This sympathetic tug-of-war continues throughout the novel, forcing readers to persistently sympathize with the entire cast of characters. Suddenly, readers cannot help but sympathize with Jocasta. But then the second chapter shifts focus to Jocasta and how she was unwillingly married into Theban royalty, where she found herself subject to a cursed prophecy. Thus, in this first chapter, readers sympathize with Ismene and feel contempt toward Jocasta and Oedipus. In the first chapter, readers are introduced to Ismene, one of the fated couple’s daughters, and she finds herself in the center of an elaborate scheme to overthrow her regal brother, a situation brought on in part by her parents’ poor decisions. By pairing the plight of the impiously wed couple’s children (the events recounted in Antigone) alongside the struggles faced by Jocasta and Oedipus (the events recounted in Oedipus Tyrannos), Haynes puts the humanity and flaws of every character-including Oedipus-on display. She structured her story to maximize the complexity of the characters. The first aspect of the novel that compelled me was its structure.
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