Other Literary Tools used in Story

Sophocles included many literary devices that helped tell the story. I hoped you would take time to read through this and use this to refer to your own research on Oedipus Rex. :)

The most used literary device in the play is dramatic irony. 

 It is frequently used throughout most of the play.
 For example, when Creon tells Oedipus about the god's curse on Thebes, Oedipus puts his own curse on the murderer of Laius, not knowing it was he who killed Laius (Sophocles,14.) Throughout the book, Oedipus learns things that the audience would have already known, such as when Oedipus discovers who his parents really are. Those were just some examples of dramatic irony in the play. 

Another literary device used by Sopocles is characterization. In Oedipus the King, Sophocles used characterization to portray Oedipus as the tragic hero. 
A third literary device used in the play is flashback, which is where the story switches from the present to an event that occurred in the past.

A tragedy is where many troubling events happen to the characters during the story. The one who has the worst things happen to them is called the tragic hero. Oedipus is told he has to find out who killed Laius, the ruler of Thebes before Oedipus. Oedipus later learns that he has no idea who he really is, and that he was the one who killed Laius. When Oedipus' mother and wife Jocasta realized she had married her son, she kills herself. Finally, Oedipus stabs out his eyes, and begs to be exiled from Thebes. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is known as the tragic hero, the one who suffers through all of the horrific events.

The final major literary device used in Oedipus the King is flashback. The first example of this is when Oedipus and Jocasta are talking about what happened to Laius the day he was killed. Jocasta tells Oedipus who Laius was with at the time, and where he was killed. When Oedipus hears this information, he describes a time in his past when he left Corinth (Sophocles, 53.) Later, Oedipus is talking to the shepherd who took the baby from Jocasta. They talk about what happened, and what the shepherd did with the baby (Sophocles, 83.)