Oedipus The King Jocasta Essay

Sophocles ' play “Oedipus the King,” unwraps the complex nuances of a personality from one of its main characters, a woman called; Jocasta. It has to be noted that even though the play is a fictionalized version, it is something that has its roots in historic documents as well. With regards to many of the scholars who have been studying ancient Greek history, it has been noted that Jocasta was living in a time that was perhaps two or three generations before the Trojan War. She is mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey as the mother of Oedipus. Furthermore, in Homer’s Odyssey play, Jocasta is called Epicaste and she is depicted to have done something quite monstrous, which highlights the fact of a mother marrying her own son after the son had slain the

Jocasta can also be depicted as a stubborn woman who thinks that the Oracles and the predictions that come from it with regards to the prophecies do not have any power over the lives of people. She believes that people are only subject to chance and luck and that there is no one who could predict anything of the future or to tell her what would happen the next day or the day after that. In this regard, she thinks that the Oracles is only groping in the dark and that it does not have the capacity to see anything in the future. However, this is something that is quite ironic in the play itself, because as she is denying the prophecies, they are in fact coming true. Although Jocasta vehemently protests against the prophecies, they do end up coming true. Thus, we find that Jocasta’s character is quite an interesting one in the play and it is a central one as well. She is depicted as a very complex and complicated character, who is stubborn and in denial, as she is not able to face her fears at first. However, when she finally accepts the truth, her guilt gets the better of her and she is unable to live a normal life after that. She ends up killing herself after she finds out that she inadvertently married her own son, and it shows her vulnerability, as it is depicted that she took her own life out of guilt for ruining her family and her