Ignorance is Not Bliss in William Shakespeare´s Hamlet and Sophocles

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Many people believe that ignorance is bliss. There is a mentality that exists, where the truths are better off unknown and another where the truth is ignored completely. This is certainly true in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sophocles’’ Oedipus. Jocasta and Gertrude both choose to ignore reality, and therefore blind themselves from the truth before them. As a result of her intentional ignorance, Jocasta severely damages her relationship with Oedipus and her reputation, whereas Gertrude’s ignorance merely causes mild, repairable damage to her relationship with her son and her reputation. Therefore, Jocasta’s contentment in her ignorance inevitably results in a far more tragic ending, than that of Gertrude.
Jocasta’s blindness to the truth ruins her relationship with Oedipus unlike Gertrude’s blindness which merely taints her relationship with Hamlet. Primarily, as Oedipus comes closer to discovering the truth, Jocasta begs him to stop searching. She pleads with him yelling “No! In God’s name – if you want to live, this/ must not go on. Have I not suffered enough?/... I know I am right. I’m warning you for your own good.” (Sophocles 55). It is clear that Jocasta knows the truth and all along yet she refuses to tell Oedipus .She tries very hard to ignore the fact that Oedipus is her son because she knows once he discovers the truth, he will not even be able to look her in the eyes. It terrifies Jocasta to know that once Oedipus realizes that she is aware of the truth all along he will loathe her. Nothing hurts her more than knowing that the one she loves despises her. Jocasta can evade these unfortunate events if she did not ignore the obvious truth before her. Moreover, Jocasta desperately hopes that Oedipus dies before he u...

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...he wilful acts of ignorance Jocasta is able to completely destroy her reputation as the queen of Thebes unlike Gertrude who merely taints her reputation.
To summarize, both Jocasta and Gertrude suffer consequences through their acts of voluntary blindness from the truth however, Jocasta suffers much more tragic and unfortunate consequences than Gertrude. Jocasta completely demolishes her relationship with Oedipus by ignoring the truth while Gertrude temporarily causes Hamlet to become angry with her. Jocasta also, manages to completely crush her reputation as the queen of Thebes through her act of ignorance unlike Gertrude who merely seems to make a foolish mistake. Evidently, both these women fail to understand that ignorance is not bliss. One cannot ignore the truth and expect it to go away; the only way one can make things better is by facing the truth head on.

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