Coming out of the palace with wreaths and incense, calling the citizenry “lords” and declaring herself to be in search of a remedy for her husband’s derangement, Iokaste’s behavior presents a stunning reversal to the play’s opening, when Oidipous came out in response to the suppliants’ prayers and called them “children.” Even more stunning is the shift in her attitude in the short time since her recent departure from the stage; then she was repudiating prophecy, whereas now she is carrying symbols of piety as she seeks the god’s aid. That she can dismiss prophecy when it does not suit her and seek out the god when she has noone else to whom to turn for help is distressing, because it suggests a self-centeredness that is crass to the point of offending not only the god but common sense. Knowing that the downfall carefully orchestrated by the god is precisely what has prompted her to supplicate him is awful to behold; Apollo’s terrible wrath is manifest in the excruciating cruelty with which he repudiates her. If the choral song has prompted the audience to recognize that it must resolve its own ambivalence towards the god and his institutions and to remove the contradictions from its own speech and actions, the pitiable spectacle of Iokaste’s participation in her own destruction will make it shudder. [Apa] [Aj] [P] [Md] [Mpea] [Mw]