-1089) all show how irony plays a major part of this play.

And this curse, too, against the one who did it, whether alone in secrecy, or with others: May he wear out his life unblest and evil! I pray this, too: if he is at my hearth. And in my home, and I have knowledge of him (l 251-256)., In these paragraphs after Oedipus founds out that the person that killed king Laius might be living in the Royal palace, he vowed to seek revenge on the person and cursed against him and hope that his life will be evil and that he may know who did it so he can avenge the late king. The Irony of this is that Oedipus himself is the actual killer that he is looking for and he is actually wishing evil and a horrible life on himself.

Another example of irony comes when Oedipus says: It is, Loxias once said to me, I must have intercourse with my own mother and take my fathers blood with these my hand. So I have long lived far away from Corinth, this has indeed brought much good luck, and yet, to see ones parents eyes is happiest. So Id not be my fathers killer, sir. (L 997-1004). Oedipus rejoice after hearing that his father who is actually his adopted father from Corinth has pass away, he feels very relief thinking that he hasnt perform the oracles prediction, and that his father from Corinth died of natural death, when in all actuality he did execute the prediction when he fled from Corinth and move to Thebes, where he is originally from and where his birth parents lives. Once in Thebes he runs into King Laius and unknowingly kills him and he continue to complete his destiny once he bedded Jocasta Queen of Thebes and his mother. However, still oblivious to the fact that he was giving away at birth and still has manage to get back to where he needed to complete his destiny, he celebrates thinking that he managed to escape his dreadful future and manage to make a better one for himself.

She, Perhaps, She has a womans pride is mortified by my base origins. But I who count myself the child of chance, the giver of good, shall never know dishonor. She is my mother, and the months my brothers who first marked out my lowness, then my greatness. I shall not prove untrue to such a nature by giving up the search for my own birth (1077 l 1081-1089). At this point Oedipus ironically starts to feel insecure and uncertain after he finds out that the King and Queen of Corinth have turned out to not be his biological parents, he begins to wonder if maybe his parents were slaves and that he is not worth his wife Queen Jocasta and that she wouldnt want him knowing of his true origin. He considers himself lucky that if he is a slaves child he has gone from lowness and rising above it all to greatness.

Oedipus finds himself around a lot of ironic situation through out the play. First he curse himself when he seeks out revenge on the person or people that may have killed King Laius not knowing that he is the killer that he seeks, he also celebrates when he discovers that the king from Corinth has passed away still unaware that he was his adopted father, he rejoice thinking that he manage to escape his destiny and create a new destiny for himself and finally Oedipus feels insecure and unsure of himself when the thought of his parents being slaves and him not being loyalty comes up as a possibility, he questions if he is good enough for the queen and yet he feels proud that he has made a name for himself and come from nothing to achieving greatness.