Abele 1 Benjamin Abele Dr.

Carmen Comeaux English 1102 17 April 2013 Defying Both Her Gender Role and Fate: Jocastas Tragedy in Oedipus Rex Like in most ancient civilizations, women in ancient Greece were not valued as highly as the men. (Women in Ancient Greece 3) The society promoted a lesser view of women in comparison to men. (Women in Ancient Greece 4) Men were granted and accepted into higher roles in society, while women were the head of the household, however important that job may be. (Women in Ancient Greece 6) Women in this time period dealt with laid out expectations for them. (Women in Ancient Greece 9) The culture of the society created an expectation of all women: a society which forced women to a specific role and accept the fact that they were not equals to their male counterpart. (Women in Ancient Greece 13) The character, Jocasta, from Sophocles Oedipus Rex steps outside of this role. She tries to reject the prophecy that is laid out for her. She denies the wishes of the Gods and attempts to control her own destiny. One of Jocastas major tragic flaws, fear of the future, causes her to renounce the expectation of motherhood imposed by her society through abandoning her child in defiance of the Gods, which in doing so, condemns her to the punishment brought by her fate. One of Jocastas tragic flaws is her fear of the future. She fears the prophecy about her son, Oedipus. In order to combat her fear, she attempts to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled. Jocasta believes she can change her fate by taking the life of her son. The fact that Jocasta goes against her prophecy and believes she has successfully killed her son displays feminist ideology because of her rejection to expectations. However, when Oedipus starts delving into his past, Jocasta attempts stop Oedipus by urging him, Why should a man whose life seems ruled by chance live in feara man who never looks ahead, who has no certain vision of his future? Its best to live haphazardly, as best one can

Abele 2 (Sophocles 975). Here, she attempts to convince Oedipus to stop dwindling on his past by avoiding fear of the future, the flaw which she possesses. She continues to avoid her fate, thus expressing feminist concepts, to further question the gods. As time passes, Jocasta realizes Oedipus is her son before he does and begs, *i+n the name of the gods, no! If you have some concern for your own life, then stop! Do not keep investigating this. I will sufferthat will be enough (Sophocles 1060). Here, she tries to prevent Oedipus from realizing that he is her son, as if she can still avoid her fate if Oedipus does not find out she is his mother. Even after the truth is revealed to her, she continues to deny her fate in order to improve her final outcome. Her refusal of her fate shows her expression that she will not follow her role in order to attempt to better her life. Her fear of the future is therefore her main tragic flaw because in most tragedies, a characters greatest flaw leads to their demise. Jocasta unintentionally protests the cultural expectations of womanhood in her society by abandoning her child, Oedipus. After hearing the prophecy, Jocastas fear of the predicted fate causes her to choose to take action rather than awaiting the prophecy. In order to prevent a terrible fate and experience for her son, her husband, and herself, Jocasta parts with her infant child. She relinquishes her responsibilities of motherhood. This sacrifice is the reason that she is unable to recognize her own son because she chose not to raise him. She lacked the experience of being mothering her own child, and only retained the experience of being a wife. Instead she takes him to her bed because she can only understand the role of being a wife instead of the mother she is supposed to be to her son. After learning the truth of his mothers identity, Oedipus does not curse Jocasta for abandoning him, but realizes and accepts why he should have died as an infant. Instead, the son of a corrupted mother (Sophocles 1361) curses *w+hoever the man is who freed my feet (Sophocles 1348) and reasoned, *h+ad I perished then, I would not have brought such agony to myself or to my friends (Sophocles

Abele 3 1351), thus expressing why death would not be a worse outcome for Oedipus. After Oedipus sees how terrible his fate turns out, he eventually comes to understand his mothers actions of abandoning him, ultimately justifying her feminist actions. His acceptance contributes to her feminist actions because they are understood by her son, thus justifying her choices. Due to her drastic attempt at trying to avoid the fate of her family, Jocasta is condemned to the terrible fate she had originally received. Trying to end the prophecy, she gives up motherhood, her typical societal role as a female, by trying to kill Oedipus. Therefore because of Jocastas defiance, she is led to her own tragic downfall, which justifies the punishment that fate brings her. Regardless of what Jocasta does, the Gods ensure that her actions are overruled by fate. Teiresias warns Oedipus, It is not your fate to fall because of me. Its up to Apollo to make that happen. He will be enough (Sophocles 376). Teiresias foreshadows the Gods holding superiority and Apollo ensuring that Oedipus will meet his fate. On the other hand, Oedipus agreement of his mothers actions through cursing the man who kept him alive, rather than his mother for trying to kill him, justifies Jocastas abandonment. This is the focal point of Jocastas tragedy in Oedipus Rex: the contradiction of the justification versus the overall punishment of Jocastas outcomes by the Gods. One can feel both sympathy for Jocasta because she is brave enough to attempt to save her family and change her role as a woman in ancient Greek society, and also to blame her for the overall outcome of the tragedy. Jocasta is a tragic character because her fear of her fate causes her to defy the Gods, her fate, and her role as a mother, which in doing so, condemns her to the punishment her fate brings. Her defiance is a feminist act within itself; however, her defiance was still punished. As a strong woman in an ancient Greek society, Jocasta is able to reject the prophecy that she is burdened by. She also rejects the wishes of the Gods in an attempt to control her own destiny. This rejection of the unstoppable is futile, and her efforts to prevent the prophecy from coming true only lead to the horrible outcome of her inevitable

Abele 4 fate. The irony of Jocasta causing her own fate to occur while trying to prevent it highlights Jocastas tragedy in Oedipus Rex because in hindsight, Jocasta was entirely helpless to her fate and the will of the Gods.

Abele 5 Work Cited Brizee, Allen. "Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism ."Welcome to the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL). N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2013. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/11/> History: Women in Ancient Greece."Pace University Webspace. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. <http://webpage.pace.edu/nreagin/F2004WS>. Sophocles. "Full Text Of Oedipus Rex."Classic English Literature Notes. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2013. <http://www.classic-enotes.com/drama/sophocles/oedipus-rex/full-text-of-oedipus-rex/>.