Irony paper oedipus and story of an hour assignment

There are many instances of this in Oedipus when he makes comments about Laius’ murderer which foretells his own fate such as the statement, “ So I will fight for him as if he were my father, stop at nothing, search the world to lay my hands on the man who shed his blood”, in which Oedipus is unaware that Laius is in fact his father. This type of irony is also demonstrated when Oedipus says, “ for my own sake I’ll rid us of this corruption. Whoever killed the king may decide to kill me too, with the same violent hand- by avenging Laius I defend myself. Here it is ironic that Oedipus is worried that Laius’ killer may try to kill him too, when he is the murderer. The ironies of Oedipus also give a great deal of foreshadowing. When Oedipus curses the murderer of Laius since the audience already knows that he is the murderer it foretells his fate to come. Now my curse on the murderer. Whoever he is, a lone man unknown in his crime or one among many, let that man drag out his life in agony, step by painful step- I curse myself as well…if by any chance he proves to be an intimate of our house, here at hearth, with my full knowledge, my that curse I just called down on him strike me!

This curse that Oedipus says for the murderer shows the audience who already knows that the prophecies are correct that bad things are yet to come to Oedipus. The ultimate irony is the true tragedy of Oedipus. When he finally discovers his own identity, he discovers that he has been blind not to see what was right before him. This self-discovery in an ironic way also becomes his self-destruction. By the time that Oedipus begins to clearly see, his eyes cannot bear what they see and he cuts them out to stop the pain. Irony is present in all types of literature and can be used in different ways to direct the plot.

Body and soul free! ” While gazing out the window she saw the beauty in the spring day and prayed that her life be long, she recalled that only yesterday she had thought with a shudder life might be long. When Mrs. Mallard saw her very undead husband walk through the door, all the freedom that she had thought she now had vanished and with it so did her life. To the doctors her extreme happiness that her beloved husband was still alive was what stopped her heart, but the readers know that it was her last breath of freedom that took her life.

Her death at the end when she sees that he is still alive is the decisive twist to the ironic tale (Chopin). Irony, that incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs, is the technique used by writers to engage and surprise their audience as well as open them up to new ideas. Oedipus the King and The Story of an Hour are two completely different stories that use irony to develop the plot teach a lesson. This shows that irony transcends time and culture to be a universal theme.