I think this myth is quite entertaining. I find it also extremely different to marry your own mother and have kids that are also your siblings! Gross!
I just find it amazing how Oedipus tries to avoid his fate at the beginning of his life by trying to avoid his "caretaker" parents and ends up actually following through what the prophecy says. I wonder how Jocasta could possibly have interest in Oedipus or vice versa, because of their age difference. Did age have a big impact on relationships back then? I though maybe they would prefer a marriage where the husband or king is usually older than thew wife.
It seems like Oedipus "has it bad" with his mistakes and all but doesn't Jocasta have it bad too? She too, had slept with her own son and had his kids! That's terribly disturbing. Of course, I can see why she hung herself.
I wonder how the blind seers are able to see the prophecies, and if they know why it happens that way. They would probably say its all under the gods' control, but I wonder if they see a solution to change a person's fate.
I don't believe that Oedipus knew Jocasta was his mother when they wed, neither did she know he was her son. That is why Jocasta took her own life. I am sure that the age difference was just important back then if not more than now. Yes it is a disturbing situation.
ReplyDeleteGood question about the seers and if they can see the solutions to the problems. Tiresias did try to not answer Oedipus' question about the killer's identity, so maybe in his own way he was trying to prevent Oedipus' tragic fate?
ReplyDeleteI think the seers could not prevent or control the future, since everyone believed in fate, even Oedipus tried to avoid his fate from the beginning but ended up doing exactly what was predicted. I think Tiresias didn't want to answer his questions because he knew exactly what had happened with Oedipus killing his own father and wedding his own mother, it was the shame that he didn't want to speak of.
ReplyDelete