Oedipus Rex and Queen Jocasta

Two characters whose fates are tragically intertwined.

King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes have an infant son, and they visit the Oracle of Delphi to learn about his fate. When the Oracle prophesies that the child will kill his father and marry his mother, the parents instruct a servant to abandon him on a hillside. The servant instead gives the royal baby to the king and queen of Corinth to raise as their own son.

Later, the son, Oedipus, himself visits the Oracle, and hears the same prophecy. He decides not to return to Corinth and instead go to Thebes. On the way, he meets and kills King Laius, and in Thebes he marries the newly widowed queen Jocasta.

The two have four children and when eventually the truth is revealed, Jocasta hangs herself and the grief-stricken Oedipus plucks out his own eyes.