Oedipus Rex

Jocasta, Oedipus’s mother and wife, is a woman beset by tragedies. As a young mother, she learned that her son was fated to kill his father and marry her, so out of desperation, she asked a servant to expose her newborn to death. Later, her beloved husband Laius was killed while on a spiritual journey. Finally, she discovers that her second marriage—a stable and loving relationship—is to the very son she believed to be dead. The predicted incest has come to pass after all, so she at last kills herself, overwhelmed with grief for being the wife of her husband’s killer and an incestuous mother.

Creon, Jocasta’s brother, and thus Oedipus’s brother-in-law and uncle, is a pragmatic man. In spite of Oedipus’s accusations, Creon has no interest in being king himself, preferring to enjoy royal privilege without royal responsibility. But the burden of rulership falls on him nonetheless when Oedipus’s curse is revealed. At the end of the play, in his new role as king of Thebes, he still hesitates to act (and thus be responsible for those actions). Refusing to exile Oedipus of his own volition, he instead waits for the will of the gods before he makes any moves. There’s a sense that he will be a canny and slippery king.

The wise, prickly prophet Tiresias tries to warn Oedipus away from too much inquiry into his past. Tiresias’s power to communicate with the gods and see the truth goes hand-in-hand with the physical blindness that Oedipus will suffer. Like Oedipus, Tiresias sees more than a human can bear.