Oedipus Scene 2
ll. 612-614
ll. 621-2
ll. 635-6
When we first meet Jocasta we see that she trusts
her brother Creon, has some power and authority
in Thebes.
The chorus sides with her and with Creon.
Creon’s line: “Natures like yours chiefly torture
themselves.”
Oedipus Scene 3
ll. 900-905
Jocasta draws the conclusion that the prophesies
regarding Oedipus killing his father are inaccurate,
since the Messenger has brought news that
Oedipus’s “father” (King Polybus) is dead.
ll. 915-924
Oedipus expresses joy that he seems to have
eluded what the prophesies said was his fate and
even speaks disrespectfully of the oracle Pythia.
ll. 929-930
Jocasta counsels Oedipus that “Fate rules us and
nothing can be foreseen” in order to calm him
down about the other part of the prophesy (that he
would sleep with his mother).
ll. 950-end
The Messenger reveals that Polybus was not
Oedipus’s father, tells the story of how he found
Oedipus and named him (“swollen foot”).
l. 999
Jocasta’s response to Oedipus seems to indicate
that she knows that the prophesy may have been
true and that Oedipus needs not to continue to
press for the truth: “Why think of him?/Forget
this herdsman. Forget it all./This talk is a waste of
time.”
l. 1021
Oedipus still thinks that he is not entrapped by the
prophesies.
Question:
What does Sophocles seem to think about fate and
human will? What do you think?