Question

In at least 200 words, identify a moment of irony from the Second Episode of Oedipus the King and explain why it's ironic.

Answer 1

Irony is, in fact, a literary technique which originated in Greek tragedy. Most common is dramatic irony in which a character's actions or words are understood by the audience, but unknown to the character.

The drama of Oedipus Rex is based upon the psychological blindness of Oedipus who issues punishments for the murderer of King Laius, who ruled Thebes before King Oedipus. Situational irony occurs when the exact opposite ends up happening of what is expected to actually happen. Example 1 from Oedipus: Tiresias is blind, but he is a prophet. Example 2 from Oedipus: Oedipus runs away from his parents so he wouldn't kill his father.

Oedipus is self-confident, intelligent and strong willed. Ironically these are the very traits which bring about his demise. Sophocles makes liberal use of irony throughout “Oedipus the King”. He creates various situations in which dramatic and verbal irony play key roles in the downfall of Oedipus. 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 show more content.

Answer 2

Explanation:

Oedipus said that he lashed out in rage, because the driver of Lauis's charriage forced him off the road or tried to and he lashed out and killed thme all but the servant said it was a group of theives, because Oedipus actually killed Lauis. This is ironic, because Oedipus confessed what really happened to Lauis