This story takes place in ancient Greece, a time which is very different from today. This cultural difference is important to note because much of what happens within the story has to do with how the times were back then. Plays were written for and performed at a festival, and the playwrites competed against each other. Sophocles, the author of Oedipus, was the most innovative and interesting to watch. He had eighteen wins, and never placed lower than second. He often wrote about the ideal man, which I am assuming will not be Oedipus because of his past.
Speaking of his past, there is a lot that we seem to have missed because we have not read Antigone. Instead of reading the story that comes before Oedipus the King, we are simply given this information:
"Many years have passed since Oedipus solved the riddle of the Sphinx and ascended the throne of Thebes, and now a plague has struck the city."From this, the reader can gather that Oedipus is the king, and that he solved some riddle in order to become the king. However, we do not know who he was before he was king or what the riddle was. I assume that the crowd watching the play would have most likely already seen Antigone before they saw Oedipus the King. This makes them more familiar with the ancient Greek society, as well as with Oedispus' background information, so they would perhaps understand dramatic irony (if it refers to something in Antigone) when I may not.
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