Oedipus The King Jokasta Character Analysis

The story of Oedipus the King incorporates a variety of characters such as kings, servants, messengers, gods and supernatural creatures yet it lacks female characters. The only predominant woman in the story of Oedipus the king is Jokasta. What makes Jokasta special is that she is known to be Oedipus’ wife and mother. Jokasta‘s role in the story has a huge impact on Oedipus life because the destiny of Oedipus is biased on Jokasta’s position in the story. Many see Jokasta as a faithful marital and a spousal figure that would sacrifice everything in order to obtain happiness for her family and her house hold. Yet in reality, the consequences of Jokasta’s actions have a negative influence on Oedipus because her actions are designed only for her to secure her own life while disregarding her son.
The selfishness of …show more content…
Either way, Jokasta is deceiving Oedipus by playing the role of the supportive wife and encouraging him to accept the idea of marrying his mother because she senses that the truth might spread out soon and she does not want to let this truth ruin her peaceful life. She is basically telling Oedipus that it is better for him to stay ignorant and let life takes its courses because there are things that are better to stay hidden and this also suggest that Jokasta is hiding something very shocking that would ruin Oedipus’ life. Jokasta does not want to support Oedipus for seeking the truth and she does not want to tell him the truth, because she knows either ways her life will be ruined. Jokasta prefers for Oedipus to stay blind from the truth because her main goal is to secure her own happiness and not her son’s