Irony in Oedipus Rex Is That You

¶ … irony in Oedipus Rex is that you cannot escape destiny and that the attempt to do so will lead you to take part in it. Destiny cannot be escaped nor can it be changed. The second form prevalent in the play is in foreshadowing through symbolic language. More than once character warns Oedipus that he is not seeing the world as it truly is, that is refusing to see truth. When truth cannot be escaped, he gouges out his own eyes to attempt to reclaim this blindness.

Symbolic blindness becomes real blindness. The first scene of importance is when Oedipus pledges to kill the man who killed Lais, this of course being himself. Secondly is Teiresias and Creon try to expose the truth to Oedipus and then accuse him of blindness. The irony here is that the symbolism becomes real. Thirdly, Jocasta's story of the prophecy regarding her first husband's death and her child. Laius ordered his son killed in order to stop his own murder.

The irony here is that by abandoning his son to the wild, he set about the course of events to his own demise. c. Irony is a central theme in Oedipus Rex both from symbolically and through the events presented. His life itself is ironic in that Oedipus's father tried to hinder a prophecy by sending his only son to die and, by doing so, was an instrumental part of fulfilling that prophecy. Oedipus Rex The story of Oedipus is legendary.

What makes the tale of Oedipus so epic is the use of irony by playwright Sophocles. It is the not knowing about his real identity until it is too late that makes Oedipus's story so very tragic. Oedipus's life begins in tragic irony when his father sends him away to avoid a prophecy and thereby sets about unleashing the horrible chain of events that will follow. The story is centrally about this paradox, how in fleeing from destiny, you force it into being true.

One cannot escape destiny and when the attempt is made to do so you become an instrumental component of that fate. Irony is a central theme in Oedipus Rex both from symbolically and through the events presented. His life itself is ironic in that Oedipus's father tried to hinder a prophecy by sending his only son to die and, by doing so, was an instrumental part of fulfilling that prophecy.

This play begins with the prophet Creon talking to Oedipus about a terrible event that has befallen the people of Phoebes, which can only be cleansed by revelation. His very words describe the importance of irony in the play. "This blood brings on the storm which blasts our state" (119). His genetic bloodline is at the crux of the play's later events. A storm is brewing which will bring about destruction. Everything in the story revolves around the events that occurred long before the play begins.

Laius was king of Phoebes in the time before Oedipus. His killer has not been punished and that is what plagues the people. The Gods demand restitution for the regicide. "What is sought / is found, but what is overlooked escapes" (129-130). Laius's killer, says the Oracle, is in plain view of all but no one knows how to recognize him. To help his people, Oedipus pledges to find the killer, not knowing of course that the killer is himself.

"For whoever killed this man / may soon enough desire to turn his hand / in the same way against me, too, and kill me. / Thus, in avenging Laius, I serve myself" (167-170). The irony here, of course, is that Oedipus is in no danger from himself until he realizes what he has done and what he is now guilty of. An old man, Teiresias, comes to speak with Oedipus and reveals the truth. "The accused polluter of this land is you" (421).

He adds, "With your dearest family, / Unknown to you, you are living in disgrace. / You have no idea how bad things are" (439-441). Teiresias here reveals the horrible truth of Oedipus's life. He has murdered his own father and has been living and procreating with his own mother. Rather than heed the man's words, Oedipus accuses him of lying and of trying to use these lies to overthrow him. In response, Teiresias says, "Those eyes of yours, / Which now can see so clearly, will be dark" (505-6).

The irony of this is that Oedipus will indeed have eyes that go dark when he blinds himself. Since Oedipus has been unable to see his life for what it truly is, he is doomed to blindness once he is finally able to see. Nothing he has done can be atoned for and refusing his responsibilities while blasting and cursing others only makes his situation all the more dire.

Either unable or unwilling to bear any credence to Teiresias, he summons Creon, determined to have him either killed or exiled but does not do so in the end. Creon remarks that, "Men like that find it most difficult / to tolerate themselves" (817-18). Very shortly, Oedipus will come to know how true that is. It is the ones who are first to accuse others who find it so very difficult to see fault in themselves.

What is all the more ironic here is in that the third volume of Sophocles Oedipus trilogy, Creon will also find himself in a situation where he will wind up feeling extreme remorse for his own lack of foresight. In trying to comfort her husband, Jocasts unwittingly confirms all. She dismisses prophecies by discussing the one the Oracle made about Laius and how he was to be murdered by their son. To circumvent this event, Laius had his son's legs bound and left the child on a mountainside to die.

She says that even the god Apollo could be wrong since Laius was murdered by robbers and not his flesh and blood. "How did that unhappy son of ours / kill Laius, when he'd perished long before?" (1023-24). Here, Oedipus begins to believe that he was indeed the man who killed Laius, despite the assurances of his wife. However, he does not yet know the full extent of the tragic turn of his life, not yet understanding his birth.

He does begin to suspect that his condemnation to the people should have been to himself. A messenger comes to reveal that Oedipus's adoptive father has died and in this discourse, learns that he was found by a shepherd and brought to the king as a son. His real origins are as yet unknown.