That father and son are nowhere near each other at the time of the latter's death is the way in which Jocasta reasons with Oedipus that he cannot be guilty of his father's death in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).
Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta points out that King Polybus is home in Corinth and that Oedipus is at home in Thebes. Polybus dies from illness and old age, not from murder. Oedipus therefore cannot be said to have anything to do with his presumed father's death to Jocasta's way of thinking.
It is by not telling what she knows that Jocasta delays Oedipus' search for the truth in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.). Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta figures out that her second husband, King Oedipus, is her son. She knows that he therefore is the killer of her first husband, King Laius. She makes an effort to dissuade Oedipus from continuing the investigation that ultimately will find him guilty of murder and incest.
Jocasta convinces Oedipus that he cannot be guilty of his father's death because the prophecy stated that Laius would be killed by his own son. As far as Oedipus knows, his father Polybus was killed in a different way, and the son he believed to be Laius's killer is not actually his biological son. Jocasta uses this confusion to reassure Oedipus of his innocence.
Robbers are supposedly guilty for Laius' death in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, Theban King Oedipus has to find the guilty in King Laius' death in order to end the pestilence in Thebes. He looks to the chorus, his brother-in-law Creon, his wife Queen Jocasta and Teiresias the blind prophet for help. Creon and Jocasta say that robbers are rumored to be the guilty party.
It is with fear that Oedipus reacts to what Jocasta says about Laius' murder in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, Theban King Oedipus asks Queen Jocasta, his wife and Laius' widow for help in finding the guilty in her first husband's death. He is not at all prepared for her details. The description of the crime scene and of the victims actually mesh with a similar crime that he commits against similar persons at about the same time.
It is with disbelief and with the presentation of contrary evidence that Jocasta responds to Oedipus' suspicion that he may be guilty in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, Teiresias the blind prophet accuses Theban King Oedipus of killing King Laius. Oedipus does not see how he can be guilty when he does not remember ever meeting his royal predecessor. But he finds that the crime scene for Laius is the same as where he himself is a murderer just before settling in Thebes. Queen Jocasta, his wife and Laius' widow, observes that a group of people killed Laius whereas Oedipus acted alone in his crime. She then sends for the sole survivor from the attack that leaves Laius and four others dead.
Yes, attempted murder, blasphemy, immorality and obstruction of justice are what Jocasta is guilty of in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta arranges for her three-day-old son Oedipus to be killed. She blasphemes the gods by attempting to sabotage divinely prophesied fate. She is immoral in marrying and having children with her own son. She obstructs a divinely ordained murder investigation into the death of King Laius, her first husband and her second husband's royal predecessor.
Confrontational versus conciliatory and escapist is the difference between Oedipus' and Jocasta's characters in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, Theban King Oedipus demonstrates confrontation when he jumps impatiently into the interrogation of the chorus leader, the Corinthian messenger, Creon, Jocasta, Teiresias and the Theban shepherd for information about the guilty in King Laius' murderer. There is no misunderstanding what he asks, feels or seeks. In contrast, Oedipus' wife Queen Jocasta moves in a more conciliatory and sometimes escapist and obscure way. For example, she points out positive points, skirts over what is upsetting, and even tries to squish completely what is uncomfortable or unpleasant.
That they offend the gods and mortals through their opposition to their fates, their neglect of cleansing rituals regarding Laius' death and their incestuous marriage are reasons why Oedipus and Jocasta are punished in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, Oedipus and Jocasta each receive prophecies of unenviable fates when they are young. Each one is arrogant and blasphemous in thinking that the gods can be outwitted, the Furies outrun, and fates changed. Also, even the mistaken killingof fathers and kings is an offense against both gods and mortals. It is so serious that cleansing rituals must be carried out and the guilty must be identified and punished. Neither is done following the mysterious murder of Theban King Laius, Jocasta's first husband.Additionally, it is possible for gods to have incestuous relations, which is how Gaia starts up life on planet Earth. But it is blasphemous for mortals to engage in these relationships. The blasphemy holds even in the case of the albeit unknowingly mother-son involvement at the base of Oedipus' and Jocasta's marriage.
That she send for the sole eyewitness to Laius' murder is the favor that Oedipus asks of Jocasta in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, Theban King Oedipus can end the pestilence ravaging Thebes only by identifying and punishing the guilty in the long unsolved murder of Laius, his royal predecessor and his wife's first husband. Based on information from Queen Jocasta about the crime's location, Oedipus fears that he is Laius' killer. At the same time, based on information about the number of killers, Oedipus suspects that he may not be that killer since his long ago crime is carried out alone. He therefore asks Jocasta if the sole survivor of the attack on Laius and his five-member escort party can be brought to the palace for questioning.
Yes, he is. In Sophocles's Oedipus Rex Oedipus kills a man, quite irrationally, whilst traveling in a convoy. This man is later revealed to be his father, King Laius of Thebes a man Oedipus didn't know due to his abandonment as a child.One possible mitigating circumstance is that Oedipus' killing of Laius was prophesied by an oracle - this is why Oedipus is abandoned at birth. It may be argued that the prophecy destroys Oedipus's free will, and hat he is therefore culpable, but not guilty. But in the simplest of terms, yes, Oedipus is guilty of his Fathers murder.
Agree to marry a man young enough to be her son, break up a fight in the royal household, help search for her first husband's killer, send for the surviving eyewitness to that killing, share the news of the Corinthian messenger, and take her life when she cannot stop Oedipus' uncomfortable questions are the choices that Jocasta makes in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta marries the much younger Oedipus even though the killing of her first husband, King Laius, is left inadequately investigated and unatoned by cleansing rituals. Years later, the royal household must identify and punish the guilty in that murder if a pestilence is to be stopped before all Thebes is wiped out. Jocasta tries to smooth things over when tempers flare between her husband and Creon, her brother and the couple's royal colleague. Additionally, she tries to help Oedipus' investigations by sharing what she knows and summoning the surviving eyewitness to Laius' death. But things take an unexpected turn when a messenger tells Jocasta of the death of Corinthian King Polybus, and Oedipus learns that he is not that monarch's biological son. When Jocasta cannot stop Oedipus' questions about his true parentage, she hangs herself.
That he is Laius' murderer is the reason why Oedipus falls from power in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).Specifically, the Delphic oracle identifies divine will as execution or exile for the guilty in Theban King Laius' murder. King Oedipus is found to be guilty of killing his father Laius and marrying his mother, Queen Jocasta. He is placed under house arrest pending a divinely expressed preference for execution or exile as the punishment. He is succeeded by Creon, his brother-in-law and royal colleague.