Responsibility In Oedipus The King

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In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the only one to accept responsibility when he discovers the truth. Jocasta, his mother and wife, realizes the truth before Oedipus does and she diminishes herself of responsibility by committing suicide. At the end of the play, Oedipus wasn’t a coward like his mother and took the blame of his own actions. This makes the tortured and blind man a hero.
This heroism can be recognized in Nawal, as well. Nawal and Jocasta fill the same maternal role, but that is where their similarities end. The distinction between the two mothers is differentiated in how each woman handles the knowledge that her son is also the father of her other children. By killing herself, Jocasta forces her son to bear the guilt all alone. Nawal