Who Is Jocasta Right For Oedipus

Did the punishment of Jocasta and Oedipus fit the crime? No because Jocasta wouldn't have killed herself and everything would be fine if the shepard would have did what he was told and killed the baby, and as for Oedipus it was his fault for killing king Laios but it wasn't his fault for commuting incest because the oracle told him he couldn't escape his fate but instead Oedipus ignored the oracle. The Shepard of King Laios played a big role in ruining everybody's life.

IGNORANCE IS (NOT) BLISS King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes had a new born son who was found to have a horrible fate; He was to kill his father and marry his mother. In order to prevent this, they bound his ankles and left him in the mountainside to die. However, he was rescued by a Shepherd, who gifted him to the royal family of Corinth who were unable to have children. They raised him as their own and never told him of his true origins.

In Sophocles play Oedipus the King, Sophocles depicts the horrible fate of Oedipus, a pompous, arrogant young ruler. The story begins in the Greek town of Thebes. A plague has descended upon the Thebians causing death and famine throughout the land. Oedipus, being the heroic king, takes full responsibility to find out the cause of their aliments. While working to discover the source of the plague, Oedipus stumbles upon the tragic truth of his heritage and the horrifying implications of his appointment to the throne. Unfortunately for Oedipus, everything ends in tragedy. With the suicide of his mother/wife and the self-inflicted blindness followed by exile from Thebes, Oedipus paved the path to his own

Due to Oedipus’s actions comes the grave consequence of Jocasta’s death. One of Aristotle's five key components of tragedy is shown when Oedipus causes Jocasta’s death. Oedipus’s serious act was marrying his mother. The consequences that Oedipus suffers because he married Jocasta is she committed suicide. Jocasta rushes out of the palace and Oedipus and the messenger are “afraid that from this silence something monstrous may come bursting forth” (Fagles.1181-2.223).

Oedipus the King was written by Sophocles and was is titled Oedipus Rex in Latin. It is one of the most well-known Greek tragedies. As is the case with Greek tragedies—or roughly most tragedies that make their way to stage—fate plays a key role in the events in Oedipus Rex. Oedipus discovers there is a plague on his city. The only way to lift the plague is by slaying the former king’s killer. As the play’s acts unfold one discovers about the prophecy concerning Oedipus. The prophecy states that Oedipus is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. But was this just by chance or his predetermined fate.

Oedipus the King is a tragedy that displays irony throughout the play. In the play, King Laius and his wife Jocasta learn that in the prophecy their newborn son, Oedipus, will kill his father and marry his mother. In order to prevent the prophecy from occurring, they decide to bind and tie his ankles and then abandoned him. When Oedipus grew up, he eventually learned about this prophecy and decided to leave his parents. What he did not realize was that the parents who raised him were not his biological parents. On his voyage to Thebes, Oedipus ended up in a chariot accident

The plot of Oedipus the King, a Greek Tragedy written by Sophocles, revolves around several prophecies. A plague has stricken Thebes, and Oedipus discovers that the plague will only end when the murder of King Laius has been caught. Additionally, another prophecy states that the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta would kill his father and sleep with his mother. Oedipus vows to the citizens of Thebes that he will find the murderer, but as the plot develops, Oedipus comes to the realization that he himself was the murderer that he had been seeking. There are several scenes in Oedipus the King that incorporate violence, and these violent scenes are a critical aspect of the play because they contribute to the development of the plot; the use of violence, whether verbal or physical, also enhances our understanding of the characters’ personalities and/or emotions.

Oedipus: obligation to save Thebes and find Laius’ killer vs suspicion of prophecy → oedipus is a good person → accepts his fate

The story is all about the efforts Oedipus takes to change his prophecy: Iocaste and Laios getting rid of Oedipus as an infant and Oedipus leaving Corinth. No matter what happens the prophecy comes true and tragedy strikes the stubborn King. Iocaste gets rid of Oedipus as an infant only to have him come back to Thebes healthy, strong, and married to her. Oedipus’s decision to leave Corinth only leads him to meet his biological parents and thus completing his fate said by the oracle. Oedipus and Iocaste celebrate the oracle being wrong about Oedipus’s fate until the messenger comes and they go on a search for the real truth that is later confirming that the oracles were correct. Every time someone tries to change their fate the oracles provide, the audience has the knowledge of knowing that every effort is pointless creating the dramatic irony in Oedipus

The role of Jocasta in Oedipus the King is crucial. Jocasta sees the reality of the situation before Oedipus and the chorus do. The prophecies made themselves known long ago, and Jocasta believed that they would come true. Jocasta did have faith in the oracles, but only enough faith to suit her own purpose. She worked to suppress much of the faith Oedipus had in them, in the interest of keeping the city, herself, and Oedipus in a powerful yet strong position. Jocasta's role in the story influenced Oedipus to think back to Laius' death and begin to try to solve the Sphinx's riddle.

In the very beginning after he killed Laius he runs into a sphinx; Creon the brother of Jocasta is offering the hand of the queen and the throne to whoever gets rid of the sphinx. Oedipus solved the sphinx’s riddle and gets the hand of the queen and the throne for a reward. Oedipus unknowingly marries his mother Jocasta and has 4 children with her. Oedipus gives a speech and he says this: “ But now I possess the ruling power which Laius held in earlier days. I have his bed and his wife/ she would have bourne his children, if his hopes to have a son had not been disappointed.”

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.

The competing representation of the god’s in “Jocasta” and Oedipus are portrayed differently in each. In Jocasta, the narrator describes that Jocasta’s motive for committing suicide was because she did not want to be the gods fool as she describes, “no longer will I be their fool” (Eisenberg 303). Eisenberg seems to blame the gods for the prophecy, which may lead the audience to believe that Eisenberg, herself, may not believe in god, or may believe that she cannot control her own life, and that god controls her life. Meanwhile, in Oedipus The King, the gods are portrayed as very brave, powerful, and strong. The citizens of Thebes look up to the gods as the chorus describes, “on their good fortune all the citizens gazed with envy” (Sophocles

Oedipus the King is a poem that is very heartbreaking and cruel because of the many things that happened to Oedipus had nothing to do with him. He was not responsible for anything bad that happened to him in his life and I feel like his life was already planned out from before he was even born. His life was not fair because he did not even take any decisions for himself about how he wanted to live and was treated like a puppet. So many horrible stuff were happening around Oedipus and he had no idea about any of them. They are all very wicked and twisted stuff that no one would even dare to imagine them or think about them. Oedipus did not have a tragic flaw because everything was already predestined to happen and nothing would change even if he wanted to do something about it. That is what makes this poem even more tragic because he did not have any control about his own life or even about himself. This poem is about a king that falls in love and even marries his own mother without knowing that she is his mom and kills his dad without knowing he is his dad. That was all part of a curse that was told to his dad. The curse said that the child of Laius and Jocasta was destined to kill Laius and marry Jocasta.

Oedipus the king’s main conflict is based around Greek mythology in that from the time Oedipus is born it is prophesied by the Gods that he is going to kill his father and marry his mother. Sophocles uses a lot of dramatic irony in order to develop the conflict for the spectators, such as when Oedipus says to Tiresias “You’ve lost your power, stone-blind,stone-deaf-senses,eyes blind as stone”(Sophocles 423-424). Oedipus says this because he refuses to believe that the prophecy that Tiresias is telling is true meanwhile the audience is already aware that Tiresias is telling the truth. The main conflict and theme of this story is between Oedipus and himself because he cannot trust anyone except for himself and in the end, it leads to his own demise. Oedipus can be seen as a dynamic character because at the beginning he is very prideful and at the end, he can be considered fearful of what fate has brought to him.