Throughout the opening scenes of Oedipus Rex, Sophocles creates a strong sense of tension through use of dramatic irony. Greek tragedies were often based upon the notion that a great and wise leader suffers from a fatal flaw, often hubris (pride) and hamartia: a moral blindness that will eventually bring about his downfall. Oedipus suffers from both of these flaws and these cause him to make great pronouncements at the start of the play that are, for the audience, who already know his fate, quite excruciatingly ironic. I will now outline and discuss four of these ironies.
The first irony in the play occurs in the Parados section of the play, which introduces us to Oedipus the king. Oedipus’ flaws, as well as his good qualities are established very quickly. Wishing to uncover the truth about who murdered the previous king, Oedipus talks with horror about who this person could be, and we the audience know that the killer is Oedipus himself. He states that, “The killer of Laius, whoever he was, may think to turn his hand against me. Thus, serving Laius, I serve myself. Certain it is that by the help of the Gods we stand or fall.” Here, Oedipus believes that the person who killed the previous king will want to harm the new king, himself, either because they want the throne, or because they wish to incite anarchy. This is ironic, however, as we, the audience, know that the killer of Laius is Oedipus himself and that, when he discovers that he is the murderer and the unclean one, he will harm himself and put out his own eyes. Therefore, what Oedipus says turns out to be an inadvertent prediction, as although he thinks he is doing what is right for his kingdom and also for himself by relentlessly pursuing the truth, he is blind to the fact that he is going down a path that will eventually destroy him, that he is actually organizing the process by which he will be destroyed and finally that “by the help of the gods” or by the power of fate (working through his own flaws), he will be undone.
