Jocasta was mother of Oedipus, and she would go down in history as the woman who mistakenly married her own son.
She tells Oedipus that prophecies do not come true, and she uses the fact that an oracle incorrectly prophesied that Laius would be killed by his own son as evidence. Jocasta's mistake is similar to Oedipus's in the previous section: she confuses conclusions and evidence.
Unfortunately, she could not avoid her fate and devastated she killed herself, “ and there we saw her hanging body swaying from the cruel cord she had noosed about her neck” ( Sophocles 1288). It is the element of fate that leads ultimately to Jocasta's tragic downfall.
One night, Laius became drunk and fathered Oedipus with Jocasta. Jocasta handed the newborn infant over to Laius. Jocasta or Laius pierced and pinned the infant's ankles together.
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. This is a Sophoclean innovation; in earlier versions of the myth she either stabs herself to death or survives the shock and lives on.
ABSTRACT: The tragic victim of Oedipus the King is not Oedipus, who after his sufferings shall be raised to divinity; it is his mother Jocasta. She attempted the death by her torture of her own son.
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.
She was older than him and was more experienced but her love for her husband meant she had to humble herself. She never lorded her age or experience over him but was subservient to his wishes. Jocasta stayed with her son even to her death, she was a faithful wife, though fate did not smile on her.
It is when a mother has an abnormally close or incestuous attachment to her son. It is named after Jocasta the mother and wife of Oedipus in Greek mythology. JOCASTA COMPLEX: "Jocasta Complex is the incestuous attachment or abnormally close attachment of a mother to her son."
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 and Laius, her first husband, receive a prophecy that their son will grow up to kill Laius. In an effort to avoid this prophecy, they abandon their son to die on a mountain.
In Greek mythology, Jocasta was the wife of King Laius of Thebes*. An oracle warned that their child would kill his father and sleep with his mother. To prevent this prediction from coming true, Laius left their first baby on a mountain to die.
After her realization that she is also the mother to the King, a change in her character and action is evident. She exhibits what is often interpreted as denial towards the truth of the prophecy, a change from her earlier skepticism.
Jocasta is a selfish character who tries to change her fate multiple times. Her motive is to make herself prosper and be successful. She does not want anything interfering with her reputation. "For the love of the gods, and if you love your life, give up this search!
Another example of blindness is Jocasta's knowledge of the truth about Oedipus' prophecy; however, she thinks and believes that he is dead. Even though at first she does not know that, her new husband is her son Oedipus, after realizing it, she chooses to ignore it altogether. This is blindness to the truth.
Jocasta does not believe in the prophecies because she believes her son (Oedipus) died despite the prophecy made about him. This is considered sacrilegious, and frowned upon by the chorus (audience). She says that if the gods want them to know something, they will tell them. Prophets are not reliable.
This term was introduced in 1920 by Raymond de Saussure. In Greek mythology, Jocasta was a queen who unknowingly married her son, Oedipus. Some psychoanalysts suggest that this may be manifested as over-concern for the son and may be caused by unsatisfied adult relationships.
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.
In Oedipus Rex, Jocasta is to blame because she complained to Oedipus and then killed herself, and Creon is to blame because he made Oedipus angry and brought Teiresias to Oedipus. The Herdsman revealing the truth to Oedipus brought grievance to him. Following Jocasta's death, Oedipus stabbed his own two eyeballs.
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!
Jocasta is dead, by suicide. She locked herself in her bedroom, crying for Laius and weeping for her monstrous fate. 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.
Intelligent and capable, but not driven to exploration as Oedipus is, Jocasta has her own philosophy about what should be known or looked into. When Jocasta realizes before Oedipus the reality of his identity, she begs him to stop his questioning to avoid grief. Later, her own panicked grief impels her to suicide.
Oedipus finds Jocasta dead. In despair, he gouges his eyes out. Oedipus pleads with Creon to watch over his daughters after he is exiled from Thebes.
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.
This child is Oedipus. 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.