The play resolves the philosophical questions raised by Jocasta's judgment of the oracle and of prophecy in general when all of the prophecies are shown to have come true. Laius was, in fact, killed by his child, despite his and Jocasta's best efforts to avoid the prophecy by ordering Oedipus's murder when he was a baby. Oedipus did, in fact, kill his father and marry his mother, despite his best efforts to avoid the prophecy by refusing to return to Corinth, the city he believes to be his home and the home of his parents. Teiresias also proved to be absolutely correct in his knowledge of both past and future events. Jocasta is shown to be absolutely wrong in her estimation of the value and accuracy of prophecy.
In Oedipus Rex Jocasta displays a marked skepticism towards the prophecies of the Delphic oracle. There could be more than an element of self-preservation involved here. After all, the oracle predicts that Jocasta and Laius's child would grow up to marry her and kill him. As far as Jocasta is concerned, that simply cannot happen. Her child was abandoned, exposed out in the open air; there is just no way he could have survived. It is in Jocasta's interests for the oracle's prophecies not to be true, and so it's not surprising that she should be so dismissive.
In response to Jocasta's skepticism, the Chorus makes clear just how serious a matter insolence towards the gods really is, how it brings utter ruin upon all those who display it. This feeds into a broader philosophical consideration of the relationship between gods and mortals. It's never clearly established whether Jocasta is skeptical of prophecies in general or just those that predict terrible consequences for her and her family. If it's the former, then she is indeed displaying insolence towards the gods. The resolution of this philosophical problem comes when the full, terrifying truth of the prophecy is made manifest and ruin is indeed brought crashing down upon Jocasta and her whole family.
No comments:
Post a Comment