 Oedipus answered the monster's riddle correctly, defeating it and winning the throne of the dead king – and the hand in marriage of the king's widow, who was also (unbeknownst to him) his mother Jocasta.Years later, to end a plague on Thebes, Oedipus searched to find who had killed Laius, and discovered that he himself was responsible.Jocasta, upon realizing that she had married her own son, hanged herself.