Audience engagement in King Oedipus Essay -- essays research papers

Sophocles, writing King Oedipus faced an unusual problem. He needed to find ways to engage an audience that has pre-knowledge of the plot and characters. He successfully does this to a high degree by using several techniques such as, irony, climax and anti-climaxes, plot and character twists, lack of resolution and foreshadowing. The most effective feature utilized by Sophocles is irony because it builds tension, keeps the audience alert and has the effect of black comedy. The most common kind of irony is spoken irony which occurs in most dialogues. Oedipus bans himself in the beginning ?His fate will be nothing worse Than banishment? (Sophocles 31) which is ironic. This example has both a tension building effect and an amusing effect on the audience, which further engages them. When Oedipus is talking to his real mother, Jocasta he says ?still to fear?my mother (Sophocles 52) it has an amusing effect on the audience. The overuse of irony is very effective because Sophocles is constantly recycling it, which gives a more humorous and irritating aspect to the play. Dramatic irony is used commonly throughout the play: sometimes obviously, sometimes it is more subtle. By using it so often it makes the audience think about the subtleties moments and how they could be ironic, which is a very clever way to keep their attention. When Jocasta figures out that she is in fact Oedipus?s mother, she tries to stop him from finding out, and ironically, Oedipus gets offended and more motivated to figure out the truth, as he believes that she thinks he is the offspring of slaves. This example builds tension because it gives a guarantee that he won?t give up until he figures out the truth. ?Oedipus whose name is afar? says this in the beginnin... ...the interesting part is ?your death?, suggests that he will actually die but he himself already made it impossible for anyone to kill him legally. This could foreshadow a relatively close death soon after the play ends. The foreshadowing also has the affect of making the audience to think and make them more alert. By using all these techniques together Sophocles successfully engages the audience throughout the play. The features attracts the modern audience by black comedy, making them use their imagination, relate to the characters by irritating them, the play keeps the audience alert to notice techniques, and makes them tense and relax over and over again. The fact that most important events occur off-stage forces them to imagine which gives a greater impression then of the actors trying to act it. It also gives a more individual interpretation of the play.