Compare And Contrast Jocasta And Oedipus

In the play, the interactions between Jocasta and Oedipus depicts an egalitarian relationship. Throughout the play, Jocasta avoids many societal customs with her tendency to assert herself in the affairs of men.

      Since the beginning of time epic tales have been passed on from generation to generation as a form of entertainment.  Even though each epic is different in its plot, every epic has certain features in common.  The prime example of their similarities is their main character, the hero of the epic.   The hero's behavior changes from the beginning to the end of the tale.  Since the plot revolves around the epic hero, in most cases, they are made to seem God-like, or larger then life, in their capabilities and strengths.  The hero constantly has to conquer major obstacles to achieve their initial and final goal.  Usually the hero is tremendously suspicious of other characters intensions.

Oedipus also displays this uncompromising attitude in his devotion to Thebes. Oedipus' loyalty to Thebes is another factor that led to the tragic figure's ruin. Aristotle explains that a tragic character is just and good, but fatal error, pride(possibly hubris), or frailty brings about his misfortune. Oedipus fits this description perfectly. Oedipus could easily have left the city of Thebes and let the plague take its course he “would be blind to misery/ not to pity [his] people kneeling at his feet”. When Apollo's word comes back in the hand of Creon, Oedipus could leave the murder of Laius uninvestigated as it had been for so long, but “rising in his pride, he protests: he pits himself in some way against whatever…seems to him to be wrong…”(Levin 178). Oedipus can not let this investigation be overlooked; he must solve the riddle of who killed King Laius because his pride overpowers him. Oedipus' pride also reveals itself again in his loyalty to the truth.

There are many legendary epic stories have been passed on from generation to generation in the Greek culture. Even though each story has different outcomes, every epic character has certain features in common. Odysseus in The Odyssesy and Oedipus in Oedipus the King are great examples of epic heroes with a variety of similarities. Odysseus and Oedipus are similar in which they both god-like men who are considered heroes because of their cautious ways and relentless tenacity. On the other hand, Odysseus and Oedipus also demonstrate their crude habits with their hubris behavior throughout their own prophecy. In addition to the similarities, the powerful gods play a significant role which drastically affects

Many times in life, people think they can determine their own destiny, but, as the Greeks believe, people cannot change fate the gods set. Though people cannot change their fate, they can take responsibility for what fate has brought them. In the story Oedipus, by Sophocles, a young king named Oedipus discovers his dreadful fate. With this fate, he must take responsibility and accept the harsh realities of what’s to come. Oedipus is a very hubris character with good intentions, but because he is too confident, he suffers. In the story, the city of Thebes is in great turmoil due to the death of the previous king, Laius. With the thought of helping his people, Oedipus opens an investigation of King Laius’s murder, and to solve the mystery,

Oedipus and Jocasta seem interesting because how they react to the situations that they are presented upon them. They also share very similar characteristics but yet each are different in the story of Oedipus Rex. Oedipus was going to get to his fate no matter what ways he turned because the curse put upon King Laius. It was the fact that he had been cursed that made it seem more interesting and the circumstances that he would bring upon himself. Jocasta also could’ve been cursed along King Laius and her role to stop the oracle from happening was what brought the plot forward from the start.

Even though he is given the truth about his past, he is unwilling to hear it because of his pride. Here, Oedipus is given the chance to stop and turn back this quest, because in the end the murderer he must face in the end is himself. Instead, he begins to have self doubts about himself, which damages his pride, and continues on his journey into his past to restore his hurt pride. His pride forces him not to believe the truth, and so it leads toward his own undoing. Oedipus pride pushes him forward, shedding some light on the grim truths of his dark past. Finally, when faced with his wife Jocasta, she begs him not to continue with this mad quest, knowing that there will be nothing good for them in the end. Jocasta states “For God’s love, let us have no more questioning! Is your life nothing to you? My own pain is enough to bear” (Sophocles 1003-1005), realizing that Oedipus may be the murderer of her husband Laius and that the prophecy that the oracle said many years ago may finally come to light and be true. Oedipus however refuses to listen to her insistent pleas, and so gives up the last chance for him to turn back. Oedipus could have easily stopped here and listened to Jocasta but as Arthur Miller states

In the establishment of the play, Jocasta and Oedipus seem as though they are a traditional royal husband and wife, with ordinary children. They love each other, unaware of the truth. Jocasta illustrates what she did to her son as a consequence of an incestual and sinful prophecy that her son would someday kill Laius and marry her, as told by an oracle. She reveals that she and Laius fastened their son’s ankles and left him on a mountain to die. She declares, “[...] My baby / no more murdered his father than Laius suffered -- / his wildest fear -- death at his own son’s hands” (794-796). While both

Though some characters took suffering with quiet acceptance, other characters like Jocasta have a more skeptical and extremist response to suffering. In the play, when Jocasta first hears of Tiresias’ prophecy, she questions the legitimacy of oracles: “Racked with anguish, he [Oedipus] won’t admit the latest prophecies are hollow as the old.” Although what the Oracle at Delphi said to Jocasta earlier on in the story about her baby’s prophecy matched up with Oedipus’ story of him killing a man where the roads fork, she refuses to believe the Oracle’s power of prophecy. Furthermore, Jocasta’s extremist viewpoint is shown when she finally does find out that Oedipus is truly her son through the shepard’s confession, and she hangs

The king of Thebes will decide to see this matter through on his own terms, no matter the cost. For Oedipus finding the truth becomes something of an obsession, and it is far more important than what that truth might actually reveal. It seems as if the more facts that are uncovered about the murder of Laios, the more determined Oedipus becomes, perhaps still unconvinced about his own possible implication in the death of Laios (even though he remembers killing a man at a crossroads). He relentlessly marches on, ignoring the pleas from his wife, Jocasta, to abandon the

The culture and time period is portraying is ancient Greece, this is because it was made in 429 B.C. My perspective on the decisions made by the end of the story were that king made the right choice but also the wrong choice while he felt threatened by this prophecy but killing a baby is not cool. Itnd was not right for Oedipus to accuse Creon and Teiresias even though these people say that they are not in the fault. By the end of the story I think that Jocasta should of not hung herself because suicide is not the answer. I believe that Oedipus sould not have kept pursuing the answer because in the end it caused his wife to die and him to go blind. Finally I think that Oedipus should have been aware of this earlier but he did not ask the right

Moreover, Sophocles’ insightful word choice is used to further explore the themes of free will and fate. While Jocasta is trying to convince Oedipus to go no further in his quest to learn his lineage, she tells him in her dialog, “You’re doomed --/may you never fathom who you are!”(4-5). Sophocles’ choice of the word “doomed” is again a word implying an inescapable fate. However, since Jocasta knows the prophecy has already been fulfilled the ill-fated future that she foreshadows is Oedipus’ tragic fall. Thus it is of significance that with her next line in the script in response to Oedipus calling to a servant to fetch the shepherd, Jocasta says to Oedipus, “Man of agony--/ that is the only name I have for you,/ that, no other-- ever, ever, ever!”(10-12). This is a turning point for Jocasta, not only has her speech become reduced to short clauses, she has also come to the conclusion that Oedipus has inflicted his physical and mental trauma on himself by his choices. As Jocasta exits the stage to commit suicide after

Unfortunately, to her disbelief, she is just perpetuating the problem. Jocasta believes that she can take the world into her own hands and prevent the awful tragedy that is her son killing her husband, King Laius, as well as sleeping with and bearing children with her murderous son. To prevent that awful occurrence from happening, she and King Laius bind the child up when he is just three days old and leave him to die on the side of a mountain so there is absolutely no chance of the prophecy being completed; however, she is greatly mistaken. She says feeling confident in her preventative measures, “...So in this case Apollo’s purpose failed…so much for oracles that map our future…” (Sophocles 29). Jocasta believes at that point in the selection that she has thwarted the prophecy of the gods. However, she later realizes that even though she takes precautionary measures to prevent that occurrence from ever happening, she is not greater than the gods. This is purely another example of the gods being sovereign rulers of the people of Thebes. In addition, the gods make sure the prophecy comes true and Oedipus commits the awful acts that he is destined to perform. Because of this, the gods remain victorious and in complete power over her life, her son’s, and the events that occur within

On the day she gives birth to Oedipus, Lauis forces her to kill her son. She didn’t have the heart to do it herself so decides to give that burden to her servant. Scholar Newton states in his article that “a psychologist might suggest that Jocasta manages to suppress her guilt over the abandonment of her baby all these years by treating her husband as if he were indeed her son”(Newton). During the drama, the audience is convinced that this is true because every time Oedipus is mad Jocasta would do anything possible to comfort him like any other mother would. Another example of her motherly instincts towards Oedipus is when he is close to the truth.

When comparing Oedipus and Medea we see the battle of good versus evil, as there is in any story that has a heroic or non heroic figure in the, but this time it is a little bit different from a normal good versus evil story since they are of course both tragedies. The question, in these stories, is whether or not Oedipus or Medea display any heroic qualities during the tragic battles, and the answer is yes but also no. As we know, there are many differences between Medea and Oedipus, but they both end up destroying everything they love and cherish around them because of the choices that they have made with the poor judgment that they had while they were fueled by anger.