Oedipus Character Analysis

making as he thinks that he is going to kill the two persons who have raised him when he hears the prophecy. Oedipus doesn’t want this to occur and sets off to live on his own so that he doesn’t hurt his parents, by death or incest. But all of this is set off by the fact that Jocasta wanted Oedipus dead. If shedidn’t his destiny would have been significantly altered as he would’ve possibly run away from his biological parents and prevent the oracles prophecy from coming true, or he still might have fulfilled the prophecy because of the way he would’ve been brought up and would’ve caused him to act in a way thatwould create a monster. But neither of these scenarios are explored enough to make a conclusion as to theresult of Oedipus never being sent to death as a child, all of which is JOCASTAS FAULT.Thirdly, when Jocasta becomes the wife of Oedipus, she is a nurturer and creates a very soothingatmosphere for Oedipus. We look specifically to the scene where Creon comes and informs Oedipus thatthe reason for the disease is that the murder of Oedipus’s father is still unpunished and the personresponsible is still in the city. This leads Oedipus to search for the truth of the situation and he calls uponTiresias. Tiresias is a blind prophet and has a lot of knowledge. Oedipus asks Tiresias for the informationabout who the murderer is, after a long stalling effect, Tiresias hints that Oedipus is the cause of the curse,then flat out says that he is the murderer. All throughout this conversation Oedipus is becoming furious.His anger is something that is unmatched throughout the rest of the play itself. He is convinced thatTiresias and Creon are in together with a conspiracy to overthrow him from power. This is leading him toscapegoat t...

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...he existence they are living. She tries to ensure that she doesn’t have to dealwith it by ignoring the phrophets, by trying to kill here own child, and ultimately she asks here husband tostop pursuing the truth. She is competing with Oedipus to stop this pursuit of the truth, but this seems tospur a reaction in Oedipus which hardens his resolve and ensures he finds it out, specially since he can’t be told what to d by anyone. Her calming effect also spurs the action of the play because as describedabove it allows Oedipus to focus his levelheaded self towards finding the truth. These all ultimately causethe play to do what occurs.

So while maybe its true that we live by destiny or maybe its true we live by our own humanagency. Either way Jocasta’s actions were extremely important in the development of the play and for thedevelopment Oedipus into who he actually was.