Wednesday, October 8, 2014

How does the Chorus' view of life and Gods differ from Jocasta's?

Jocasta believes that humans can make their own destiny,
while the Chorus holds true to the traditional Greek belief that the gods are in charge
of everything and human beings are but the pawns of their whims.  It is only by
following the signs and precepts of the gods and by making sacrifices to them that human
beings can have a good life.


Beginning at line 864, the
Chorus says:


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May destiny ever find
me


pious in word and
deed


prescribed by the laws that live on
high:


laws begotten in the clear air of
heaven...


for God is great in them and grows not
old.



And, a bit
later:



If a
man walks with haughtiness


of hand or word and gives no
heed


to Justice and the shrines of
Gods


despises -- may an evil
doom


smite him for his ill-starred pride of
heart!



Jocasta, on the other
hand says that oracles are bunk and she, herself, believes that she can outwit an
oracle, can outwit the will of the gods through her own actions.   She gives her baby
away after an oracle has predicted doom upon him, thinking that this will prevent the
oracle coming true.  When she finds out that she was not, as she had hoped, able to
outwit the will of the gods (She realizes that the doom foretold has all come true in
the person of Oedipus), she commits suicide.


So, while the
Chorus conservatively pays tribute to the gods and their oracles, Jocasta believes that
she can beat them at their own game, yet finds out, in the end, that the will of the
gods and their oracles cannot be escaped by Man.

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