The play Oedipus Rex is full of both irony and paradox. Contradictory statements, actions, and incongrewincy between what the king wants and gets all add up to make this play a classical masterpiece. Not only is the plot itself ironic but so also are some things that are said. .
When Oedipus finds out about the murder of the King he tells the people that whoever committed the crime would face sever punishment. However, he does not know that he himself is the killer making his statement strangly ironic. King Oedipus also prays and asks the gods to render justice upon the killer or killers of the King. When the gods fulfill the prayer and send justice Oedipus cries out to them asking what have they done to him. His prayer is answered but it leads to his down fall. This shows a great sense of irony in the play. It is also ironic that Oedipus saves the city of Thebes from the plague of the sphinx by answering the riddle but yet brings about another plague on the city because of his actions. .
There is a huge paradox in the play that is found where Teiresias is speaking to Oedipus. King Oedipus is trying to find out who killed the king and is questioning Teiresias. Oedipus mocks him for being old and blind. Teiresias tells Oedipus that he is the blind one. This seems to be a controdicing statement .
Pope 2.
because the reader knows that King Oedipus can see just fine. However, what Teiresias means is that Oedipus can not see what is going on. He has great outward vision which inabled him to solve the riddle of the sphinx but he lacks inward vision which is why he can not figure out that he is the killer of the king which was also his father. The reader can see this farely easy but it takes Oedipus forever to see the truth and reality of the situation. .
Irony is also present at the beginning of the play in what is done with Oedipus when he is born. The king and queen of Thebes, which are the parents of Oedipus, send him off with a sheperd to be killed.
