Oedipus Rex – The Women Essay

In the story of Oedipus the king at the beginning Jocasta does not have any idea of what her husband it is to her. Later on she finds out that her husband it is her own son whom she throw away because when he is born a bad prophecy is giving to him. She tries to stop him when she realize it and she starts begging him, she tries to stop him. As an example, she says to him, “listen to me, I beg you: do not do this thing!”(Sophocles 1088) Also she says “you are fatally wrong! May you never learn who you are!” (Sophocles 1088), that gives us a clue, at that point she knows Oedipus is her own son and that the prophecy has already begin to happen in his life. The journalist Anders

Often the past will present answers to questions about the future as well as questions of the now, and in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus’ past plays an integral role in his pursuit of righting the wrongs that are affecting him in the present. In the play, Oedipus must identify who has killed Laius in order to exile them to solve the qualms of his people, and in a dialogue with Jocasta, who happens to be his wife as well as his mother, she reveals to him details of the death of Laius that seem far too familiar for his comfort (Sophocles 27). This revelation of information acts as a catalyst that forces Oedipus to make the connection between his past and what Jocasta is telling him. This realization that he may have been responsible for Laius’ death exposes him to the weight of the pursuit of justice sometimes hold for humans. Through this dialogue, Oedipus comes to fear that he is the culprit of the scandal that is plaguing the situation, thus putting him in the position of a criminal who will face the due punishment for the crime. This internal conflict that Oedipus experiences creates and

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.

In Oedipus the King by Sophocles the mother Jocasta spent years married to her biological son, and bore his children. The play was written as a Greek tragedy in which the characters have a fatal flaw, and this applies to Jocasta. Right after King Laius and Queen Jocasta have their son Oedipus they receive startling news from the Oracle in which it is predicted that one day their son will rise up to kill his father, then marry and sleep with his mother. In order to avoid this King Laius decided to kill their son, and Jocasta willingly agrees. After years pass by, King Laius gets killed by a passerby, Jocasta is to marry the riddle solver, and life continues as normal. Almost all at once Jocasta’s life shatters, she finds out that her husband was killed by her son, she married her

He told me that he went to the Herdsman that had given him away as a young child. This is where he fell to the bottom of the hierarchy. Jocasta had warned him not to find the herdsman as she had already concluded that Oedipus was he son and didn’t want him to find the proof. Oedipus with his immense hubris, thought that she was convincing him not to go because she was afraid he was of not of noble blood, so he asked him anyway. The Herdsman told Oedipus, "the child was called his child; but she within, your wife would tell you best how all this was." Oedipus asked him in shock, "She gave it to you?" The Herdsman responded, "Yes...to make away with it...They said that he should kill his parents." (Sophocles 19). At this point Oedipus was crushed by the reality he had just been told. His hubris has lead him to losing his self esteem. He told me that later Jocasta was found dead by her own hand. With this Oedipus had lost love and belonging. He informed me that now he wished that he had died so that he could have avoided the horrid prophecy altogether. Finally, Oedipus dropped to physiological needs when he told his brother-in-law Creon, "Drive me from here with all the speed you can to where I may not here a human voice." (Sophocles 22). He no longer had safety or shelter and was set out to live on his own in

The two go back and forth for a while which ultimately ends in Oedipus sentencing Creon to death for essentially treason. At this point in the play, it is clear that Oedipus is making some rash decisions in order to clear his consciousness. It appears he still wants to do the right thing, but nothing goes his way. As the play progresses, a messenger is sent to tell Jocasta of Polybus’, Oedipus’ believed father, death. Oedipus is told of this and is relieved, as this is a sure sign that the prophesy will not be true. The messenger then tells Oedipus that his father really was not his father, and Oedipus questions the messenger on how he knows this. The messenger explains that Oedipus was “A gift he took you from these hands of mine” (Sophocles 1553). The messenger saved Oedipus by bringing him to Polybus instead of leaving him to die. Oedipus tells Jocasta of this new information and how he plans to find out more, and Jocasta pleads with him to leave it alone. Finally, the herdsman is brought in to answer Oedipus’ questions. The herdsman is hesitant at first, but eventually tells Oedipus the truth. He was the one who gave a baby to the messenger, the baby who was left to die by Laius and Jocasta. It is now clear to Oedipus that this horrid oracle is true, and it is his life. Oedipus sets off to kill Jocasta, but is shocked to find that she has committed suicide. All of this information plus his mother’s suicide has caused Oedipus so much mental distress

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

On the flip side, Lauren Silberman’s journal, “God and Man in “Oedipus Rex”,” presents the argument that Oedipus’s destiny was to murder his father King Laius due to his son’s suffering at birth. Silberman makes a strong argument towards Oedipus’s destiny as, “There is more than simple dramatic irony in the contrast between Oedipus’ limited understanding of his situation and the full truth. What Oedipus understands as a simile-he fights for his father-is literally true because, contrary to what Oedipus asserts, Laius has not died without issue.” (Silberman 293) These facts were the creation of goddesses and they are the guarantors of Oedipus’s fate. Except Oedipus believes he needs to find the murderer and the idea becomes a huge consequence in the end of the play. The consequences include the suicide of Oedipus’s wife/mother Jocasta as she understands the fact he is the true killer of Laius before Oedipus figures out such disturbing

Jocasta had killed herself. 9. What was Oedipus’ reaction?

Jocasta, Oedipus’ mother and wife, met her demise when she learned that the man she wedded was the child she gave birth to and left to die. After learning that the messenger was given a child by the servant of Laius, Jocasta tries to deny everything and advises Oedipus not to investigate the mysteries surrounding his birth any longer. “My suffering is enough” (Sophocles, ln 1165), Jocasta realizes that she bore Oedipus and urges Oedipus to end the search for she knows he will not be able to bear the truth, but he ignores her and out of anger the queen storms through the palace doors (Sophocles, ln 1155-1179). Only when a messenger announces the death of Jocasta does the audience know that when the horrible truth was revealed, Jocasta was unable to bear it and killed herself (Sophocles, ln 1365-1400). Jocasta was dragged out of the cave so quickly that she was unable to bear the light of the truth and killed herself as a

In order to lift the plague that afflicts the people of Thebes, Creon, Jocasta’s brother, instructs Oedipus to find the murderer of Laius, the previous king. Oedipus summons the blind prophet Tiresias, who accidentally reveals that the murderer is Oedipus himself. Enraged, Oedipus points out to Jocasta that it could not of been him, since when he learned of his prophecy, “‘I went where I should never see the disgrace/ Of my evil oracles be brought to pass’” (770-771). In other words, Oedipus thinks that by running away from Corinth, he can escape his fate.

Fate is an important part to consider in leading the lives of the people involved in Hamlet’s time of era. They could not trust or believe that all beings were born with a free mind and will as they become occupied with believing on the gods above them and their superior abilities. In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Jocaste displays a general public's perspective about fate and shows the great lengths she takes to defy her prophecy. Thus she behaves like a self-centred and an in-denial person, as well as hiding a guilty conscience who ultimately reaps the consequences of actions known to be morally wrong. Overall, Jocaste is a strong character whose defiance leads to the extent to which she suffers an outcome that is deserved.

One moment, Oedipus is brimming with hope; the next, he’s sure that he is the killer of his father, King Laius. Every time Oedipus thinks that it can’t possibly be him, evidence proves otherwise. His wife, Jocasta, attempts to prove his innocence but “lets out part of the dire secret by her allusion to the ‘triple crossroads’” (Haigh). By attempting to assist Oedipus, she

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

The critic Ehrenberg warns that it “may lead to ‘hubris’” (74-75). Throughout the drama Sophocles draws out an ongoing contrast between the “godlike mastery” of the king and the softer, more balanced and selfless characteristics of Jocasta, his wife. She is a foil to Oedipus. Shortly thereafter Creon, Jocasta’s brother, is returning from the Delphic oracle with the fateful words of the god’s command: “He fell; and now the god's command is plain: /Punish his takers-off, whoe'er they be.” Immediately Oedipus boldly launches a campaign to do what is best for his people and for himself: