One question that has lingered in my mind concerning Oedipus the King is HOW DID JOCASTA NOT RECOGNIZE OEDIPUS. Ok I know what you might be thinking: Well, Anabella, of course she didn't recognize him! He was only a baby when she gave him up!
Yes, you may have a valid point. But in MY mind, Jocasta should have had some maternal instinct that made her stop and thing Wait a minute.... Though I don't know from personal experience, my understanding of being a mother is that you have a connection with your child while their in the womb, not from the first day you met them. There should have been something that ticked in Jocasta's mind when she first (secondly) met Oedipus in that sense. Even if you don't agree with that argument you would have to admit that Oedipus, being Jocasta and Laius's son, would bear some resemblance to someone in the family, which then might be recognizable and even raise some eyebrows.
One example comes to mind is from Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa. To briefly summarize the movie if you haven't already seen it (shame on you), the four zoo animals that got previously trapped on the Island of Madagascar try to get back to New York but only make it as far as Africa. Coincidentally, this is where Alex the Lion is originally from, before he was captured by hunters and eventually went to a zoo (that's a whole other story though). When he was captured he was just a wee little baby, but when he came back, whilst re-meeting his parents his mother notices a familiarity about him. They then realize they are mother father and son. Ok, I know this is a cartoon but it's a valid point that in a situation similar to that, only with actual people and not talking animals, some type of maternal instinct would bounce forward and get that mom's attention.
"Stories" I guess you could call them, make me think of all kinds of crazy hypotheticals in my mind. For example, something I frequently ask my mom, as if she even knows the answer, is something I dont think many people would randomly think of. So lets say time machines were invented, and accessible to someone like me. If I went back to like 2001 do you think my mom would recognize me? I always think about what would happen if I just knocked on our door one day and was like Hi and made up some excuse as to why I was there and see what would happen. Or if I met myself. I don't know. You're welcome for a firsthand insight at what goes on inside my brain on the daily.
Anyway that's my point. I think Jocasta should have recognized Oedipus and avoided this whole thing.
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You make a really good point! Ignorance is bliss, as they say, and I think Jocasta is in denial for much of the play. She knows that Laius was killed right around the time a stranger comes into town...why does she not even suspect that Oedipus could possibly be the murderer, even if she doesn't recognize him as her son? Furthermore, she attempts to dissuade Oedipus from pursuing a path of self-knowledge. When Oedipus asks her what Laius looked like, she says he had a build not far from Oedipus's, which suggests that she may have had some idea about Oedipus's identity from the beginning, which is, frankly, disgusting. Once he realizes that he is not truly the blood heir of Corinth, Oedipus wants to know his true parenthood (at this point, Jocasta has put two and two together and realizes she is Oedipus's mother). If Oedipus weren't so persistent and abandoned his search for his true identity, would Jocasta ever have told him? Personally, I think it's possible that she would keep it to herself for the rest of her life and remain married to her son just to avoid conflict. Jocasta takes the easy way out constantly, to her own detriment and the detriment of those around her.
I agree with Lainey in that Jocasta began to grow aware that Oedipus is her son when Oedipus' true background was coming unraveled. As we discussed in class, however, the power of denial is a very strong force, and it is quite plausible that Jocasta may have been convincing herself that such a horrendous situation is not her reality. Prior to Oedipus' past being revealed, I do believe that it's possible that Jocasta may have been completely unaware of Oedipus' identity. Regarding Anabella's point that Jocasta SHOULD have recognized Oedipus through her maternal instinct, I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that a mother would recognize her child thirty years after deserting them at birth. You mention that a mother has a one-of-a-kind bond with their child in the womb, and that this bond should yield recognition years later. If that's the case, wouldn't it be the same regarding twins (or even more so considering that they are actually in the womb together for nine months)? The link attached below shows that this is not so, as it discusses the seemingly impossible case of twins separated at birth accidentally marrying each other in adulthood. Though this scenario is not the exact same as Oedipus' and Jocasta's, it is eerily similar and is a testament to the possibility of Jocasta not at all recognizing Oedipus. But what about the resemblance Oedipus must have bore with family members? Well, from my own life experience, I know that family members do not always look alike. Also, upon meeting Oedipus for the first time in his adult life, it would have not crossed a single neuron in Jocasta's brain that he is her son. Even if genetics did run strong in Oedipus' lineage and Oedipus looked a lot like Laius or Jocasta, Jocasta would have deemed it mere coincidence; this situation would be synonymous with meeting somebody whom people say kind of looks like you. All in all, I think it is entirely plausible that Jocasta would not have recognized Oedipus. In fact, I think it is extremely unlikely that she WOULD HAVE recognized him.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-507588/Shock-married-couple-discovered-twins-separated-birth.html
I understand your frustration with this fact, Anabella. I personally was frustrated the whole novel with the fact that Oedipus didn't know he was the killer right off the bat. To paraphrase, he literally said "yeah I killed someone at a place where 3 roads met at the exact time Laius's murder happened but like it couldn't have been me" and Jocasta just accepted that! Like what?! I understand Greek audiences were a bit more entertained by these plots, as much as I'm sure they were entertained by all the men performing in Medea, but this plot makes me question whether the intellect of the audience is just none or if Sophocles was realllyyyyy focused on the topic of the power of denial.
I totally agree, it’s almost impossible to wrap my mind around the idea that she wouldn’t recognize Oedipus, regardless of the fact that he was a baby! I would think some maternal instinct would kick in and turn a mother away from viewing her son as a husband. As Farah said, the fact that this failed to happen solidifies the idea of grave consequences emerging from denial.
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