It is vital to realise
how dramaticruns throughout the entire play and is essential to its effect. Thus it is no
surprise therefore that there are a number of ironies that appear in the first opening scene of
this classic , and it is important for you as you study this work to pay attention to these
various ironies and how they develop throughout the play as a whole. My own personal favourite,
however, is whenreceives word fromabout what is causing the plague, and pledges himself to find
the murderer of Laius, all the time not realising that he is engaging on a search for
himself:
Then once more I must bring what is dark to
light.It is most fitting that Apollo shows,
As you do,
this compunction for the dead.You shall see how I stand by you, as I
should,To avenge the city and the city's god,
And not as
though it were for some distant friend,But for my own sake, to be rid of
evil.
It is important to note the reference made to dark
and light, which are two key symbols throughout the play, and also give rise to a final terrible
irony. For it is by bringing "what is dark to light" that Oedipus condemns himself to
darkness when he blinds himself because of the awesome reality of the truth of his
tragedy.
No comments:
Post a Comment