Oedipus

Oedipus’s gruesome appearance upon his reentrance symbolizes both his dramatic internal change and the severity of his sins. Without eyes, his physical blindness contrasts with his new-found ability to see his sins and accept his fate. In contrast to his metaphorical blindness, this physical “darkness is sweet” (999). His sense of relief stems from the certainty of his fate. As a result, a “gentle / God veils [his] head at last with inky mist” (999-1000). Oedipus’s act of blinding grants him some respite from the anxiety and fear he has felt until this moment in the play.

Jocasta also undergoes a moment of recognition, after initially struggling to accept her fate. When she first reunites with Oedipus, she tries to reassure him that “Fate is to blame. No guilt stems from fate” (1019). Rather than accept her fate, she attempts to reassign guilt. Oedipus, revealing his change, rejects her argument. Oedipus’s acceptance of his guilt drives Jocasta to reflect upon her own guilt in turn: “Why refuse to pay / For your share of sin?” (1024-1025). Her guilt is “resolved” (1031) and she quickly takes action to punish herself for her sin.

Jocasta’s method of suicide symbolically reflects the nature of her crimes. She rejects both her throat and chest as the place to stab herself. By stabbing herself through her “teeming womb which bore husband and sons” (1039), she targets the embodiment of her incestuous sin and ensures a more painful death. The phallic imagery of Jocasta stabbing herself with Oedipus’s sword emphasizes the sexual nature of the crime they have committed. Using Oedipus’s sword implicates Oedipus in both the initial crime and Jocasta’s death.

Oedipus reacts to Jocasta’s death with shock, as his “debt to fate was [his] father” (1045). Her death is, to Oedipus, an extra punishment. In his grief, he rages against the “lying Phoebus” (1046). Phoebus refers to Apollo, the god associated with the sun and the god of the Delphi oracle. Even once he accepts fate, Oedipus struggles to come to terms with the fact that his knowledge is still incomplete. Since he struggled against his fate, his “crime destroyed [his] mother” (1045) as well as his father and he has therefore “surpassed the sinful fates” (1046). The extremity of his punishment underscores his crime, driving Oedipus into renouncing the throne and choosing exile from Thebes. Unlike in previous acts, the chorus does not offer any final commentary, further emphasizing Oedipus’s isolation at the end of the play.