Oedipus The King Jocasta

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In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Jocasta is, after the tragic hero Oedipus himself, the most paramount victim of the tragedy. As she takes fourth the roles of mother, wife, and victim, her existence and even demise is nevertheless portrayed as background noise in the play.
As the story goes, Jocasta believes she can dodge her dreadful fate by abandoning her son. The young and naive queen could not fully grasp the fact that fate is not a blinding light to turn away from but a path that, no matter which shortcut you take, will lead you to the very same place you are meant to be. So she moves on, believing she has successfully avoided her so-called fate and proved the gods wrong. Little did she know, her precautions are what set the prophecy into …show more content…

As tensions rise and questions are asked, Jocasta is quick to realize that the prophecy did in fact come true, her son did committed murder against his father and incest with her, but she is even quicker to turn a blind eye, and beg Oedipus not to pry for the truth. While she does love Oedipus romantically, her maternal love for him subconsciously breaks through when she aims to protect him from the truth, therefore allowing herself to live with the guilt rather than he.
But of course, because every tragedy needs a heart-string-tugging fall, after Oedipus learns the truth about himself and the effects of his actions, it is Jocasta who cannot live with it. With her bed sheets tied around her neck, symbolizing her choking by the hands of maternity and incest, Jocasta commits suicide. Ironically, it is Oedipus who chooses to live with the guilt and without his sight.
As for the prophecy, similarly to Jocasta’s misery, it was completed. Every step taken to avoid fate in Oedipus the King was just another step closer to achieving it. Every event from Oedipus’ abandonment, to the murder of his father, to the incestual actions with his mother and her eventual suicide, even to his blindness, was fate. Though pieces of it were not mentioned by the Oracles, they were still meant to

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