As far as the interpretation goes, I agree with it. It's true that he is punished for his ignorance because he doesn't know his true identity and of him slaying his father and marrying his mother. How was he suppose to know that Jocasta was his own mother? And as far as the father is concerned, it was an altercation gone wrong. Maybe he shouldn't have went to the point of killing him, but Oedipus does seem to have some anger issues going on. Things happen .. Oh well.
Now let's talk about Jocasta. I would have to say that she is probably more so an individual with distinctive traits of personality. You can see throughout the play how protective, caring, and calming she is to those she love. For one, she comes up with a list of reasons for why Oedipus shouldn't believe in Tiresias' horrible prophecies to comfort him. She also tries to make peace between him and Creon. When Jocasta realizes the truth about Oedipus she tries to protect him from it, but fails and ends up hanging herself. What a sick and twisted love story.
So what is dramatic irony? Well, let me explain. It is when the character in a play has limited knowledge about what is to later occur, but we (the reader) can foreshadow the events that leads to the downfall of a hero. In short, we know what's going to happen and the people in the play don't. An example would be how we figured out along the way that Jocasta was his mother and he did not. Also that the man he killed was his father. Seems so obvious to us, right? Right, but they have no clue. Dramatic irony helps to show the limit of nature's understanding and causes us to reflect on a certain moment. This can give the play a more intense feel to it.
The limitation of having the violence and bloodshed take place offstage gives the play a disadvantage. Having it reported to us, on the other hand, is an advantage. Because it is a play there is no narration involved. We, as readers, in order to grasp the whole plot still need to know what happens offstage. The only way of doing this is through another character's dialogue and that is exactly Sophocles does. Both Jocasta and Oedipus' death is reported through the messenger/chorus. Although there's a lack in the description of the events, we get more information on why the characters did what they did through their dialogue. More reasoning, less descriptive action.
Oedipus ends up blinding himself because he's been blinded his whole life to the truth. When he had his physical sight, he couldn't "see" it and now that he does it's "blinding". Haha, get it? Those who are blind ultimately have better vision. The vision being the truth. Take Tiresias for example. He's blind, yet he's a prophet for god sake! Now why would Oedipus use Jocasta's brooches to surgically remove his eyes? Tough question. Well a brooch's job is to hold things together. I would assume that him taking that from Jocasta' dress would make it fall apart similar to his own life. Metaphor type-thing going on here. Oh and cause it's probably sharp, duh!
As the play ended I felt great pathos for Oedipus. I mean he lost his title, his throne, his family, his sight. Everything. And the worst part is that all of this was his fate. Ouch! As much as I hate to say it this play does end in total gloom. He goes into exile blinded. His chances of survival are zero to none. His wife/mother is also dead and his girls have to live with the family's history. As for the gods, I don't know much of what to make of them. It was Oedipus' fault for trying to avoid his fate by leaving Corinth because by doing so he actually lived his fate. I guess you can consider them tyrannical because they were just carrying out their powers which so happens to be cruel.
Theme: Power can lead to ignorance of the truth.
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