Jocasta's Use Of Honesty In Antigone

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Captain Jack Sparrow once said, “Me? I am dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it’s the honest ones you want to watch out for…” Her character acts as a literary device through her intense need to argue against the truth of the situation in several separate scenes, including the argument between Creon and Oedipus, her refusal to believe the oracle’s first prophecy, and her soothing Oedipus against the true words of the herds master. With her almost exclusive use of verbal irony, truth and foreshadowing come forth through the lie. Jocasta’s first appearance and lines in the play are to interrupt an argument between her husband and Creon. She begs Oedipus to let the matter be, “Believe his words, for gods’ sake, Oedipus, in deference above all to his oath to the gods…” (Sophocles 1485). Her words drip in verbal Irony because the sequel to this play Antigone wherein Creon takes over the kingdom. Although this is only one small instance of verbal irony, the author continues to use Jocasta’s lines in this context, revealing truth to us through lie. In this instance, the reader can infer to Creon’s guilty nature despite not reading Antigone. …show more content…

She does this on more than one account and even more foolishly, advises Oedipus to ignore the oracle because of her wise decision-making earlier in the story. “Ah then, absolve yourself of what he charges! Listen to this and you’ll agree, no mortal is ever given skill in prophecy…” (Sophocles 1487) Any attentive audience already knows this to be rather humorous verbal irony. This happens to be the third time Jocasta makes an appearance and again, the third time to be written as an envoy for verbal

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