When Oedipus hears this, he's like, "Awesome. I am totally going to rock this out. The monster swoops down on him and asks her riddle. In a mysterious voice, she purrs, "Which creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening? It's because we humans crawl on all fours when we're babies, walk upright in our prime, and some walk with a cane when we're old. The Sphinx is so upset that somebody figured out her riddle that she throw herself of a cliff and dies.
Dude, she took her riddle mad seriously. When Oedipus shows up in Thebes and announces his deed, everybody thinks he's awesome.
Creon makes good on his word, giving him the throne and the hand of Jocasta. Wow, everything is working out great for Oedipus. Oh, wait, except for the fact that he just unknowingly married his mother. Oedipus and Jocasta get along swell and have a bunch of kids: Antigone, Ismene, Polyneices, and Eteocles.
Eventually, though, a terrible plague comes to Thebes. Everybody is dying and everything sucks. Even the livestock are suffering. King Oedipus sends Creon to the Oracle of Delphi to find out what's going on. The Oracle, in her typically cryptic fashion, declares that the killer of Laius is living in Thebes and must be expelled. When Creon tells Oedipus this, the King swears that he'll figure out who the killer is and exile the jerk like nobody's business.
Creon suggests that Oedipus call in the help of Tiresias , the famous seer, who knows pretty much everything about everything. At first, Tiresias really doesn't want to tell Oedipus what's up, and the seer advises the king to stop seeking the truth. Oedipus flips out and threatens him, though, and Tiresias finally tells the King that he's actually the murderer that he's looking for. Oedipus doesn't want to believe it, and he accuses Creon and Tiresias of being allied against him.
Jocasta tries to comfort Oedipus, telling him that he couldn't be the killer because Laius was killed by robbers at a place where three roads meet. Meanwhile, a messenger shows up from Corinth to let Oedipus know that Polybus has died. At first, Oedipus is relieved because he thinks this means he'll never fulfill the prophecy that he'll kill his father. The messenger totally bursts the King's bubble, though.
It turns out that this guy is actually the shepherd who found Oedipus on the mountain and brought him to Corinth. So, now, Oedipus knows for sure that Polybus wasn't his real dad. Jocasta, remembering the prophecy that made her abandon her son, puts it all together at this point. She begs Oedipus not to pursue the truth any further, but he insists.
Next thing you know, the survivor of the attack shows up and confirms that Oedipus is the killer. In some versions, the survivor guy is also the dude who took baby Oedipus up on the mountain. The whole truth comes crashing down on Oedipus like a ton of bricks. As if things weren't bad enough, Oedipus finds that Jocasta has hung herself. This makes him really go off the deep end, and he yanks a pin from her robe and stabs out his eyes.
After this, Creon exiles Oedipus and the blind man wanders the wilderness with only his dedicated daughter, Antigone, to guide him. Eventually, Oedipus and Antigone end up in a town called Colonus, which is just outside of Athens.
Oedipus is broken and old, and he's been told by a prophecy that he's meant to die here in a grove dedicated to the Erinyes aka the Furies. Just then, Ismene shows up and gives them some bad news from Thebes. He had come to Thebes to seek his forture because he was the victim of a horrendous proclamation by an oracle. He was told that he would murder his father and marry his mother.
For this reason he left the parents that he knew in Corinth and came to Thebes. But before Oedipus had gotten to Thebes he had been almost run over by slaves rushing with a litter carrying a man. When Oedipus argued with the man they got into a fight and Oedipus killed the man. When Oedipus got to Thebes it was there that he learned that the King of Thebes was dead and that the Sphinx was challenging the town.
Creon had become regent and he announced that anyone who could destroy the Sphinx could marry Jocasta. Jocasta did not seem to have any choice in the matter. This fits with the notion of the contest for the queen of fertility. The ancient Greek myths are full of contests. The purpose of the contests was to get the most beatiful queen with the most handsome consort so the fertility of the crops could be assured. Jocasta was the beautiful queen and Oedipus became her consort by being the best at the riddle contest.
Life was good for them until a plague came to Thebes. An oracle was consulted to find the source of the problem. The blind seer Teiresias finally gave the cause as revealed by his oracular skill. Oedipus was the son whose feet had been pierced and exposed.
His real parents were Laius and Jocasta, and he had killed his father and married his mother. Oedipus stabbed out his eyes and Jocasta hung herself. Notice that a careful reading of the oracles suggests that Jocasta was doomed. Her life was fated to destruction and the Oracles revealed how this destruction was to take place.
But there is another interpretation. It is true that large events in nature have tremendous impact on our lives and there is little we can do about them. Yet we have choices.
The little choices that we make can be very important. There is the choice to go to the oracle in the first place. Then when someone else does declare an oracular truth there is always the question of whether to act on it. The very belief in an oracle is an act of hubris. This belief suggests that the believer can know the true will of the devine. The Greeks did not really believe this was possible. They believed that devine wisdom and mortal wisdom were eternally separate.
In the end it is this failing that destroys them. To ask a question about this topic note the topic Jocasta and Click here. Note that when comparing Clytemnestra and Jocasta, both women were queens of a territory and their husbands became king because they both killed the former king.
Jocasta did not know this, however. Orestes killed his mother, Clytemnestra, because she had killed his father. Jocasta killed herself because her husband was her son who had killed his father. Question: who is, why is Jocasta in Oedipus rex? This means that if your life really is controlled by fate then you have nothing to worry about because you were not responsible for any choices.
The problem comes when you make choices, do the wrong thing, and feel guilty about it. But even she does not believe this.
She brought Oedipus into the world and she saved his life in spite of her husband. Her responsibility is overwhelming and she kills herself. This is a passive role because she is the queen who must marry whoever becomes king. And so she sees his downfall over which she can have little control. The other women, Antigone and Ismene, are the daughters of Oedipus. They were a source of great joy to him, but now he is concerned that he has passed his nature on to them and they will be unable to wed and bear children.
He seems to feel this is their entire nature and goal in life. Question: I am trying to compare jocasta and media? What would you say are their similarities and diffrences? Answer: There is little to compare about these women. Jocasta is a queen but she is fairly passive about it. Medea is a princess who, through her spells and potions, is the reason for the success of many ventures. Medea is a priestess of Hecate and it is though this office that she has access to power, but it is never clear that the power is different from her own knowledge.
Medea is intelligent, educated, beautiful, and powerful, but she never becomes queen. Jocasta receives her advantages through inheritance, but when she thinks her advantages are gone she kills herself.
Medea gives up her inheritance for her lover and when he proves unfaithful and she will lose him she kills the persons he loves. Answer: Jocasta has a fairly passive role of wife of Oedipus and mother of his children. She does have some advice on how to get along in this world:. Women must often watch as their husbands take on challenges of the world. A supportive women will give advice and comfort as Jocasta did.
But the truth was too much for her; she could not bear the humiliation of it. She killed herself in agony. Answer: Jocasta was a passive character willing to be suportive of her husband but not to strive like him. She also wishes an honorable place in society, and when she cannot get it she kills herself. Answer: It is hard to generalize about women as a result of studying Jocasta.
Jocasta is a queen with much more power than an ordinary woman. She is portrayed as a wife and mother, as though this were a suitable role. Answer: Even today women find themselves patronizing their husbands. Women are still often dependent on their husbands for status and well-being, but at least today, if their husband falls apart, they can divorce him and get themselves a job. Jocasta certainly ran her household and directed what was to be don in the house. She may also have has a loom on which she wove cloth.
Question: What was Sophocles trying to portray about the role of women in society through the character of Jocasta in Oedipus Rex. Answer: It is possible that Sophocles was only trying to make Jocasta seem to be a real woman.
Wiki Content. Community Dashboard. About Verified Account. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? View source.
History Talk 0.
0コメント