Dramatic Irony in Oedipus Rex Essay examples -- Oedipus the King Oedip

dramatic Irony in Oedipus Rex M. H. Abrams defines dramatic ridicule as a situation wherein the audience or reader shares with the writer sack outledge of present or future circumastances of which a character is insensible in that situation, the character unknowingly acts in a way we fill out to be grossly inappropriate to the actual circumstances, or expects the opposite of what we know that fate holds in store, or says something that anticipates the actual outcome, but not aat entirely in the way that the character intends(137). Let us explore that hold in Sophocles Oedipus Rex. From the very outset of the tragedy, Sophocles relies on heavy irony. E. T. Owens in Drama in Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus comments We must bear in mind that Sophocles builds his make on the audiences presumed knowledge of the outcome. He has therefore constructed these premature scenes also to get the most out of the ironic contrast in the midst of appearance and reality. For there is here the opportunity not only of increasingly sharpening and deepening the irony, but of prolonging suspense, keeping the audience breathlessly waiting for the evaluate blow to fall (32). The protagonists fortunes are never high than at the outset of the drama. The rising action has already occurred with his destruction of the Sphinx and his election as king. This is the high point of Oedipus fortunes, to which he will never return. At the outset of Oedipus Rex the reader sees a king who comes to the door full of curiosity Explain your mood and purport. Is it dread /Of ill that moves you or a benefaction ye crave? When the priest, referring to Oedipus as savior, has responded that the people are despairing... ... of Critical Essays, edited by Thomas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. Owens, E. T.. Drama in Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus. In Twentieth speed of light Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. OBrien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Segal, Charles. Oedipus Tyrannus Tragic valiance and the Limits of Knowledge. New York Twayne Publishers, 1993. Sophocles In Literature of the Western World, edited by Brian Wilkie and jam Hurt. NewYork Macmillan Publishing Co., 1984. Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Transl. by F. Storr. no pag. http//etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&selective information=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi Van Nortwick, Thomas. Oedipus The Meaning of a manly Life. Norman, OK University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.