Oedipus The King Jocasta

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In the “Oedipus the king”, Jocasta is seen as an excellent, loving queen figure who stood strongly on her intelligence while controlling any difficult situation, but she is as fragile as a beautiful flower base who can be shattered easily by her own false hope and belief . Jocasta, a mother and a wife of Oedipus, became the most tragic victim of Oedipus’s fate beside the tragic hero himself. From the beginning when the oracle foretold the fate of the Thebes kingdom, Jocasta was already involved in the tragedy. Despite this misfortune, she tries to control and alternate the fate while standing firm and being constantly unwavered while being blinded by her own belief that no man has power to tell the future. Her perfect queen model and personality …show more content…

In episode 2 when Oedipus and Creon were arguing, she was able to settle the quarrel by interrupting their conversation. By saying her strong statement, “Wretched men! What has provoked this ill- advised dispute?”(639-640), she put in some sense into Oedipus and Creon by informing them with reasonable argument that there were no time for arguing when people are suffering in Thebes. Moreover, her characteristic pursued Oedipus’s anger. Her strong characteristic helped her plead Oedipus from exiling Creon and was able to soothe Oedipus who was fearsome as a vicious bull that charges into anything on the path. Her characteristic was able to guide Oedipus to move on and kept him flexible in his …show more content…

When the Messenger of Corinth explained Oedipus’s past, Jocasta realized the truth which her intelligence never imagined. She first panicked when she learned Oedipus’s true identity. The truth was too much to handle that Jocasta tried to prevent Oedipus from learning the truth because knowing the reality would give worst breakdown to Oedipus than herself. Even though Jocasta pleaded Oedipus to stop searching for the truth, Oedipus ignored her warning which worsened Jocasta’s condition. Falling into misery, Jocasta finally shattered by the pressure of emotion and incomprehension of information which herself could not accept.
Herself [was responsible for her death]…She came in anger through the outer hall, and then she ran straight to her marriage bed, tearing her hair with the fingers of both hands, then, slamming shut the doors… She mourned the bed where she, alas bred double… and there we saw her, hanging from above, entangled in some twisted hanging strands.

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