Oedipus Rex : Irony in oedipus rex

                               Explain the major ironies in Oedipus Rex and explain how irony emerges at each twist of the unfolding plot?"

Irony is the best method for exposing good and bad points of the characters.It consists essentially in the contrast of the two aspects of the same remarks or situation.In "Oedipus Rex" we find irony of different types i.e Irony of dialogue, irony of situation, irony of fate and irony of place. Beside it, we also find dramatic irony as well as tragic irony in the play.

1.Irony of Dialogue:

 Irony of dialogue means a remarks made by a character in a play may have meaning for him and other meaning for some of the other character and the audience.

 For example, when an oracle from Delphi reveals that the cause of the city's sufferings is the presence of the king Laius's  murderer in the city who is still at large , Oedipus says that

" I say I take the sons part just as though i were his son to press the fight for him"

Irony of dialogue is that Oedipus takes the responsibility to avenge the murderer of King Laius by considering himself his own son, but infact he is his own son and also his murderer .

Similarly when Oedipus calls Teiresias in order to know about the murderer of King Laius ,  Tairesias Refuses to raveal the truth, Oedipus becomes rash and calls him

:You sightless, witless , senseless, mad old man"

Irony of dialogue is that he is calling Teiresias as blind, but in reality he himself is mentally blind and can't see his own hideous crimes

When Oedipus comes to know about that he himself is the killer of his father , king Laius , he blind himself and requests Creon

" send me from Thebes".

Irony of dialogue is that he wants to be exiled from that man whom he himself wanted to exile.

Similarly, in the end of play Oedipus says to Creon,

" Be kind my lord  Great prince , be kind! "

 Irony of dialogue is that once he had called Creon a bad friend, killer and plotter but now he is calling him kind and great king.

2. Irony of Situation:

 Irony of situation means a situation in a play may have double significance in the sense that a disaster maybe foreseen by the audience while the characters concerned may be ignorant.such of type of irony is also called tragic irony.

For example :

we find irony of situation when Oedipus is making investigation about Laius's murderer.Oedipus himself is killer of Laius but he does not know the reality and he comes to know about it when the old Shepherd informs him about the true incident of his early life.At this moment Oedipus remarks,

" Oedipus damned in his birth,in his marriage damned ,damned in his blood,he shed with his own hand."

Jocasta enters into altar and prays for her husband.She prays to gods to save the city from the curse of defilement.

"And grant us deliverance,from defilement"

Irony of situation is that she is cursing defilement in city which is in fact her own husband, but she does not know the reality.

When messenger from Corinth reminds to shepherd that the child whom he had given to him is the king Oedipus, Shepherd says,

"What if i did, what are you trying to say."

Irony of situation is that messenger wants to reveal the reality of king Oedipus but shepherd is trying to conceal the truth.

When Oedipus leaves the stage, the song of chorus also shows irony of situation.

"No prince won such grace of power

 And now of all men ever known

 most pitiful is this man's story."

Oedipus was the best of all men and he saved the city from cruel monster(sphinx),but know the situation has changed and he has become the most pitiable person of the world.

3 Irony of Character:

Irony of character means a character opposite to his sayings and doings. For example,

The priest is praising the wisdom of Oedipus by saying;

"As to the best of all men best in adversity

   and wisest in the ways of  God."

The priest requests oedipus to save the city from plague as he had saved them from sphinx.But irony of character is that Oedipus himself is the cause of disaster in the city.

When Oedipus accuses Creon that he wants to become the king of Thebes after killing him,Creon says

"No.I have not gone mad; I need no honours."

Irony of character is that Creon says that he does not want to become king but in the end of the play, he becomes king.

When a messenger from Corinth comes to tell the news of Polybos's death, both Oedipus and Jocasta appear blasphemers towards prophecies.Oedipus says about oracle that

"They are empty words"

The greatest irony of character lies in the fact that Oedipus through his actions has fulfilled the prophesies, but he is considering them false.

The shepherd tells Oedipus that he is not real son of Polybos and in his childhood,he had saved him from dreadful death.

"I pittied the baby,my king."

THe irony of character is that the shepherd showed himself a good character by saving Oedipus from dreadful death but actually his good action became a bad act for Oedipus.

In the ode IV, chorus praises Oedipus

"Divine king, giver of laws"

But irony of character is that he breaks the laws of nature and is disobedient towards religion.

4.Irony of fate:

In the play we also find irony of fate in the characters of Oedipus, Jocasta, Laius and Shepherd. King Laius had recieved an oracle that his son by Jocasta would kill him and marry Jocasta.So they both decided to throw him in the mountain area to die in order to escape from fate.As Jocasta tells Oedipus

"Before the king had pierced the baby ankles

And left him to die on a lonely mountainside"

But they both failed to escape from fate as king Laius died at the hands of his own son and Jocasta also married her son. Thus they both become the victim of fate though they try their best to avoid it.

Similarly,fate also play an important part in the life of Oedipus . Oedipus recieves an oracle according to which he would kill his father and marry his mother. He leaves Corinth in order to escape from fate. But fate takes him towards his real parents and thus he kills his father and marries his mother. As Oedipus ironically says ,

"My fair winds brought me here."

we also find irony of fate in the character of Shepherd. Shepherd saves Oedipus from death and in this way he does goog with him. But irony of fate is that his good action becomes a bad action for Oedipus.

"He saved him but for what a fate."

5.Irony of place:

In the play , we also find irony of place.For example,

when Oedipus comes to know  that he was thrown by his parents at Kithran in order to die but he was saved, he addresses  to Kithran and says'

" Ah Kithran

why did you shelter me?

when i was cast upon you."

Oedipus requests Creon to send him to Kithairon because that place was chosen as a grave for him by his parents.

Similarly, we find irony of place over the city of Thebes when second messenger says to people of Thebes,

" I think  neither Istros nor phsis ,those great rivers

could purify this place of the corruption"

we find irony of place as the land of Thebes that was once a noble land, has now become corrupt and impure due to acts of Oedipus.

6.Dramatic Irony:

In the pla, we also find dramatic irony. when a person or character ironizes other character,but actually he himself ironized. This is called dramatic irony. There are many examples of it.For example:

when city is suffering from plague , the people of Thebes approach Oedipus and request him to help them.Oracle reveals that the murderer  of king Laius is the cause of plague. Oedipus proclaims that the killer must be driven out of city.HE curses upon murderer by saying,

"I pray that the man's life be consumed in evil and wretchedness"

We find dramatic irony as he is cursing upon murderer of Laius ,while he himself is murderer of and cause of pain in city.

The scene of quarrel between Oedipus and Teiresias is full of dramatic irony.Teiresias is reluctant to reveal the truth.Oedipus blames Teiresias  as,

" You planned it you had done it ,you all but

killed him with your own hand."

Dramatic irony is that Oedipus is accusing Teiresias as a killer of king Laius while he himself is the killer of king.

Similarly , when Oedipus tells Jocasta that he does not want to go back to Corinth because he is afraid of marrying his mother, Jocasta says to him,

"Have no more fear of sleeping with your mother

how many men , in dreams, have lain with their mother."

Dramatic irony is that she is saying to Oedipus that men can lie with their mothers only in their dreams but not in reality, so he should not be afraid of it.But actually he has been lying with his mother i.e with her. Thus she is ironizing those persons who dream to lie with their mothers, while her own son has done so in reality.

we find best example of dramatic irony in the play when Jocasta receives the news of Polybus's death, father of Oedipus, she cries with joy and declares;

" O riddles of God's will where are you now?"

Here dramatic irony lies as she is ironizing prophecies by calling them only empty and false words while the prophecies have been fulfilled  a long time ago.

Conclusion:

To sum up, we can say that irony is used with striking effect by  Sophocles in this play as we find all types of if irony in it....