Oedipus Rex

Jocasta is Laius' wife in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Jocasta is the royal consort and queen of Thebes. Her husband is her cousin, King Laius. The royal couple are the great-grandchildren of Cadmus, Thebes' founder and first king.

Jocasta's most trusted servant provides Oedipus with information that convinces him that he is Laius' child in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, a Theban shepherd is Theban Queen Jocasta's most trusted servant. A Corinthian shepherd turned messenger tells of receiving the infant Oedipus from the Theban shepherd and fostering him into the childless Corinthian royal house. The Theban shepherd reluctantly confirms this information and upon fear of torture and death reveals that Oedipus is the son of Laius, the man he kills before returning to Thebes, and of Jocasta, the woman he marries upon settling in Thebes.

Jocasta hands the infant Oedipus over to the shepherd to be exposed in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban monarchs Laius and Jocasta receive a prophecy that their son will grow up to kill his father. Laius therefore makes it clear that Jocasta must kill her three-day-old infant son Oedipus. Jocasta does not want to disobey her husband, but also does not want to carry out the deed herself. She therefore asks her most trusted servant, a Theban shepherd, to leave Oedipus exposed to the ravaging weather and scrounging wildlife on the mountains outside Thebes.

That he is an eyewitness to a crime for which Oedipus may be a suspect is the reason why Oedipus wants to see the surviving member of Laius' escort party in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus heads a murder investigation into the death of King Laius, his royal predecessor and his wife's first husband. It is difficult to follow clues and gather information. But Oedipus may be able to solve the murder mystery by talking with Jocasta's most trusted servant, the sole survivor of the attack that kills five out of seven people in the Delphi-Daulia intersection at the same uncomfortable time.

It is with insults and threats that Oedipus responds after Teiresias hints at the truth in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus does not like being charged with a murder that he does not remember committing. He therefore charges Teiresias with being a lying traitor who conspires with Oedipus' royal colleague Creon to grab all royal powers to themselves. He accuses Teiresias of accepting bribes and being a fake and even threatens him with corporal despite his advanced age.

Run away from home is what Oedipus does to defy the will of the gods in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus hears the prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. He is horrified and repelled at the thought of murder and incest. He loves his presumed parents, Corinthian monarchs Polybus and Merope. He makes the decision to outrun fate and outwit the gods by moving well away from Corinth.

The place that Theban King Oedipus mistakenly considers his hometown and a fleeting chance to escape an unenviable fate are what Corinth represent in the play "Oedipus Rex."

Specifically, Oedipus is born the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. But according to a prophecy, Oedipus is fated to grow up to kill his father. Killing one's father and sovereign is viewed as seriously as disrespecting the gods.

So Oedipus' parents try to kill him just three days after his birth. They arrange to have him left exposed to the weather and the wildlife on the slopes of nearby Mount Kithairon. Killing one's child is viewed far, far less seriously than killing one's parent and ruler.

But Jocasta's servant instead gives Oedipus to a fellow shepherd who is returning home to Corinth. There, Oedipus is adopted into the royal household of the childless King Polybus and Queen Merope. He is raised without any knowledge of either his true identity or his biological parents.

Upon reaching adulthood, Oedipus hears a rumor that his real parents are other than the Corinthian monarchs he always has considered his mother and father. Then the Delphic oracle tells him of his fate to kill his father and marry his mother.

Oedipus' reaction is to run far, far away from Corinth. Unfortunately, Thebes is where he ends up. So the fate that Oedipus so seeks to avoid easily is carried out to the very last miserable detail.

Yes, Oedipus is a tragic character in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, a tragic character experiences an unfortunate end, or meets with a misfortunate turn of events, in life. The description fits disgraced Theban King Oedipus. Oedipus moves from a position of great personal happiness and professional success to the depths of humiliation, loss and pain.

Carry out a needs assessment, conduct evaluations and assessments of current programs, investigate prevailing social services, and meet with the appropriate community leaders are ways in which modern leaders may respond to pleas similar to that of the Theban citizens at the beginning of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, a needs assessment can be carried out to find out what the citizens expect and what private and public sources can provide. Current programs can be evaluated and assessed for efficacy at current capacity and for possibilities of expanded services. Meetings can be scheduled with concerned business, cultural, political and religious leaders.

That Teiresias is a participant if not the perpetrator of Laius' murder is the way in which Oedipus feels when Teiresias does not give him the desired information in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus asks Teiresias the blind prophet for help in identifying King Laius' killer. Teiresias begs to leave. Oedipus decides that Teiresias himself must be involved in the killing.

King Oedipus himself is responsible for his own blindness. He's responsible for his physical blindness. He's the one who plunges his wife and mother's brooches into both eyes.

Oedipus also is responsible for his previous, symbolicblindness. He hears a rumor that he isn't the biological son of Corinthian King Polybus and Queen Merope. He doesn't like their lack of a direct answer to this piece of unsettling gossip.

So Oedipus goes off to consult with the Delphic Oracle. He likes even less what he learns there. He's told of his fate to kill his father and marry his mother.

Oedipus doesn't think to check out the rumor that the Corinthian monarchs aren't his real parents. Instead, he goes tearing off to Thebes, which happens to be his real hometown. On the way, he kills a stranger who's old enough to be his father and whom he resembles. It turns out to be his father, Theban King Laius.

Then Oedipus marries a woman who's old enough to be his mother and with whom he may or may not share similar features or personality quirks. She turns out to be his mother, Theban Queen Jocasta. The possibilities are all there for seeing with the eyes and processing with the mind. But Oedipus is figuratively blind to all.

That Oedipus will end the pestilence is what his success in defeating the Sphinx years before leads the priest to expect in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus answers the seemingly unanswerable riddle of the monstrous Sphinx. The Sphinx commits suicide. No one else figures out how to defeat the Sphinx so the priest hopes that Oedipus' successful problem-solving will be repeated in regard to the current pestilence.

Because the truth will destroy both of them and their entire family is the reason why Jocasta tries to keep Oedipus from learning the truth in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta realizes that the killer whose execution or exile the gods demand in fact is her second husband, Oedipus. Additionally, she also processes the fact that Oedipus is the infant son that she and her first husband, King Laius, leave to die rather than grow up to kill his father. Jocasta has a personality that avoids unpleasantness and that goes into denial. She therefore attempts not to broadcast this information, which will destroy the couple's role model life of domestic bliss and professional success.

That he breaks divine and human laws that he tries not tois the reason why Oedipus suffers in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.)

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus leads an apparently charmed life until early adulthood. Then he hears a rumor that Corinthian monarchs Polybus and Merope are not his biological parents. He seeks the rumor's confirmation or rejection from the Delphic oracle, who says that Oedipus is fated to fill his father and marry his mother.

Oedipus therefore runs away, kills an elderly man in a street brawl, defeats a monster terrorizing Thebes, marries the beautiful widow of Thebes' murdered King Laius, and becomes a role model of domestic bliss and professional success until pestilence comes to Thebes.

But the pestilence reflects divine wrath over Laius' unsolved murder and the lack of punishment of the guilty in this offense against gods and mortals. In the course of trying to hunt down and punish the guilty, Oedipus discovers that he is not at all whom he thinks he is, and the punishment that he seeks for others needs to be carried out against himself.