Examples of Irony in Philosophy on the World Stage

Abstract

We want to study irony on the metaphorical stage because it helps us to understand and know our true selves. If we do not try to understand our true selves, then what we do can backfire on us. One example of this is King Oedipus character in Oedipus Rex, a play by Sophocles. Oedipus was obsessed with finding out who killed his father, Laius. Aristotle (Aristotle 1963, 6, 27, 30) presents him making an error in judgment on this matter because he did not include himself in the search of who had committed the murder of Laius. Oedipus searched for the killer in ignorance, and in the end found out that he was actually the murderer. Sigmund Freud has dubbed an aspect of this irony the “Oedipus Complex,” making the actions and doings of this protagonist the most ironic of all time.