Oedipus The King Jocasta 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

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

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

Oedipus did not know that his mother was going to be his wife. He was told from when he was only the prince of Corinth that he will end up sleeping with his mother. During the investigation of King Laius, the blind prophet is providing a detailed crime scene and interviewing the only eyewitness to his murder. In curiosity, Oedipus asks about who his biological parents are so he can finally know the truth and settle the rumors. The Theban Shepherd confirms that his parents are in fact Laius and Jocasta. Oedipus and Jocasta have not seen each other since the day he was born. Many years ago, she gave her three-day-old infant to her servant to be killed because she knew about the prophecy. Behind her back, the servant gives Oedipus to a childless royal couple living their separate lives without knowing each other. Jocasta tried to change their destiny, but their fate was already chosen for them. Regardless of Oedipus knowing that his wife was his mother, he still committed incest. “But now all god-deserted, born in sins, in incest joined with her who gave

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.

Truly, both character may have develop different but they still show the same actions and emotions. Jocasta was actually calm whenever Oedipus related to the story of how King Laius died, while Oedipus was getting nervous, scared. This just shows how each character is unique to themselves and at the end the decision each made knowing the truth, I think shows more than what happened in the Oedipus

When she was told her prophecy, which stated her newborn son is going to kill his own father and lie with her, she tried to go against her prophecy and ultimately abandon her son. She also proved herself ignorant when she said “Why should man fear since chance is all in all for hum, and he can clearly foreknow nothing? Best to live lightly, as on can, unthinkingly.”. When it was brought to Oedipus’s attention that the father that he grew up with passed away, he had a sense of relief that part of the prophecy he was told didn’t become true, but he still had fear that what the Oracle said may become true, Jocasta tells him that it is better for him to live without thinking about what the Oracle said. When the messenger tells Oedipus that his parents who he thought weren’t his real parents and that his parents abandoned him, Jocasta upon hearing this figures out Oedipus’s real identity and says “I beg you – do not hunt this out – I beg you. If you have any care for your own life. What I am suffering is enough… Oh Oedipus, God help you! God keep you from the knowledge of who you are!”. In Oedipus’s case, Ellison’s quote applies in a differing way, because Jocasta tells Oedipus to stop searching for the truth about his identity because he is better off living unaware of his

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 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

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.

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

Oedipus asks that this shepherd be brought forth to testify, but Jocasta, beginning to suspect the truth, begs her husband not to seek more information. She runs back into the palace. The shepherd then enters. Oedipus interrogates him, asking who gave him the baby. The

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

These two contrasting viewpoints say a lot about how people act in times of distress. Jocasta, by trying to play the situation off, shows how people sometimes lie to themselves in order to feel better about their situation. By saying that many other men dream about sharing their mother’s bed, she attempts to justify that their marriage is normal. Even though it is clearly not. In fact, what she said was a logical fallacy--for multiple reasons. Most prominently because what she said is a lie, most men do not dream about sleeping with their mother. But also because even if they did, that does not mean that Oedipus should as well. Additionally, by claiming that Jocasta’s “womanly pride” clouded her judgment, Oedipus shows how people make excuses for themselves in difficult situations. Just like Jocasta, Oedipus simply makes an excuse for himself so that he does not feel any remorse for ignoring Jocasta’s requests. Later, Oedipus gouges out

Oedipus didn't do it, at least not in "Oedipus the King." Given all of the tragedy's conflicting testimony and unclear facts, there is little to prove the hero unwittingly murdered his father and married his mother, aside from his own self-conviction. Sophocles's drama indeed suggests that two traveling parties were massacred at the crossroads: one a royal entourage and the other a rustic band, one assailed by multiple killers and the other by a solitary traveler, Oedipus, who killed not King Laius but another elderly man. As for the charge of incest, Oedipus may not be Jocasta's offspring. The play further implies that the prophet Teiresias could have concocted his accusations of parricide and incest from inside intelligence, local tropes,