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Arts & Culture

Foreshadowing and Tragic Irony in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex

Quick fact

In Oedipus Rex, the audience is told the prophecy from the very beginning, yet Sophocles weaves every subsequent line, every small clue, and every confident statement by Oedipus into a web of foreshadowing. Each detail heightens the tragic irony, making the moment of revelation not a surprise but a devastating inevitability.

Why this is interesting

You already know Oedipus will be destroyed, yet you can't stop reading. How does knowing the ending make the tragedy even more powerful?