My wife calms my confusion with her sweet words, musing that prophecies never come true, that Tiresias is wrong. She tells the tale of years past, when she and Laius bore a child. Their kin was prophesied to slay Laius and wed Jocasta, surely a demon child. Further on I question Laius’ death, and she tells me the place of his murder. I am in both shock and confusion, the place of his murder is eerily familiar. Recalling a group of men I killed in the same very spot some years ago. Could it be? Was I in fact Laius’ killer, the long King’s blood on my hands? But if I am, then I am the very cause for Thebes’ suffering!
I needed to justify that I was the killer, just to make sure. The only man to survive the attack on Laius is a mere shepherd, and I called for him.
No! This cannot be true, Oedipus! That child, you, were supposed to be killed! Why oh why does Apollo punish us so? We take these measures to avoid our horrid fates, yet they still happen! I cannot take any more of this, I cannot live with myself! I must take my own life, for I am a failure of a mother and a wife!
ReplyDelete-Jocasta