In an attempt to prevent this prophecy's fulfillment, when Jocasta indeed bore a son, Laius had his ankles pinned together and gave the boy to a servant to abandon on the nearby mountain. However, rather than leave the child to die as Laius intended, the sympathetic servant passed the baby onto a shepherd from Corinth.
When Oedipus was born to the king and queen of Thebes, Laius and Jocasta, a prophet announced that the baby would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother.To avoid such a shocking outcome, King Laius sorrowfully ordered one of his servants to kill the baby.
That is, until he received the prophecy that he was destined to be murdered by his own son. This, of course, is what caused Jocasta and Laius to pierce and bind their one and only child's ankles and send him off to a mountainside to die.
Jocasta handed the newborn infant over to Laius. Jocasta or Laius pierced and pinned the infant's ankles together. Laius instructed his chief shepherd, Menoetes (not to be confused with Menoetes, the underworld spirit) a slave who had been born in the palace, to expose the infant on Mount Cithaeron and leave it to die.
Jocasta says that she was told by a seer that her child would kill his father. However, her baby was killed by Laius and herself.
Questioned further, he answers that it was Laius's child, and that Jocasta gave it to him to destroy because of a prophecy that the child would kill his parents.
Jocasta Gives Up Her Son
The herdsman, Menoetes, instead of abandoning the child upon Mount Cithaeron, passed the son of Jocasta onto another herdsman, whose master was King Polybus of Corinth. Polybus and his wife Periboea were themselves childless, and the pair raised the boy as their own.
Jocasta Innes, who has died aged 78, made a long career out of a talent for making do, making over, and making a home in adversity.
Publisher's Summary. Many people experience the Jocasta Complex in reference to the proverbial "mama's boy". The mother often becomes obsessed with her relationship with her son to the exclusion of many other relationships and interests. She generally only chooses a favorite son whom she puts on a pedestal.
Answer and Explanation: In Oedipus the King, Jocasta kills herself because she is ashamed for having become intimate with her son, Oedipus.
In psychoanalytic theory, the Jocasta complex is the incestuous sexual desire of a mother towards her son.
Jocasta realizes the truth—that Oedipus is her son as well as her husband—and tells Oedipus to stop the interrogations. He doesn't listen, and an eyewitness, the Herdsman who rescued him when he was an infant, confirms that he was Laius and Jocasta's child, and that Oedipus killed Laius.
You're doomed—may you never fathom who you are! This is Jocasta's penultimate line in Oedipus the King, spoken just before she exits the stage. Jocasta's words reveal that she has put the pieces together and understands what actually happened in the past.
Jocasta now realizes that Oedipus is the baby she and Laius abandoned, and that the prophecy has come true. She begs Oedipus to stop his inquiry, but he refuses, and she runs into the palace screaming.
From the very beginning of her entrance into mythology, it is clear that decisions and other events beyond her control leave Jocasta feeling guilty. Later, after Oedipus unknowingly killed his own father and married Jacosta (and fathered children through her), she took her own life.
See, before her wedding, Jocasta signed over ownership of River Run to baby Jemmy so that Duncan Innes wouldn't have any claim to it; Jocasta was the estate's guardian until Jemmy came of age.
Jocasta was a cruel mother who went through with killing her first son because the gods had recommended that he be killed to avert the child's cursed destiny.
Oedipus found Jocasta's lifeless body, and took two golden pins from her regal dress and pricked both of his eyes out.
What fear drove Jocasta to give her child to the shepherd? Jocasta gives his child to the Shepherd because she is afraid that he will grow up to fulfill the property.
Let's learn about the disease that robbed Jocasta Cameron of her eyesight: Glaucoma. Yep, that's the one. Glaucoma (glaw-koh-muh), is a word derived from the Greek glaukommatos meaning “gray-eyed.”
Oedipus' lack and pursuit of knowledge serve to bring suffering upon his immediate family members, emphasizing that wisdom does not always lead to happiness and success. As a product of his desperate attempts to gain awareness of his past, Oedipus causes Jocasta to go through an insurmountable level of misfortune.
This child is Oedipus. Oedipus asks the elders if anyone knew the shepherd from the household of Laius. They say it is the very servant that has been sent for. Meanwhile Jocasta has put all the bits of evidence into place, and is terrified by the result — that Oedipus is her own son.
Years passed, during which Oedipus had four children with Jocasta. Oedipus found out that he killed Laius, his father, and married his mother, Jocasta. He was horrified, so he gouged his eyes out and exiled himself from Thebes.
Oedipus threatens to kill the shepherd if he does not speak. Finally, the shepherd gives in: the parents of the baby were Laius and Jocasta. The shepherd says he was told to kill the baby boy because of a prophecy that he would grow up to kill his father.
Upon failing to do so, Jocasta becomes deeply sorrowful. Her lack of anger towards Oedipus for his patricide makes it clear that she holds herself and not him responsible for the tragic events in his life. This feeling of guilt culminates in Jocasta's suicide, for she has no-one left to blame but herself.