Years passed, during which Oedipus had four children with Jocasta. Oedipus found out that he killed Laius, his father, and married his mother, Jocasta. He was horrified, so he gouged his eyes out and exiled himself from Thebes.
This king claimed the boy and raised him as his own. When Oedipus grew to manhood, a prophet warned him that he would kill his father and marry his mother.
Hearing rumors about his parentage, he consulted the Delphic Oracle. Oedipus was informed by the Oracle that he was fated to kill his father and to marry his mother.
Only when Oedipus threatens violence does the shepherd reveal that long ago he disobeyed his orders and saved the baby out of pity. And, finally, he admits that the baby was the son of Laius and Jocasta. With this news, Oedipus realizes that he has murdered his father and married his mother.
Within the context of ancient Greece, Oedipus's act of murder is not the moral misdeed; betraying his father is. Based on the Oxford definition, Oedipus is guilty of patricide as he did in fact kill his own father. Oedipus is certainly conscious of his act of murder, but he is blind to his own patricide.
Oedipus came to the door in a fury, asking for a sword and cursing Jocasta. He finally hurled himself at the bedroom door and burst through it, where he saw Jocasta hanging from a noose. Seeing this, Oedipus sobbed and embraced Jocasta.
Who is Responsible for Oedipus' Downfall? Oedipus is ultimately responsible for his own downfall. He was warned by the Oracle of Delphi that he would kill his father and marry his mother, but instead of avoiding the prophecy, he took matters into his own hands and tried to outrun his fate.
Surprise overwhelmed Oedipus, for the messenger told him that she was not his mother. He explained that he was given the baby many years ago by a Theban shepherd. Jocasta then realized that Oedipus was her son.
Jocasta realizes the truth—that Oedipus is her son as well as her husband—and tells Oedipus to stop the interrogations. He doesn't listen, and an eyewitness, the Herdsman who rescued him when he was an infant, confirms that he was Laius and Jocasta's child, and that Oedipus killed Laius.
Oedipus asks the elders if anyone knew the shepherd from the household of Laius. They say it is the very servant that has been sent for. Meanwhile Jocasta has put all the bits of evidence into place, and is terrified by the result — that Oedipus is her own son.
In Oedipus the King, Jocasta kills herself because she is ashamed for having become intimate with her son, Oedipus.
An oracle had predicted that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother, and as an infant he was abandoned by his birth parents, Laius and Jocasta, the rulers of Thebes, because of this curse. He was taken by a shepherd, and raised by the previously childless king and queen of Corinth, Polybus and Merope.
Questioned further, he answers that it was Laius's child, and that Jocasta gave it to him to destroy because of a prophecy that the child would kill his parents.
Oedipus was a figure in Greek mythology who was prophesied to kill his father and marry his mother. Abandoned on a mountainside by the order of his father the king, Oedipus was rescued and raised by a shepherd.
How Does the Oedipus Complex Work? In psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex refers to the child's desire for sexual involvement with the opposite sex parent, particularly a boy's attention to his mother.
Being the brother of Jocasta, one would have thought that she the queen would have sided with him over her husband. The latter is because the Oedipus and Jocasta relationship was built on love.
Jocasta Innes, who has died aged 78, made a long career out of a talent for making do, making over, and making a home in adversity.
Jocasta, finally realizing Oedipus' true identity, entreats him to abandon his search for Laius' murderer. Oedipus misunderstands the motivation of her pleas, thinking that she was ashamed of him because he might have been the son of a slave. She then goes into the palace where she hangs herself.
The marriage of Oedipus and Jocasta fulfilled the rest of the prophecy. Oedipus and Jocasta have four children: two sons, Polynices and Eteocles (see Seven Against Thebes), and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene.
Jocasta is mother and wife of Oedipus. She left Oedipus to die when he was baby after it was prophesized that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He was saved and brought to Corinth where he was raised.
Oedipus blinds himself at the end of Oedipus Rex because he discovers that he fulfilled a tragic prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus first heard the prophecy as a young man living in Corinth, where he had been raised as the son of the king and queen.
While it may be inferred that Hector is slightly older or of the same age as his wife, Jocasta is at least twelve years older than her husband-son Oedipus. Because she is the queen of Thebes whose husband is a former prince, Jocasta holds a higher place in society and in marriage than Andromache.
Prior to the opening of the play, the Oracle at Delphi prophesied to King Laius and Queen Jocasta that Laius's son would kill him. When Oedipus is born to Laius and Jocasta, Laius orders him killed, and Oedipus is left on a mountain to die.
In Sophocles' play, Oedipus blinds himself after seeing the corpse of Jocasta, using golden brooches from her dress to stab out his eyes. In Seneca's play Oedipus is, at best, an aid to the death of Jocasta, and from the ambiguous lines may even have taken her life.
Oedipus is a classic example of the tragic hero. As a young man in the city of Corinth, he learns from the Delphic oracle that he is fated to kill his father and marry his mother.