INTERLOGUE - JOCASTA

(Enter LAIUS, KING OF THEBES)

(Enter JOCASTA, HIS QUEEN with the infant OEDIPUS)

LAIUS

O, how the halls of our palace echo with the whispers of doom, the stones themselves quake at the prophecy's weight.

JOCASTA

I implore thee, O King, rethink this dread decree. He is our sole issue, seen swiftly as a favored gift of the gods, yet born after a lengthy bloat, a trial yet a joy to many. What shall we tell people of our missing babe?

LAIUS

To reveal the truth we cannot bear. To them we shall offer silence.

JOCASTA

What of questions of future offspring? Will they too bear this damning mark of ruin? Will a daughter be destined to slay me and bed thee, in an act of twofold generational sin?

LAIUS

Let it be proclaimed to all of Thebes: at the sure death of this boy, this house shall echo no more with the laughter of infants, nor shall our hearth warm a burgeoning brood. I hereby sever our line, confining its ill-omened blood to this lone curse-burdened child!

JOCASTA

Do we then become fruitless, victims to fear? Shall our line of Theban royalty cease with us, a terminus of hope and heritage, the illustrious house of Labdacus surviving but a single generation? How does this prevent our self-destruction, or avert disaster for Thebes?

LAIUS

I am fully cognizant of our lineage, O fair kinswoman. I will not see the noble name of Harmonia, daughter of both war and beauty, nor of Poseidon and of Zeus himself, stained by such a curse.

JOCASTA

This isn't about Harmonia, her godliness, or her lineage. This is a mortal concern. You are not unblemished in your dealings with the gods, though you speak as if honored among them. Shall I mention Chrysippus of Elis?

LAIUS

Silence your condemnation, woman! I will not have your judgment anymore!

JOCASTA

Your violation, a savage assault on a youth and a host's son, was an affront to Apollo, protector of youth, and to Zeus himself, the custodian of hospitality.

LAIUS

What divine disapproval befalls me? Am I as King not sight enough that I have atoned in the eyes of the gods?

JOCASTA

Yet the shadow of thine transgressions with Chrysippus taints thine standing with them. Are they not justified to seek retribution through your own flesh and blood? Hast thou not tied this prophecy to thy deeds, and realized it's Apollo's very oracle that pronounces this fate? Art thou so blind as to not see the gods remember your unpunished transgression and voice their judgment?

LAIUS

I take the measures necessary for Thebes' wellbeing.

JOCASTA

Such jest! Thou actest for thine own welfare, and cling to Thebes in feigned concern! It's your tainted existence that soils this land, poor Laius. Would that I had known thy true nature before our union! Both I and our son would have been spared thy shared doom, not to mention Thebes itself.

LAIUS

Thine forecast is myopic, wise Queen. The Delphic oracle has been consulted since the days of my ancestor Cadmus founded Thebes herself. This is not my transgression to absolve, no more than it was I who bestowed Hephaestus' wrought necklace unto Harmonia. You have been cast into a role akin to my far Aunt Agave, and by no wrong of my own youth, who tragically slew her own son Pentheus, to whose throne my sire acceded.

JOCASTA

Hark, I hear Pelops' voice befall you even here and now.

LAIUS

Then wouldst thou keep the child, despite the dire prophecy? What malady have you?

JOCASTA

I would. It is the divine decree, as far as we understand. It may be the very will of the gods.

LAIUS

Such is our divergence, my Queen. Though we share the horizon, our visions differ, one sees dawn and the other dusk. Canst thou not perceive this is indeed the will of the gods, not as a certainty, but a warning to heed? The prophecy is a caveat that I have been given opportunity to squander prior to its dark manifestation.

JOCASTA

Thou art adept at finding reasons to evade the truth, art thou not? Hast thou forgotten the divine influence of Dionysus in our son's very conception, Dionysus who shares blood with you but closer still to his father Zeus, the supreme god thou hast also offended? A divine hand, though of many fingers, reaches in unison for thy downfall, my King. This child will execute the judgment thou shouldst have brought upon thyself!

LAIUS

Thou art self-centered under the guise of a maternal affection. Thou wishest me, steady in age an lacking in peak vitality, dead and replaced. Oh Kronos! I sympathize with thy plight! Zeus too knows this fear of betrayal, and warns me of thy treacherous pact with thy snake of a son!

JOCASTA

This prophecy condemns me to death as much as thee, though not at the hands of my son. My Queenhood would be slain.

LAIUS

And how then wouldst thou rear the child in public, allowing him to ascend the throne immediately after the murderer of the King? Would this not be a grave sight to behold, and bespeak directly of these musings? Would those loyal few also knowing of this foul word not see the events play out before them plainly?

JOCASTA

Nay, it is the natural order; sons succeed Kings.

LAIUS

Oh? And who would be his Queen?

JOCASTA

Not I, his dam. A fitting Queen would be selected, as I once was, to fill the void of a vacant throne.

LAIUS

I see thy intentions; thou wouldst direct the boy unto regicide — the lesser of the prophecy's dual woes unto all men, but the graver of the woes unto thee — and bring the boy to thy bed in secret, content to live a lie with him and his consort, and before all of Thebes and the gods! The loins of Rhea bore no such sin, nor did Gaia in her fruitful abundance. It is a transgression unheard of amongst immortals; I shan't bear its stain within our noble house.

JOCASTA

I shall undertake whatever is required to preserve both my son and our standing as capable sovereigns; such is the obligation of both a mother and a queen. Assent your fate like a man. Do not involve us in your punishment. A man of honor, a true King, would exile himself for the sake of his people.

LAIUS

Thou contemptuous hag, thou hast conspired this prophecy against me! To confirm it, I will consult the Oracle myself and hear the echo of thy deceit in pursuit of my throne!

JOCASTA

Yet dost thou not already believe the prophecy without question? Thy immediate reaction to mere human interpretation of the gods' will was to decree the death of an innocent child, while thou art guilty of numerous offenses. Inform me, wise King, if this prophecy be inexorable, what optimism may we harbor of circumventing it through our horrid deeds? If inexorable it is not, then why murder the child premature? Your own actions serve to bolster its verity.

LAIUS

Last night, a vision befell me. A chariot of gold, steered by Apollo himself, with our child held aloft in radiant light, a dagger in his tender hand. This is a visitation of favor, illuminating the boy as a bane. A mote of prevention is worth a King's weight in cure.

JOCASTA

How cruel thou art! Thou seest things as thou desirest and deny our lineage and offspring based on what thou concedest is alterable! I would have the child raised near us, so we might change the prophecy in a way less likely to further offend the very gods now crowding around you.

LAIUS

Thou desirest to keep him close to whisper thy manipulations into his ear, to control him by his birthright. Thou wouldst keep him from public view, install a surrogate in my place, but it's all pretense! A regnal title is made not by the placement at the throne, as a regent, but by the fullness of throne and company of his queen, and thus thou wouldst crown him in the most disgraceful manner!

JOCASTA

If my acceptance of a man makes him a King, then our son will never become thus, if and only if he remains under our care.

LAIUS

Deception! Treachery! Thou art near, woman, but thou cannot outwit a son of Cadmus. I have no pity for your traitorous son. I never desired to overthrow my sire Labdacus, for he was torn apart by the Maenads, mad women of Dionysus, one of whom stands before me now. I did not know the beauty of my mother either, but that of my father's mother, Nycteis. Hence I cannot understand nor tolerate this ambition to usurp one's lord as the new rightful ruler. It is as unnatural as a woman's rule.

JOCASTA

You assert that women wield no command, yet you aver a King is forged in our conjugal union. You are brimming with contradictions, Laius! You utter from both corners of your mouth, intoxicated with the dread of your destined fate.

LAIUS

Enough! I shall not offer up my existence as a bitter libation for the gruesome deeds foretold by this woeful destiny. I will cast this child off a cliff into the Nile itself, pin his feet together so he cannot escape, and so that even his ghost might be stayed from walking into your bedchambers. And if he were to ever appear in your court as a flesh-and-blood King, you will at last recognize him by the scars and pains on his swollen feet. And henceforth, I dare you reveal to our supplicants in their orphaned rule that we were such vile murderers to have denied them their supposed new King! Such a beloved Queen you will then be!

JOCASTA

Nay, my love! Have pity. Our son is but three days old. Why hasten this judgment upon him? He is but an innocent babe at my breast.

(Exit LAIUS)

JOCASTA

Servant, attend me quickly!

(Enter SERVANT)

SERVANT

Yes, my lady?

JOCASTA

My husband commands thee to discontinue our newborn. His judgment is clouded by wrath and jealousy, his decision too precipitous, driven by a fear inherited from his forefathers. My husband is a good man. I beseech thee, give him time to regain his senses, to breathe relief and sober regret.

SERVANT

Perchance the child could dwell 'pon a mountainside; to Dionysus, god of the wooded knolls, and to Apollo, patron of untamed wilds, we may entrust his fate. There, by divine providence, he may earn favor beyond the serpentine clutches of unkind Achelous.

JOCASTA

So be it. In the name of a mother's love, allow the boy a glimmer of survival on yon mountainside. I implore thee, and as thy Queen, command thee; shackle not his ankles thus.

SERVANT

I grieve to defy thee, my lady, but Laius is the master of this house, and I but a dutiful servant, not a bondman bought. I cannot deny the King's decree of binding, for his gaze will surely seek assurance of the boy's fetters prior to the grim sentence.

JOCASTA

I cannot suppress the hope, hidden deep within, that my son may yet live through this cruel abandonment. Our child! Torn from my arms by a specter of prophecy! The heart of a mother is not as firm as the throne you rest upon, Laius. Curse the folly and stubbornness of men such as this!

As his mother, 'tis an unbearable thought to willingly usher him unto death; an ache a father, even a kingly one, cannot know. Would that I could shield him from his fate, to bear his burdens, to suffer instead of him… but who can alter the threads spun by the Moirai? Behold, their draw possesseth a strength surpassing even the gods, may I remain in their favor for uttering such boldness.

(To SERVANT) Ensure too he is cast afar from these lands, that he may never know the visages of his parents. Conceal from him his lineage, as if under threat of thy Queen's very life. The destiny of the kingdom hangs in the balance. Perchance my motherly instinct may be perceived as selfish, yet it springs from a font of love.

Farewell, sweet babe! A wretched heart doth quake, fearing this gaze may be our last shared in tender union. Oh, how I pray the immortals might mock our mortal fears, and render this dread oracle but idle prattle of a fool!

SERVANT

'Tis done. Let the gods decide the boy's fate.

JOCASTA

Haste thee, man! Do not linger, lest the gods grow angry at my delay!

(Exit SERVANT, with OEDIPUS)

JOCASTA

My son! My sweet, sweet baby boy, what have I wrought? I bid thee to survive despite thy father's will, for I am powerless to protect thee. May Apollo or Dionysus, whose mercy be on thee.

Could the union of a mother and her child be the design of divine powers? An aberration in the mortal realm, yet perchance seen as ordained in the heavens. We, mere playthings, caught in the hands of gods. Does not Zeus himself lie with his own flesh, with offspring of his creation? Is our plight, then, so far removed from divine sanction? If they prescribe such fate, who are we to argue its morality?

Woe I am torn, hopeless as a raft atop Poseidon's laughter. What fate have I then wrought upon myself? In my heart, I yearn for his life, and yet, in its fulfillment lurks a dread unspeakable. To save my child, I court our shared doom. May pardon find me in this dire concurrence, its weight abated in my impotence, that my brow be not bent towards Hades' sunken realm.

(Enter LAIUS)

LAIUS

Woman, why do you weep? Has the child been given over to Charon?

JOCASTA

Yea, O King. The babe has been taken to be surrendered to the elements. The act has been completed, as you commanded.

LAIUS

Thebes, our beloved city, can now be spared from the curse of patricide and incest. Our people will remain safe from a doomed fate.

JOCASTA

And yet we, O King, have fallen from grace, stained with the innocent blood of our child. We have condemned ourselves for an oracle's foretelling, lost in the whirlwind of fear and prophesied doom.

LAIUS

Mayhaps. Yet it is better that we suffer alone for this crime, rather than let the darkness descend upon all of Thebes.

JOCASTA

And thus still we stand, O King, upon the precipice of doom. May the gods forgive us.

(Exeunt)