Oedipus Rex

Jocasta commits suicide in Oedipus Rex because she realizes that the prophecies have been fulfilled, and that she has married her own son. In essence, her kids with Oedipus are also her grandchildren.

All of the grief associated with this realization makes Jocasta's will to live go away. She kills herself because she doesn't want to deal with reality.
For breaking divine and human laws, Jocasta commits suicide in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. -- 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Queen Jocasta disrespects the gods by trying to thwart a horrible prophecy about her child and her husband. Subsequently and albeit unknowingly, Jocasta compounds the matter by marrying her own son Oedipus and having children with him. Incest is an offense against the gods, who can consort with whomsoever they please; and against mortals, who are considered blasphemous when they ape the gods. A mortal committing suicide is acceptable to the gods, who consider taking one's life an admission of and apology for misbehavior

Theban King Oedipus wants to find his royal predecessor's murderer in order to end the suffering of his people. The Delphic Oracle says that Thebes is visited by a plague, for not having tracked down the murderer of their previous sovereign, Theban King Laius. The Oracle says that any perpetrator of that heinous offense must be identified and brought to justice. Otherwise, the suffering of the city and its people will continue unabated.

Theban King Oedipus wants to find the murderer of his royal predecessor, Theban King Laius. His motive is his desire to end the plague He wants to stop the suffering of his people who are seeing their own numbers reduced as quickly as those of his livestock and as fast as the volumes of his harvests.

Theban King Creon is Theban King Oedipus' brother-in-law.

Specifically, Creon is the brother of Theban Queen Jocasta, wife and mother to Oedipus. So Creon also is Oedipus' uncle. But not one of the three sovereigns realizes that the three are linked other than by the marriage of Oedipus and Jocasta and the blood relationship between her and Creon.

Oral and written literature are the sources behind "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, oral literature refers to the ancient body of Greek creation stories, legends and myths. It particularly includes that body native to Colonus, Theban King Oedipus' place of death and Sophocles' birth place. But it also includes written sources, such as "The Iliad" by Homer (fl. 8th century B.C.E.).

That she is a peacemaker is what the chorus says of Jocasta just before she finds Creon and Oedipus fighting in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the chorus leader attempts to end the quarrel that Theban King Oedipus picks with Queen Jocasta's brother Creon. Oedipus keeps rejecting Creon's spirited but reasoned self-defense against groundless charges of treasonous conspiracy. The chorus leader finally observes that Jocasta will end the fight that no one else seems to be able to stop.

It is in the palace bedroom that Oedipus experiences his catharsis in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the term catharsis describes an emotional release that becomes cleansing and healing. The description fits Theban King Oedipus after hears the truth of his birth, crime and immorality from the combined testimonies of the Corinthian messenger and the Theban shepherd. He goes into the palace where he finds his wife, Queen Jocasta, already dead in their bedroom. He removes the golden brooches from her robes and plunges them into his eyes.

It is from the Corinthian messenger and Thebanshepherd that Oedipus finds out about his past in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus starts adulthood with unanswered and unpursued questions about his parentage. For example, a drunk at the Corinthian banquet says that Oedipus is not the biological son of his presumed parents, Corinthian monarchs Polybus and Merope. Then almost twenty years later, Teiresias the blind prophet reveals that Oedipus is the killer of his king and his father. But it is not until the information from the Corinthian messenger and the interrogation of the Theban shepherd that Oedipus puts together his past as King Laius' son and killer and as Queen Jocasta's husband and son.

That Oedipus makes mistakes because he does not process what is staring him in the face so he blinds himself is the poetic justice in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, poetic justice describes a situation in which there is a perfect cancelling out of commissions and omissions. The description fits the ending years in the life of Theban King Oedipus. Specifically, Oedipus dooms himself by killing someone old enough to be his fathere and marrying someone old enough to be his mother. He is warned of his fate to kill his father and marry his mother. But he overlooks the obvious resemblance between him and his murder victim and between him and his wife. He realizes the oversight and removes what he considers a contributing factor to his problems: his sight.

That he is quick to interpret offense and respond in kindis a way in which Oedipus is hot-tempered in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus asks Teiresias the blind prophet for help. He cannot fathom why Teiresias accuses him of being King Laius' killer. So he promptly and groundlessly charges Teiresias his royal advisor and Creon his royal colleague with treasonously conspiring to overthrow him. He then gets angry when Jocasta tries to tell him what to do about his investigation into Laius' death. So he jumps to the conclusion that she is snob even though Jocasta never behaves other than in a compassionate and conciliatory way. He even makes an attempt on her life, but finds her already dead. Oedipus therefore shows a consistent pattern of quick angry impulses and actions that go back to a moment of self-defensive rage that leaves five of seven people dead in the Delphi-Daulia intersection of Phocis.

Discussing the pestilence and the murder is an example of juxtaposition in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the term juxtaposition describes the placing of abstract concepts or physical objects near each other. The description fits the linkage between the solution of the pestilence and of King Laius' murder. The solution of the murder symbolically is placed alongside that of the pestilence of which it is both the cause and the solution.

It is by saying that not all prophecies come true that Jocasta attempts to set Oedipus' mind at ease in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus fears a prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. His wife, Queen Jocasta, insists that oracles and prophets are not as skilled as gods and the Furies of fate in terms of predictions. She maintains that not all prophecies come true. She offers the example of her first husband, King Laius, dying unpredictably at the hands of robbers rather than predictably at the hands of his own son.

That he is emotional, impatient and inconsistent are reasons why Oedipus is not a great king in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus does not control his emotions. He easily falls into states of fear and panic, such as when he hears his prophesied fate. He is impatient in interrogating the elderly Theban shepherd. He is inconsistent in carrying out his duties, such as when he brings a pestilence upon Thebes by not carrying out mandatory cleansing rituals for his crimes and the crime against his royal predecessor, King Laius.

Execute or exile him is what Oedipus promises to do to Laius' murderer in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Oedipus is doing no more than carrying out divine will. A pestilence is overwhelming Thebes' will to survive what with ailing livestock, dying crops and failing livestock. Through the conduit of the Delphic oracle, the gods reveal that the guilty in the murder of Oedipus' royal predecessor, King Laius, must be executed or exiled.

Assertive is what Antigone's personality is like in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone is not afraid of arguments, conflicts or debates. She knows what she believes in - family and the gods. She refuses to back down once her mind is made up.

It is Oedipus who relieves Thebes of the Sphinx in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the Sphinx imposes a riddle and a tax on all Thebes. She particularly likes to ask a riddle to which incoming and outgoing Thebans must respond upon pain of death. Thebans remain clueless and so the Sphinx gets to feed her limitless appetite for freshly killed Thebans.

It is Merope that Oedipus believes to be his mother in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus does not remember anything about growing up other than the years spent in Corinth. But he hears a rumor that he is not the biological son of his presumed parents, the monarchs of Corinth. He is upset by that rumor, but seems to continue to believe that Corinthian Queen Merope is his mother.

That he is his father's killer, his mother's husband and his children's half-brother is what Oedipus knows and that he may be punished by exile instead of execution is what he may suspect at the end of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus believes himself to be a caring husband, devoted father, and just ruler. Instead, he discovers that the fate that he tries so hard to avoid holds true of him as son and killer to his own father and king, son and husband to his own mother, and therefore criminal and immoralist to his own people. The punishment for these offenses against the gods and mortals is exile or execution. The transfer of royal power goes to Creon, Oedipus' brother-in-law and nephew to Oedipus' twin sons. That Creon grants Oedipus' request to visit with his daughters and that Oedipus' sons will take over the throne when they are of age undoubtedly lead Oedipus to suspect that he will be allowed to live out his life in isolation and exile instead of meeting with imminent death.

It is to meet with the priest and suppliants that Oedipus comes outside the palace in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Oedipus comes outside the main entrance to the Theban royal palace. He finds altars set up as well as Theban suppliants gathered around the priest of Zeus. He already knows that they are there and even why they are there. Thebans request a royal audience and then wait outside.