Oedipus Rex 2

Oedipus Rex a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles in the early days of antiquity is based upon an even more ancient story in Greek mythology. Sophocles, however, knowing that his audience is aware of the outcome of the play utilizes that foreknowledge to create various situations in which dramatic and verbal irony play key roles. However, citing all of the irony in Oedipus Rex would require the writing of quite a hefty book, for time …

…revered as much now as they were during his day. He often wrote scripts for events in mythology that had already “occurred” and were common knowledge to the populace that viewed his productions. In order to keep these audiences returning for more, Sophocles made liberal use of irony. By doing this he tantalized the viewer into wanting to see how the events that occurred later would mentally affect the main character, in this case Oedipus.