The Destruction of Love Jocasta and Emilia, important minor characters in their plays, both show the power of love and how destructive it can be. Emilia and Jocasta unknowingly end their own lives, as well as the lives of others, and spread tragedy to the cities where they lived. It is believed that in 425 BC Sophocles first produced Oedipus the King (Sophocles Theatre). In the play Oedipus the King, Jocasta is the protagonist, the mother and wife of Oedipus. Jocasta's love for Oedipus ultimately destroys him and causes his death. Sophocles helped shape the heroic ideal that would later be embodied in medieval romance, which Shakespeare traditionally uses in Othello (Zerba). William Shakespeare wrote Othello around 1604 (Shakespeare's Theatre). In the play Othello, Emilia is the companion of the main character, Othello's wife Desdemona. Emilia's love for her husband, Iago, ultimately destroys Othello and causes his own death. Othello is a dramatic play in which it ends with an ironic tragedy. In the play, Iago is a jealous man who wants revenge on Othello for giving Cassio the position of lieutenant, when Iago wanted the position for himself. In the play there is a handkerchief that symbolizes Othello's love for his wife Desdemona. Iago has a plan to steal the handkerchief and give it to Cassio, and then spread the rumor that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. Iago uses the close relationship between Emilia and Desdemona as leverage to obtain the handkerchief. Emilia takes the handkerchief without Desdemona knowing. Once he entrusts the handkerchief to Cassio, Othello believes that his wife is cheating on him. Othello then decides to kill his wife Desdemona. When Emilia realizes what she has done, she tells O... in the center of the sheet... Kennedy, XJ and Dana Gioia mentioned. "Chapter 25/The Theater of Sophocles." Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Fourth ed. Np: U of Southern California, nd 704-55. Print.Kennedy, XJ and Dana Gioia. "Chapter 26/Shakespeare's Theatre." Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Fourth ed. Np: U of Southern California, n.d. 756-878. Print.KEKES, John. “Moral Depth.” Philosophy: The Journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy (1990): 439-53. ProQuest. April 21, 2014 .Tiles, J.E. “Logic and Rhetoric: An Introduction to Seductive Argumentation.” Philosophy and Rhetoric 28.4 (1995): 300-15. ProQuest. April 21, 2014 .Zerba, Michelle L. "Modes of Tragic Doubt in Homer's Iliad, Sophocles' Philoctetes, and Shakespeare's Othello." Comparative Literature 61.1 (2009): 1-25. ProQuest. April 21st. 2014 .