Oedipus Rex Irony

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Oedipus Rex was a tragic hero who took part in his own downfall. That is the central idea of the play Oedipus Rex written by Sophocles in ancient Greece. His use of irony develops the central idea that Oedipus was a tragic hero who took part in his own downfall. In Oedipus Rex, irony is used when Oedipus thinks he is avoiding fate, but actually ensuring it. Oedipus’s prophecy was that he was going to marry his mother and murder his father. To avoid this, he flees from Corinth to Thebes, what he does not know is that his birth parents are not the parents he grew up with. So, when he marries the queen of Thebes, Jocasta, the couple does not realize that they are actually mother and son. How does this contribute to the downfall of Oedipus? His fatal flaw, hubris, prevents him from discovering the truth. “I thought it wrong, my children, to hear the truth from others, messengers. Here I am …show more content…

“I curse myself as well…if by any chance he proves to be an intimate of our house” (172). Oedipus is the murderer of Laius, but he does not know that for a long time. This contributes to his downfall because cursing himself obviously does not help him, also his hubris is stopping him again from coming to terms with the truth. Since Oedipus is mostly good, he believes that he could not be a murder, even though he killed a man in his travels. “I count myself the son of Chance, the great goddess, giver of all good things—I'll never see myself disgraced” (224).
Irony is a strategy used by Sophocles to create the tragic hero Oedipus and his downfall. There are several examples of irony throughout the play Oedipus Rex, including when Oedipus unknowingly marries his mother and when he curses himself by cursing the murderer of Laius. In the end, Oedipus eventually figures out the truth and gouges his eyes out. His fatal flaw, hubris, was responsible for his

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