It is vital to realise how dramatic irony runs 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
tragedy, 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 when Oedipus receives word from Creon about 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.
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