Use of Irony in the Works of Oedipus and Don Quixote - Essay Example

Task Use of irony in the works of Oedipus and Don Quixote ic work of Oedipus and Don Quixote has explicitly employ irony as theone of the theme within the two works. Irony is means of expressing an individual’s self by utilizing language to depict the reverse, archetypally for either humorous or unequivocal impact. It mainly aid in analysis of the underlying social and personal concepts. The two works, Oedipus and Don Quixote, characters display innumerable ironies in both the personal and the social concepts. A comparison of the literal works of Oedipus Tyrannous and Don Quixote gives a depiction of irony depicted in two literally unique set ups. The paper mainly seek to explore the literary works of both Oedipus Tyrannous and Don Quixote utilizes irony is a vital aspect of literary brilliance Irony as a theme is a vital tool in any literature or piece of work. It literally means using words in a way to give out a meaning that differs from what the same words are actually supposed to mean in any normal grammar set up. It provides a contrast between the form and truth in the meaning of the words used (Bandera, 89). In our set up for the classic works of Oedipus and Don Quixote it means the expression of a character’s self by employing a language that usually depicts the reverse, archetypally for either humorous or unequivocal impact. It is among many literature equipment used to make the plot more interesting and keep the devoted audience involved in the literature or piece of work. It is usually applicable in both social and personal aspects of a literature piece of work (Bandera, 77). In our two main classic works of Oedipus and Don Quixote irony is the predominant theme utilized throughout the plot of the piece of work. The two characters display innumerable ironies in both the personal and the social concepts. In Oedipus’ work there is a presentation of man’s futile attempt to act against God, a supernatural being. In Don Quixote’s case, irony is based on the literal set point of view where the character literally believed in the words from his book and even tries to live it with regard to its main ideas of heroism and gallantry. A close comparison of the literature works of Oedipus Tyrannous and Don Quixote gives the depiction of irony, dramatic and situational, depicted in two literally unique set ups to fully utilize irony as an aspect of literature brilliance. The two characters display dramatic and situational types of irony. Dramatic in the sense that the characters are unaware of the actual situation as implicated yet the audience that is entertained by the piece of work is fully aware of the gravity of the situation. The situational type of irony differs from the dramatic type of irony in that the audience and the characters represented in the set both are wholly uninformed of the effects of the actual situation. Throughout the work we attempt to discuss both types of ironies as depicted in Oedipus Tyrannous and Don Quixote works. In his work, Oedipus Tyrannous utilizes most of his time challenge God who spoke through the Oracle of Delphi. According to the oracle, the future of Oedipus and his entourage had already been sealed by the Gods. Oedipus endeavored to do what he himself thought was right and turned a deaf ear to the truth as required by the will of the Gods. This was a clear show of pride to the truth which later dawned on him as his attempt to battle the Gods proved to be futile as shown by the victory of the Oracle of Delphi. It is clear that Oedipus eventually murdered his own father. Oedipus married off his mother and this marked the irony of the situation in that it was actually what the Gods wanted. Oedipus was wholly wary that this was what the Gods had willed for. This is an induced dramatic irony as the audience and even other characters were wary of the will as pronounced by the Oracle of Delphi yet Oedipus turned no attention situation which he was fully wary of prior to his set plan, in other words he induced the dramatic irony in this context. A character in the book called Creon quoted in the chorus and said “…no living man can hope to force the gods to speak against their will” (Sophocles). Eventually the truth dawned on Oedipus that his own destiny was futile despite the fact that he utterly refused to believe that from the onset. Conversely, Sancho a loyalist of Quixote remarked that the black mole on the back of Quixote was a sign of a sturdy man. Quixote compared it to the Islamic forecaster Mohammed and an indication of the strength of a knight even though the audience knows the truth. As for the case of Oedipus this is purely dramatic irony. It gives a contradiction of the character’s supposedly assumed personality of a knight with his actual state of a weak man. In explicitly indicating the supposedly hero’s dreams in a comic way it gives an insight of stupid and biased state of the human kind. Quixote’s wrong perceptions arouse sympathy on the part of the reader because of the meanness of the other characters in the book who makes a fool of Quixote. This is a difference case from the case of Oedipus whose own arrogance and stupidity was the cause of his eventual downfall. Don Quixote who claims to be a knight charges through the streets of the city glorifying ordinary women in the street as exhibiting immense beauty and making them feel like noble ladies (Salomon, 31). This is a show of his exceptional goodness and calm craziness on the virtues of courteous love and gallantry. He views the windmills as giants and goes about involved in their tilting. This is ironical as the writer utilizes the psychological disorder of Don Quixote to make the tale hilarious and rib-tickling. In both Oedipus and Don Quixote’s cases the protagonists go about identical structures of the tales’ plots. Honor, hospitality, fate depict the exposure of the two characters to their formed opinions (Bandera, 121). Another instance of dramatic irony in Oedipus works is witnessed when an old soothsayer pays Oedipus the king a visit. The king makes a ridicule of the old man telling him he is blind and an angered Tiresias retaliates by telling Oedipus that he might have sight but he cannot see the truth. In the case of Don Quixote none of his servants or friends is rational to correct him. One of his loyalists Sancho actually exhibits almost similar characters to him. Sancho is referred to as a “squire” and aids in trying to make the farfetched venture of his friend Don Quixote a reality. Don Quixote even makes a promise to Sancho that someday he will possess the rule over his territory if he becomes his “squire”. Irony sets in where Sancho wisely agrees to this promise as sooner or later he would rule when Quixote eventually loses his mind (Salomon, 54). Irony is also seen in the instance where Oedipus is out on a mission to unravel the mystery of the killer of his predecessor so as to stop the plague that had hit his dominion. It is dramatically ironic for Oedipus since he was actually the murderer of his late predecessor. As he strives effortlessly to unravel the killer he seems more and more ironic. This is almost similar to Quixote’s case where he tried to live by the ideologies in his book to the very end despite the fact that it always seemed impossible to live by his book. He wore himself out attempting to live by it and the more he tried the more it seemed ironic and eventually he lost his mind. Oedipus solely believed that the Gods will could not work on him while on the contrary Don Quixote wore out himself from trying to live by his book’s perceptions until he ran mad and actually thought he was another being and not himself. This strikes a close resemblance to the fact that he has staunch belief in him being the just king and that he was not mistaken. Oedipus self-deeds makes the tale come true. He was numb set alongside getting it a reality that he actually preceded in making it a reality (Salomon, 91). He behaved erratically and blew things off proportion with enthusiasm to find the guilty party in every tense moment. He adopted a tone radical behavior that sailed through the tale regardless of the results. Oedipus knitted the tale and interpreted it in a manner that he was always right in whatever course of action he took. These actions are the pic of irony since the audience knows that Oedipus deeds were the real cause of everything that culminated like the vision of the oracle stated. As a matter of fact Oedipus was very responsible as he passed through great trouble and put immense effort to actualize his dream and direct his fate. The characters in the two sets of books had a rough journey that was immensely ironic. The deeds of the characters were responsible for their befallen troubles at the end of the tales. They are marked by prophecies that interrelate with irony making their paths rough and eventually they lose as Quixote yields to madness. In trying to actualize their prophecies, the protagonists encounter irony throughout the story. Oedipus’ own interpretations and perceptions try to bring his prophecies to reality and thus give in to the irony of the tale by the audience. The striking contrast in the two tales is in the manner in which the two protagonists handle their pains and misfortunes. Oedipus was actually in control of his own actions despite the outcome while Quixote actually lost it and ran mad. All in all they actually shared striking similarities in how they aided their destiny to tag along quickly. It is quite evident that the protagonists took a positive attitude in molding their fates as they thought all they wanted to unwary of the aftermath. For Oedipus he dug his grave deeper and deeper every time he followed the matter and eventually met his impending misery. Irony sets in because the protagonists had the incorrect information and/or neglected it. The audience was fully aware of every situation and could have figured out the mistake in the behaviors of the protagonists (Salomon, 66). There are similarities in the ironies in the literature works of Oedipus and Don Quixote in their opinions regarding their fate and their life as a whole. Oedipus rejected the will of the Gods and attempted to mend his own destiny while Quixote attempted to live by his book and eventual lost his mind. Instances of irony have been witnessed and discussed in this piece of work. The two authors used have employed irony to make their literary works fascinating to the audience. This literature tool should therefore be appreciated as used in the two works. Work cited Bandera, Cesáreo. The humble story of Don Quixote: reflections on the birth of the modern novel. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2006. Print. Salomon, R. B. Desperate storytelling: Post-romantic elaborations of the mock-heroimode Athens, Ga: University of Georgia Press, 2008. Print. Sparknotes 101: literature.. New York, NY: Spark Pub., 2004. Print. Read More