Jocasta's Diary

Dear Diary,

Things aren't doing so well at home. Thebes is going to Hades! First, the Sphinx destroyed Thebes, and now Apollo strikes us with a plague! Everyone and everything is dying and no babies can be born. And I'm also worried about my baby, Oedipus. He had a big quarrel with Tiresias the other day. I don't know why Oedipus is wasting his time with that blind prophet. All prophecies are wrong and never come true. Besides, my husband is the best riddle solver around. If he can't solve: "brother and father both to the children he embraces, to his mother son and husband both––he sowed the loins his father sowed, he spilled his father's blood!" (520-523), then it mustn't be true. Things also seem tense between Oedipus and my brother, Creon. He thinks my brother is in some conspiracy with that prophet and they want to kill him. Ludicrous! The prophet can't see, let alone kill. And I doubt my brother would ever want the crown since, "there'd be many painful duties to perform" (662). My husband sure is going crazy! He's actually starting to think he murdered Laius! Hmmm. But then again, Oedipus does remind me of my old husband and he was at the crossroads. Could Oedipus really be........ no, impossible. It can't be true. "So much for prophecy. It's neither here nor there" (948). Maybe hearing the shepherd's account on the crime again will reassure me. But, I'll pray to Apollo too, just in case.