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Dramatic Irony In Oedipus Rex

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A hero is a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. In most cases this is associated with literary work to refer to a person or main character of a literary work who in the face of danger, combats adversity through impressive feats of ingenuity, bravery or strength, often sacrificing his or her own personal concerns for some greater good. A tragic hero on the other hand is a protagonist of a play whose story elicits fear and empathy from the audience. A good tragedy will evoke pity and fear in its viewers, causing the viewers to experience a feeling of catharsis. In Oedipus's case, he is superior not only because of social standing, but also because he is smart; he is the …show more content…
The audience knows the outcome of the story already, but the hero does not, making his actions seem ignorant or inappropriate in the face of what is to come. Dramatic irony plays an important part in Oedipus the King. Its story revolves around two different attempts to change the course of fate: Jocasta and Laius's killing of Oedipus at birth and Oedipus's flight from Corinth later on. In both cases, an oracle's prophecy comes true regardless of the characters' actions. Jocasta kills her son only to find him restored to life and married to her. Oedipus leaves Corinth only to find that in so doing he has found his real parents and carried out the oracle's words. Both Oedipus and Jocasta prematurely exult over the failure of oracles, only to find that the oracles were right after all. Each time a character tries to avert the future predicted by the oracles, the audience knows their attempt is futile, creating the sense of irony that permeates the play. Another feature of a good tragic story is one in which the protagonist is an intelligent person and a good thinker so he may learn from his mistakes. In his search for the truth, Oedipus shows himself to be a thinker, a man good at unraveling mysteries. This is the same characteristic that brought him to Thebes; he was the only man capable of solving the Sphinx's riddle. His intelligence is what makes him great, yet it is also what makes him tragic; his problem-solver's mind leads him on as he works through the mystery of his birth (Burian,

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