Many people believe that ignorance is bliss. There is a mentality where truths are best known and another where the truth is completely ignored. This is certainly true in William Shakespeare's Oedipus, Hamlet and Sophocles. Both Jocasta and Gertrude choose to ignore reality and therefore blind themselves to the truth before them. As a result of her intentional ignorance, Jocasta seriously harms her relationship with Oedipus and his reputation, while Gertrude's ignorance causes only slight and repairable damage to her relationship with her son and her reputation. Therefore, Jocasta's contentment in her ignorance inevitably results in an end far more tragic than Gertrude's. Jocasta's blindness to the truth ruins her relationship with Oedipus unlike Gertrude's blindness which simply taints her relationship with Hamlet. Mainly, as Oedipus gets closer to discovering the truth, Jocasta begs him to stop his search. She begs him, shouting “No! In the name of God, if you want to live, this must not continue. Haven't I suffered enough?/...I know I'm right. I am warning you for your own good. (Sophocles 55). It is clear that Jocasta knows the truth and yet she refuses to tell Oedipus. She tries very hard to ignore the fact that Oedipus is her son because she knows that once he finds out the truth, he won't even be able to look at her. the eyes. Jocasta is terrified that once Oedipus realizes that she has been aware of the truth all along, he will hate her. Nothing hurts her more than knowing that the one she loves despises her. Jocasta can escape these unfortunate events if she does not ignore the obvious truth before her. Additionally, Jocasta desperately hopes that Oedipus dies before he gets to the middle of the paper. His deliberate acts of ignorance. Jocasta is able to completely destroy her reputation as queen of Thebes unlike Gertrude who only sullies it. reputation.To summarize, both Jocasta and Gertrude suffer consequences through their acts of willful blindness to the truth, however, Jocasta suffers much more tragic and unfortunate consequences than Gertrude. Jocasta completely demolishes her relationship with Oedipus by ignoring the truth while Gertrude temporarily makes Hamlet angry with her. Jocasta also manages to completely crush her reputation as Queen of Thebes through her act of ignorance, unlike Gertrude who simply appears to be making a stupid mistake. Clearly, these two women don't understand that ignorance is not bliss. We cannot ignore the truth and expect it to disappear; the only way to make things better is to face the truth head on.