Jocasta in Oedipus Rex Essay

Jocasta

The Greek writer Sophocles tells about a story of family incest and shame in the book Oedipus Rex. The book tells about how a King was told by an oracle that his son would grow only to end up killing the King and getting married to the queen who was the boys mother as well as have children from his mother. For reference the kings name was King Laius, the queen was Jocasta, and the son who would kill the king was Oedipus. The king ordered Oedipuss feet to be cast together as well as pierced with a stake. Oedipus was then given to a shepherd by his own mother, Jocasta, and she told the shepherd to get rid of the baby. The shepherd couldnt kill the baby because he pitied it so he gave it to another shepherd who ended up giving it to another king and queen who couldnt conceive children. As Oedipus grow he believed that he was the child of the king and queen until one day he found out that he wasnt and he ran away from that kingdom. On his way to Thebes he got into some sort of argument and ended killed King Laius, who was his father, as well as all his guards except one on them. Oedipus ends up going to Thebes and marrying his mother to fulfill the prophecy that was told about him.

Jocasta was a pretty silent character in the story of Oedipus Rex and didnt give her opinion about that many things. She was a very important character nevertheless because if it wasnt for her Oedipus, her son, might have died when he was a baby and the prophecy might have never been fulfilled. The very act of giving the shepherd the baby and getting rid of it saved her child from being killed. In this story, she has many roles and actions that make her an essential character. The first immediate and most obvious role is that she was the mother of Oedipus, so without her there would be no Oedipus. Another role that she had was that even though she knew that her son was going to suffer from a bad fate, she still saved his life.

As mentioned above, Oedipus ends up going to Thebes where a sphinx asked whoever it encountered a riddle. When Oedipus answered the riddle correctly, the sphinx threw itself into its own death. The Thebans were grateful that the sphinx was gone and gave the hand of Jocasta to Oedipus for getting rid of the sphinx that had tormented them. Since Jocasta was the queen of Thebes, Oedipus became the King of Thebes threw marriage. From that, the third role that Jocasta had was that she married Oedipus and made him a king. As time went on of course, Jocasta and Oedipus had children which then the prophecy was finally fulfilled. The prophecy was fulfilled because Oedipus had killed his father on his way to Thebes, married his mother, and his mother conceived his children as was stated in the prophecy. So another role that Jocasta had was that she was the mother of Oedipus.

As time went on, King Oedipus found out from a messenger that the king and queen who he thought were his real parents, the king had died. The messenger also went on to tell him that the king and queen werent his true parents and that he was the one who received the boy when he was a few days old and gave him to the king and queen. As he kept trying to find out who he really was, Oedipus found out that the prophecy was true and he killed his father on his way to Thebes. Oedipus as well realized that he married his own mother and had children from her. When the queen finds out that Oedipus was her son, she realizes what she had done because she saved Oedipus when she was a child and kills herself because the cause of her actions are overwhelming. When Oedipus finds that Jocasta hung herself, he takes a brooch and stabs his eyes many times until he is blind and cannot see anymore. That is the final role of Jocasta; since she killed herself, Oedipus ending up blinding himself. Jocasta is a very interesting character even though she doesnt speak that much. Its not what she says that makes her so important in this story, its the actions she does that speaks louder then words themselves.