... truth can be When there is no help in truth" at the point in the play when he is asked to divine who has offended the gods by killing the former king. When irony is used structurally in a novel or a play, it is sometimes called "tragic" or "dramatic" irony. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus attempts to find the murderer of Laius, king of Thebes, unaware that he himself is the culprit. The audience, which knows the truth, perceives the dimension of his tragedy early in the play and anticipates consequences that Oedipus does not expect. His statements become unconsciously ironic-when, for example, he prays that the murderer's life "be consumed in evil and wretchedness". Here we can see the conflict that has been created in the characters mind this conflict is the main reason why the hero of the play is his own destroyer. One of the major ...

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