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. He then took the gold pins that held her robes and, with them, stabbed out his eyes.
Oedipus questions the old shepherd who found him. With lots of threatening, he gets some information. Finally, Oedipus pieces things together and realizes that Jocasta is his mother. As predicted by the prophecy, he has slept with his mother and killed his father.
After Jocasta learns that she married her son and had four children with him, she commits suicide by hanging herself.
He decided to leave Corinth for Delphi, so he could learn of his parentage at the oracle of Apollo. There he was given the news that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. To prevent the oracle from coming true, Oedipus went to Thebes.
Oedipus asks about his mother, since there's that other part of the prophecy, and the Messenger tells him he was adopted. Jocasta realizes the truth—that Oedipus is her son as well as her husband—and tells Oedipus to stop the interrogations.
This seemingly disproves the prophecy that said Laius would die by his son's hand. As far as Jocasta knows, she abandoned her baby boy to exposure, starvation, and wild beasts for nothing.
To learn the truth, Oedipus sends for the only living witness to the murder, a shepherd. Another worry haunts Oedipus. As a young man, he learned from an oracle that he was fated to kill his father and marry his mother.
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. He then took the gold pins that held her robes and, with them, stabbed out his eyes.
At last, the entire mystery revealed itself to him. He understood who his true parents were – Jocasta and Laius. One of those men he had killed while crossing over the mountain had been his father!
A messenger arrives from Corinth to announce that the King of Corinth is dead. Oedipus learns that he is not the son of the King of Corinth but a Theban. The Royal Theban Shepherd (who gave Oedipus to the Royal Corinthian Shepherd) is summoned and tells Oedipus who his parents really are. (Powell, p.
Answer and Explanation:
In Oedipus the King, Jocasta kills herself because she is ashamed for having become intimate with her son, Oedipus. Earlier in the play, she becomes aware of a prophecy that predicts she will marry her own child.
Jocasta hangs herself, and Oedipus stabs out his own eyes. The blind king then goes into exile with only his daughter, Antigone, to guide him, and eventually dies in the town of Colonus.
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.
If he had just given up, no one would have known the truth about him and his family. He's blind, but is the wisest and can "see" what Oedipus could not. When does Jocasta realize the truth and how does she react? She realizes the truth when the messenger comes and she tells Oedipus to give up looking for the answers.
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.
Oedipus tells Jocasta that as a child, a man once told him that his mother and father were not his real parents. It was also prophesied that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. The plot is thickening considerably. Oedipus also reveals that he killed several men in a small incident at a crossroads.
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.
Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud chose the term Oedipus complex to designate a son's feeling of love toward his mother and of jealousy and hate toward his father, although those were not emotions that motivated Oedipus's actions or determined his character in any ancient version of the story.
Jocasta loved her son to the core and did everything to protect him including taking his side against Creon.
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.
At the climax of the play, Jocasta is so overwhelmed by the horror of having had sex with her own son that she commits suicide, hanging herself over their marriage bed.
Jocasta doesn't want Oedipus to learn he killed Laius so that he won't be exiled or executed. Jocasta realizes she is married to her own son. Jocasta is afraid that the truth about her involvement in Laius' death will be revealed.
What is Jocasta's "proof" that humans cannot predict the future? She tells Oedipus the story of her son with Laius. How there was a prophecy that the son would kill him (Laius) and how Laius cast the baby out to die. Therefore,Laius could not have been killed by his own son, and prophecies are false.
Answer: Oedipus blinds himself because he cannot bear to look at the world anymore after realizing the truth about his past. He learns that he has unwittingly killed his father and married his mother, fulfilling a prophecy that he had been trying to avoid his whole life.
You're doomed—may you never fathom who you are! This is Jocasta's penultimate line in Oedipus the King, spoken just before she exits the stage. Jocasta's words reveal that she has put the pieces together and understands what actually happened in the past.