Answer:
Oedipus says:
'I did not think it fit that I should hear
of this from messengers but came myself,
I Oedipus whom all men call the Great.'
The play opens with a scene already full of dramatic irony. The city of Thebes is suffering from a plague and the people have turned to their king, Oedipus, for help. In the past, he saved them from the Sphinx, so they trust that he can solve this problem as well. Of course, neither the citizens of Thebes nor Oedipus himself realize that he is the reason for the curse on the city.
Oedipus states:
'Whoe'er he be, I order
That… all men from their houses banish him;
Since it is he contaminates us all,
Even as the Pythian oracle divine
Revealed but now to me.'
At this point in the play, an oracle has told Oedipus that there is a plague in the city of Thebes because the former king's murderer has never been found and punished. In this quote, Oedipus is referring to the murderer; he declares that once found, the murderer must be banished. This is dramatic irony because although we know Oedipus murdered King Laius, Oedipus doesn't, which means he also doesn't realize he's banishing himself. It's also interesting that he mentions the oracle revealing something to him, since it was an oracle early in his life who warned him about killing King Laius.
Oedipus says:
'On these accounts I, as for my own father,
Will fight this fight, and follow out every clue,
Seeking to seize the author of his murder.'
Again, Oedipus insists that he'll make sure Laius's murderer is punished, unknowingly cursing himself. He says that he'll search out the murderer with all his might, as he would for his own father. The declaration is an example of dramatic irony because he vows to find the murderer of his own father… he just doesn't realize Laius is his father or that he is the murderer, as we do.
The prophet Tiresias says:
'I say you know not in what worst of shame
You live together with those nearest you,
And see not in what evil plight you stand.'
