Iocastê
from the Greek play “Oedipus the King” is often viewed by critics to be a very
flat, one dimensional character. She is viewed as such because she seems to
only ever be reacting to those around her and she has no real emotions and she
would not hold up as an actual person if removed from the play and placed in
the real world. However all of Iocastê’s actions speak to just how badly she
wishes to remain in power and the lengths she is willing to go to keep her
place as queen of Thebes. Hunger for power is motivation enough to cause actual
people to kill one another, it is also enough motivation to give Iocastê the
depth and dimensions that most critics seem to miss.
The
first sign of Iocastê’s hunger for power occurs before the play even begins.
She allows her husband to take their newborn son, pierce his ankles and send
him away to die in the wild. No woman in her right mind would allow that to
happen to her newborn child, no matter how controlling her husband is. Iocastê
is aware of what the prophecy says and knows that if the child was allowed to
live the stress of worrying about the eventual fulfillment of the prophecy
would likely drive her husband to an early grave resulting in the loss of her
throne. In order to remain in that seat of power Iocastê does the unthinkable
and supports her husband in sending away their only child. The only other
course of action that Iocastê could have taken at this point would have been to
kill the child herself, and though she is selfish and power hungry even she
cannot take that action for fear that Laϊos will banish her in disgust.
Again
before we even are allowed to view the action Iocastê acts upon her hunger and
follows through with a plan that will ensure that she remains in her station.
She has received news that Laϊos had been killed and her city has been set upon
by a Sphinx. Thebes is not doing so well and Iocastê must be frantic with
worry, the people won’t remove her from her throne during a time of trouble but
having a Sphinx terrorizing your city isn’t good. Oedipus seems to be the
solution to all of her problems. He solves the riddle of the Sphinx, the people
of Thebes reward him by asking him to become their king, and he just happens to
be unmarried. Iocastê does the only thing that will keep her in power, she
marries Oedipus. A man she knows almost nothing about, a man she has only just
met, a man who bears an uncanny resemblance to her late husband. It is safe to
assume that by this point Iocastê has some suspicions about who Oedipus really
is, suspicions that are only made stronger when the only surviving member of
Laϊos’ party requests to be stationed far, far away from Oedipus.
In
Scene Two Iocastê enters in the middle of Creon and Oedipus’ fight and
straightway attempts to get Oedipus away from Creon. She doesn’t ask what they
are fighting about she just tries to get them separated. Iocastê knows that if
things between the two men become too hostile it will probably come to blows
which, in that time, involved swords and death. There is a good chance that if
swords are drawn that Oedipus would end up slain or very gravely injured, both
of which would result in less power and status for Iocastê. Getting the men to
cease fighting holds another less obvious benefit; the citizens of the Thebes
would no longer be able to hear them. By this point in time it is likely that
the news of the oracles declaration concerning the sickness would have spread
to the general public of Thebes and this argument comes too close to revealing
the truth about Oedipus.
Later
in Scene Two, at line 182 Iocastê attempts to get Oedipus to forget all that
the oracle had to say about the sickness plaguing Thebes. She does this by
telling the prophecy that led to what she assumed was the death of her child.
It is only when Oedipus beings to ask questions that she realizes something in
her plan has gone awry. What Iocastê is unaware of is the prophecy that Oedipus
received that was strikingly similar to the one she and Laϊos got about their
son. When Oedipus asks about what Laϊos looked like and how many were with him she
responds in the only way she can, with the truth. She cannot lie because she is
not the only person that has seen Laϊos and she is not the only person who saw
his party leave. If she lied to him all it would take for her lies to unravel
is Oedipus asking one other person about Laϊos and then he would know that she
had lied to him. Oedipus as the king and her husband could expel her from the
city for something like that, which Iocastê would not be able to handle because
her power is all important to her.
After
hearing Oedipus’ account of his life before Thebes Iocastê again tries to get
Oedipus to drop this line of inquiry. Oedipus
states that the shepherd is vital to figuring out if he killed Laϊos or not and
Iocastê responds with:
You may be sure that he said
there were several;
And can he call back that story
now? He can not.
The whole city heard it as
plainly as I.
But suppose he alters some detail
of it:
He can not ever show that Laϊos’ death
Fulfilled the oracle: for Apollo
said
My child was doomed to kill him;
and my child-
Poor baby!- it was my child that
died first.
(Sophocles lines 320-27)
Even as Oedipus is
almost certain that he has killed Laϊos, Iocastê makes an effort to place
doubts in his mind. An effort that seems to have worked as Oedipus seems to be
less concerned about what the shepherd has to say and only wants to hear from
him in order to settle the matter.
The last time that we see Iocastê is
in Scene Three when a messenger arrives from Corinth to alert Oedipus about the
death of his father. Iocastê, thinking that this is great blessing that will
convince Oedipus for once and for all that oracles are not to be trusted, calls
for Oedipus to come here the news in person. This is where Iocastê makes the
biggest mistake of her life; she does not send the messenger away before trying
to convince Oedipus. Even with all her planning she could not prevent one
simple messenger from destroying all of her hard work. Once she realizes her
folly, Iocastê goes from being a calm and collected woman to a mastermind in
total panic. Iocastê begs and pleads that Oedipus leave the story alone and
doesn’t search further for his true parentage. When it becomes clear that she
has failed she leaves with these rather ominous parting words, “Ah, miserable!
/ That is the only word I have for you now. / That is the only word I can ever
have,” (Sophocles lines 151-52).
It isn’t until the Éxodos that we
learn that Iocastê has killed herself. The thought of losing her station in
life and her power is too much for her to deal with and she takes her own life
before the things that matter the most to her in life can be taken from her.
Her last line “That is the only word I can ever have,” (Sophocles p. 974 l.152)
shows her true feelings about not being in power and not being of high status.
She would be miserable and that is all that she would have been, in order to
save herself from that misery she concocts a plan and follows through.
From
birth to death Iocastê did everything she could to be in a position of power
over those around her. It pushed her and motivated her to do things that others
would see as illogical and wrong. It caused her to have no love for any person
but herself. Iocastê’s insatiable hunger for power placed her in a position
where death was the only option to her and she did not hesitate to take it. Apologies
to the critics, but Iocastê is anything but a flat, one dimensional character.
