Oedipus Rex
Sophocles used many literary devices to get his main points across. Two main literary devices Sophocles uses would have to be dramatic irony and symbolism.
Through Oedipus Rex sophocles uses a lot of literary devices, mainly dramatic irony.
Throughout the play the audience knows what is going on. So a lot of the things oedipus says comes off as very ironic. What king oedipus finds out what he needs to do in order to release the curse from his city he states that he will do all things necessary to find the murder of former king laius. He goes on to say, “ I will avenge laius as if he were my own father” (456) Sophocles use those particular words to greater exaggerate the irony going on. As the audience knows, Oedipus is the
In the prologue of the play, Antigone, by Sophocles, Antigone and Ismene (sisters) are debating between burying their late brother, Polyneices, and the consequences they may end up facing. In Antigone’s eyes, family comes before the law of burying a traitor. When disputing between the burial, Antigone says, “...but Polyneices, who fought bravely and died as miserably, - they say that Creon has sworn no one shall bury him…” (Prologue.17-20) Antigone just wants to put her brother to peace, but Creon refuses to allow anyone who tries to ruin the well-being of his new society to be buried. She believes that Polyneices fought just as bravely as their brother, Eteocles, and his spirit deserves to be put to rest instead of lying in the public square.
Before modern culture, traveling plays were a popular source of entertainment. They were very dramatic and over exaggerated situations with death being the common dramatic ending. In order to bring suspense, often times there was a lot of dramatic irony used. Oedipus the King and Othello both played on the dramatic irony as the fact that neither of them could see the truth is what lead to their dramatic end. They were unable to see the complete picture because they didn’t take the time to get the whole picture until it was too late. Oedipus and Othello were both subject to make decisions based on their biases.
Frank Jevons in “In Sophoclean Tragedy, Humans Create Their Own Fate” comments on Sophocles’ irony:
In the play Oedipus by Sophocles, dramatic irony is used to enhance the story. To start, Oedipus cursing the man who killed Laius is dramatic irony. Oedipus was the king of Thebes, and Laius was the previous king. Currently, Thebes is struggling because all their plants are dying and women are giving birth to stillborns. They turn to Oedipus for help and together they realize this has started happening after their king, Laius, was murdered.
Sophocles shows throughout the play, Oedipus the King, that fate triumphs over free will. This is presented by situational irony, the blind seer, and pathos. The following are examples that show this idea through the three literary terms mentioned. Situational irony plays a big role in how Sophocles displays fate in the play. An example of situational irony representing fate is when Oedipus promises to get rid of whoever murdered King Laius, but it was actually Oedipus himself who was the murderer.
Over two thousand years ago in 400 B.C. Sophocles, a Greek dreamer, wrote the story, “Oedipus the King”. One might think that a story that old may be boring or poorly written, but in fact it is very descriptive and entertaining. Sophocles even employs different literary devices to enhance the themes throughout the story. Some of these techniques includes: metaphor, personification, imagery, symbolism, tone, meter, setting, and diction.
Literary devices have been used in many narratives, often to convey a point or to make an idea coherent. Some examples of these devices may be similes, metaphors and foreshadowing. Oedipus the King is a play translated by Sophocles that has influenced society at an extensive scale. It uses literary devices to portray various concepts and notions. Two literary devices that are prevalent throughout the play are forms of irony and motifs.
So the irony is Oedipus had no idea that the person who killed Laius would be himself. After hearing this Oedipus is outraged and says it is all a plan for Creon to over throw him. These examples of irony are also examples of fate and free will. It is fate that Oedipus killed the king, his father, but it is free will that he is cursing and accusing himself.
Oedipus is ignorant to the fact that the murderer he so fiercely cursed is him. On the other hand, the reader is aware that Oedipus is the murderer of the former king and his own father. Thus, Oedipus not knowing that he is the murderer of his father and the prior king is dramatic irony, for the reader knows something a character does not. This dramatic irony has the reader shaking their heads sometimes, for Oedipus repeatedly wishes to be cursed when he curses the murderer.
Sophocles’s reliance on dramatic irony is apparent throughout the entire story. From the start of the play—where Oedipus searches for the murderer of the fallen king—the audience is already aware of Oedipus’s story. Ironically, readers grasp that Oedipus was the murderer of Laius and therefore the cause of the plague. Oedipus himself, however, lacks any knowledge of his participation in the event and believes that he has managed to avoid the prophecy’s fruition. As such, Sophocles’s use of the device affects the way the plot progresses. Mainly, the author bases the conflict on Oedipus’s “blindness”. It draws out the story until it reaches its climax. Throughout the play, Oedipus is in denial of his involvement in the death of Laius despite being told several times of his guilt. One such time occurred when Teiresias, an old blind prophet, reluctantly told Oedipus of his actions. As to be expected, Oedipus reject his words with scorn, threatening the old man. “Do you imagine you can always talk like this, and live to laugh at it hereafter?” (lines 425-426) Oedipus further insults Teiresias physical blindness, not realizing his own metaphorical blindness. As per dramatic irony, however, readers know the one who is truly blind was Oedipus. Teiresias further makes this apparent. “You have your eyes but see not where you are in sin, nor where you live, nor whom you live with. Do you know who your parents are?” (lines 482-484) Events such as these seem to be a recurring theme in the play. Oedipus is made aware of the truth by another character, and then he fervently accuses them. Because of this, the audience becomes familiar with the pattern. The dramatic
Sophocles use of verbal irony demonstrates the capability to live without the truth. Throughout the play Oedipus is unknowing of how ironic his statements are. Oedipus is
Dramatic irony depends on the audience’s knowing something that the character does not, and in this play the audience knows Oedipus faith before he knows it himself. In this play there are several parts where Sophocles conveys his plot through dramatic irony. Dramatic irony underlines how partial human perceptive can be even when it is most reasonable and how agonizing it can be to be the costs of the misinterpretation, in some sense foreseeable. Dramatic irony is also use by Sophocles to make the audience feel their taken part of the play knowing the fate of the main character, making the audience wait in suspense wanting to know how Oedipus would react to his fate. The other use of the dramatic irony was to foreshadow which is a key
Finally, he uses Oedipus’ tragic flaw of arrogance to display the actions that lead to the result of the play. The three literary devices that Sophocles uses to convey the theme of internal conflict through Oedipus in Oedipus Rex are setting, hubris, and tragic flaw. One literary device that Sophocles uses to convey the theme of internal conflict through Oedipus in Oedipus Rex stands as setting. In a tragedy, setting exists to set the scene for the audience attending the play. Sophocles introduces Oedipus’ conflict by
Sophocles was born a hundred years before Aristotle and perhaps was not aware that he wrote a near-perfect representation of the tragic form. Almost certainly, however, he was conscious of the dramatic irony he carefully intertwined throughout the plot. Dramatic irony was a tool for Sophocles to advance the notion of the tragic one step beyond the simple fate of the main character. Dramatic irony is a literary technique allowing the audience to know of the character's fate well before such fate occurs. The difference between the audience's knowledge of the tragic circumstances and that of the ignorant characters heightens the depth of the tragedy. The more significant the ultimate sacrifice which the innocent hero makes, the more powerful the message sent to those in
The story of Oedipus is full of irony such as verbal, tragic, and situational irony. For example, verbal irony appears in Oedipus’ speeches. When Oedipus orders for the man who killed Laius to be punished, he is unaware that he is in fact the murder. Verbal irony appears again when Oedipus ridicules Teiresias for his blindness when Oedipus is also blind, witless and senseless to his own actions. An example of situational irony is: Oedipus is an adopted son; he hears the prophecy; he escapes the city to avoid fulfilling the prophecy only to escape to his real parents.