Many people believe that ignorance is bliss. There is a mentality according to which the truths are better to be unknown and another according to which the truth is completely ignored. This is certainly true in William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Sophocles' Oedipus. Jocasta and Gertrude both choose to ignore reality, and thus blind themselves from the truth before them. As a result of her willful ignorance, Jocasta severely damages her relationship with Oedipus and her reputation, while Gertrude's ignorance merely causes minor, repairable damage to her relationship with her son and her reputation. Therefore, Jocasta's contentment in her ignorance inevitably results in an ending 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. First, as Oedipus comes closer to discovering the truth, Jocasta begs him to stop searching. She pleads with him screaming “No! In the name of God, if you want to live, this must not go on. Haven't I suffered enough?/... I know I'm right. I warn you for your own good." (Sophocles 55). It is clear that Jocasta has known the truth all along, but she refuses to tell Oedipus. She tries to ignore the fact that Oedipus is her son because she knows that once she finds out the truth, she won't even be able to look at her eyes. It terrifies Jocasta to know that once Oedipus realizes that she has always known the truth, nothing will hurt her more than knowing that the person she loves he despises her. Jocasta can escape these unfortunate events if she does not ignore the obvious truth before her. Furthermore, Jocasta desperately hopes that Oedipus will die before him... middle of the card ......the willful acts of ignorance. Jocasta is able to completely destroy her reputation as queen of Thebes unlike Gertrude who merely taints her reputation To summarize, both Jocasta and Gertrude suffer consequences due to their acts of willful blindness to the truth, however, Jocasta. he suffers far 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 destroy her reputation as the queen of Thebes through her act of ignorance unlike Gertrude who simply seems to make a stupid mistake. Evidently both of these women fail to understand that ignorance is not bliss. You cannot ignore the truth and expect it to disappear; the only way to make things better is to face the truth head on.