Oedipus Essay Essay, Research Paper

Oedipus Essay

In the play Oedipus dramatic irony is used a lot. Dramatic Irony is everything said by the characters in the play and it means more to the audience then to the characters in the play. The audience understands what is going on, but the character doesn t pick up the whole truth. Oedipus is a character that is a great example because he doesn t pick up the clues or hints very well in the play, but the audience picks up the clues that Oedipus pays no attention to and doesn t think anything of them.

Jocasta is hinting to Oedipus when she says, Lauis was swarthy, and the gray had just began to streak his temples, and his build…wasn t far from yours. Jocasta is hinting to Oedipus that he looks like Lauis. It goes along with dramatic irony because Oedipus doesn t pick up that he looks a lot like Lauis. The audience picks up that Oedipus looks so much as Lauis and the audience comes to a conclusion that Lauis is Oedipus father.

Oedipus wants to know who are his parents so he demands, Let is burst! Whatever will whatever must! I must know my birth no matter how common it may be-I must see my origins face-to-face. Oedipus was left in a field as a baby because the oracle told his parents that he will have to live out a fate. The parents just thought maybe if they left him they wouldn t have anything to do with it but it ends up it does come back to haunt them. The audience knows that Lauis is his father and Jocasta is his mother and the audience know before that they are his parents.

Oedipus got hints to who killed Lauis and he still wanted the harshest punishment to the killer. While Oedipus was giving the orders of banishment to the killer, all of the other characters were still hinting to him that he was the killer of Lauis. The audience knows that Oedipus killed his father which was part of his fate, but Oedipus still wanted to give the harshest punishments.

Dramatic Irony is a good way to ad different difficulties by the character because he has to find what has happened, but the audience knows before hand