Comparing the Women in Greek Tragedies

If I compare “Jocasta” of Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus with “Clytemnestra” and “Helen” of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and “Electra” of Euripides’ Electra, I see their roles as black and white. There is a great contrast between their characters and the roles they play in these tragedies. “Jocasta” seems to represent the typical Patriarchal society where men tend to dominate and women play a passive role. She does play a passive role in Oedipus Tyrannus as she is the queen who must marry whoever becomes the king. Oedipus was able to solve the riddle of Sphinx and was offered to marry Jocasta by the Theban elders. As an embodiment of the patriarchal values, she remains under the control of her husband, Oedipus. Jocasta is a typical woman with fairly ordinary desires of a queen. She wanted to raise a family and revel in its pleasures. She was happy and contented when she married Oedipus and he was able to provide her with four children. She does love him, prays for his well being, tries to pacify him while he is in great conflicts but her suggestions and advises are not given much priority by Oedipus. Oedipus keeps on investigating about Laius’ murder and his own parentage even when Jocasta expresses her distrust regarding the prophecies and advises him not to go into the depth of the things. She tries her best to stop Oedipus from seeking the truth but she is not paid any heed by Oedipus and he continues with his inquires. This shows her inferior position in the eyes of Oedipus. We see her surrendering to the will of Oedipus finding him determined to know about his parentage and not paying any heed to her advises. So, she exits saying, “God help you! This is all that I can say to you- now or ever.” Even after many attempts she was not able to convince Oedipus on any matter. As a woman of patriarchal society, she is