![]() ![]() When the same shepherd arrives in Thebes, claiming to have witnessed Oedipus’s murder of Laius, Jocasta pleads for Oedipus to end his search. Jocasta’s care for Oedipus overshadows her desire for the truth. Jocasta and Oedipus are depicted as having a loving relationship. Prior to the events of Oedipus Rex, Jocasta was forced to abandon Oedipus on Mount Cithaeron, where he was then found and raised by a shepherd. She is the mother and wife of Oedipus as well as the widow of Laius. ![]() ![]() As Edith Hall noted, “Oedipus can only fulfill his exceptional god-ordained destiny because Oedipus is a preeminently capable and intelligent human being.” His undoing is all the more lamentable for this fact. The central tension of Oedipus is the combination of his nobility and his unwitting sinfulness. The plague is the result of his own murder of his father, Laius, and so Oedipus’s search leads to his own undoing. Oedipus reacts to the news of a plague in Thebes by searching for answers. The play details the aftermath of Oedipus’s mistakes. At the start of Oedipus the King, many of the events for which he is known have already elapsed, including the answering of the Sphinx’s riddle, the murdering of Laius, and the union with Jocasta. ![]()
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