Jocasta Suicide

In addition, during this period female babies were much more likely to be abandoned at birth. Contrary to this, Oedipus was abandoned as an infant by Jocasta. In addition to the love that Oedipus has for the women in his life, in a monumental scene at the end of the play Oedipus cries out to his daughters and blindly embraces them. In this scene, Oedipus helplessly wails about the hardships that his daughters will soon face without once mentioning the fate of his two sons. Moreover, during this time men were known for having extramarital affairs by fulfilling their sexual desires while women were expected to remain faithful. In the play, there are no mentions of another lover of Oedipus. Additionally, it was not normal for men to socialize with their wives. Despite this being the norm, Oedipus finds comfort in talking to Jocasta. Oedipus confides in Jocasta, showing vulnerability towards a woman. Pietro Pucci states in his book Oedipus and the Fabrication of the Father, “Oedipus tells Jocasta how he was shaken by the rumor that he was illegitimate and how he secretly ran to Delphi to seek Apollo’s reassurance that he was the legitimate child of his parents, Polybus and Merope” (16). Scenes from the play reaffirm that Oedipus is humbled by the presence of Jocasta. Oedipus state, “I’ll tell you everything I fear. No one has more right than you do, to know the risks to which I’m now exposed” (Sophocles 898-890). Even after Oedipus finds Jocasta

The entire play comes to a tragic end. And with dramatic irony is clearly seen in the entire play. Oedipus killed his father and murdered his mother, but Oedipus and Jocasta did not find out until the end, Tieresias ' warnings and prophecy clearly portray the use of irony. Rhetorical questions are seen questioning himself or fate. What, born as mine were born?”

“A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.” (Jean de la Fontaine), a sobering reminder of the extent to which Oedipus and his parents, Jocasta and Laius from the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles fight a predetermined course plotted for them by the gods and written by the oracles, only for it to transpire tragically. Despite the inevitability of destiny Oedipus, Laius and Jocasta defy fate with the entirety of their being, for to acknowledge the lack of free will is to live in anguish. Both Oedipus and his parents attempt to separate themselves from each other in an attempt to avoid their foretold fate. Unfortunately, they suffer the realization that, in spite of their intentions,

God help you! God keep you from the knowledge of who you are” (57 Sophocles). Jocasta pleads to Oedipus not to pursue any more knowledge because she fears the worst days of her son will soon arrive if he continues. Jocasta’s lunacy after she perceives the truth causes her to complete the truth because she commits suicide. Oedipus is held responsible for Jocasta’s death because his persistence to find out the truth about himself has caused his mother to become so wretched that she kills herself in misery. Oedipus’s ignorance is clearly evident throughout the novel because many people have known his life story, and as a result made gruesome decisions.

Starting with Sophocles primary play, “Oedipus Rex,” the relationship between Oedipus and his parents support the works theme of fate and pride. Through antecedent action told throughout “Oedipus Rex,” Oedipus received a prophecy that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. Jocasta, his biological mother additionally received a prophecy long before Oedipus pronouncing her child to kill her husband. Both, Jocasta and Oedipus recall that they can outsmart the prophecies by avoiding the fate in which they write. With extreme pride that they carry out avoidance plans that contribute to the plot and irony of Sophocles work. Jocasta sentenced her son to death to avoid her prophecy. Oedipus ran from his perceived “real parents,” from Corinth to Thebes to avoid his fate, killing a stranger on the way to the new kingdom. Eventually, Oedipus and Jocasta get married and conceive children together providing accuracy to their fate later when all mysterious are discovered. Their relationships shows that the Gods are beyond their control, even though with their hubris that noted they could get out of it. The family relationship aspect of “Oedipus Rex,” situation adds more dramatized plot to Sophocles work. Faith in the trilogies is a concept in all of Sophocles three plays that can unarguably be avoided, Oedipus and Jocasta having the same thought process and traits shows a son and mother relationships. Jocasta and Oedipus marrying one another is Sophocles way of creating the irony for viewers of the play.

Tragedy can either be the darkest part of life for one person or it can be a learning opportunity for the other person. Of all the tragedies written in the literate, “Oedipus the King” written by ‘Sophocles’ is one of the oldest and the most prominent tragedy written till date. It is the story of the king, who is brutally left to die by his own parents, luckily survived, unknowingly killed his own father and married his mother. Although this story was written 2000 years ago, but it still has a great significance in the modern world. Of the most powerful tragedies of the time, “Oedipus the king” discloses such values and situations as parental aggression, child abandonment, self-confidence, ability to handle trauma, and parent-child intimate relationship that people are struggling with in today’s world. Sophocles reveals these behaviours and incidents through the actions of Oedipus.

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

But unlike Oedipus, Jocasta handles her situation through hypocrisy and denial. As the play progresses, it becomes obvious that Jocasta is terrified of the idea that her life is influenced by the gods. Instead, she forces herself to believe that “life is governed by the operations of chance. Nothing can be clearly foreseen. The best way to live is by hit or miss, as best you can” (53). Jocasta’s life best resembles a balance, with the evidence to support the prophecies on one side and how much she can ignore on the other. She convinces herself that prophetic power does not exist, yet attempted to avoid the prophecy of Laius’ death by sending their child into the mountains. When Laius died, Jocasta reasoned that it was due to chance, thus proving the prophecy wrong. But the moment the Corinthian messenger revealed where he found Oedipus as a baby, Jocasta’s balance tipped. Not even Jocasta, who could ignore Oedipus’ injuries to his ankle and the meaning of his name, could overlook the proof. In her desperation to retain control of her life, Jocasta begs Oedipus to not interrogate the shepherd, and when he refuses, she takes her own life. Ultimately, Jocasta is revealed as a character who would do anything to avoid the truth. When the prophecies came to fruition, Jocasta realizes that she never had any control over her life. Unlike Oedipus, Jocasta refuses to accept her fate, and in her final act of defiance, an act she deems as her own, she commits

In this case, Oedipus has a certain prophecy that he needs to kill his father and sleep with his mother. Doing so, he can break the curse on Thebes and he will not be shamed upon for being a king and letting his city fall. Oedipus was trying to avoid the absurd prophecy by leaving his adopted parents and living a life on his own. But, on his journey, Oedipus killed his father and married his mother. Oedipus believed they were strangers until Creon explained everything. The love of his life Jocasta, was revealed to be his birth mother. He had fulfilled his prophecy without intention. Jocasta could not take the stressful humiliation and life she had just taken on, so she committed suicide. When Jocasta's death occurred, Oedipus was filled with sorrow and decided he couldn't dare show go out in the world knowing what he just did. So Oedipus unpinned the golden brooches from the robe Jocasta was hanging in, and stabbed his eyes repeatedly while pleading “they will never see the crime I have committed or had done upon me! Dark eyes, now in the days to come look on forbidden faces, do not recognize those who those you long for.” On page 516 lines 192-196, this shows his unhappy fate from the hardships in life.

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

Finding out who his true father is seems important for someone who has just been told he will kill his father. Nor is Oedipus particularly intelligent about the way he conducts himself. Even though he did not know that Laius and Jocasta were his parents, he still does kill a man old enough to be his father and marry a woman old enough to be his mother. One would think that a man with as disturbing a prophesy over his head as Oedipus would be very careful about who he married or killed. Blindly he pursues the truth when others warn him not to; although he has already fulfilled the prophesy, he does not know it, and if he left well enough alone, he could continue to live in blissful ignorance. But instead he stubbornly and foolishly rummages through his past until he discovers the awful truth. In this way, Jocasta 's death and his blindness are his own fault.

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

In Oedipus the King, the only female character that plays a part in the play is Oedipus’s wife, Jocasta. Although Jocasta’s role in the play is a key component to how the story plays out, she doesn’t seem to have as many lines as the men in the play. This in itself can show that a woman’s opinion wasn’t believed to have much importance compared to the opinion of a man. Jocasta was simply expected to support her husband and his decisions. In the play, Jocasta’s role seem’s to simply be present for the sole purpose of helping push Oedipus into discovering the truth about his birth. She informs him that her former husband was told “that it was fate that he should die a victim at the hands of his own son, a son to be born of Laius” (Pg. 11, Ln 820) and herself. She then continues by telling Oedipus all of the details of Laius’ death, which helps brings him to the realization that he was the man who killed Laius. When they later discover that Oedipus is Jocasta’s son, she kills herself. This seems to be a predictable ending for a woman’s life to end in Greek tragedies and