In a scholarly paper the author examines the Oedipus myth. Starting with the puzzle that Oedipus's crimes of parricide and incest were punished by selfblinding and banishment, and that Jocasta's crime of incest was punished by suicide, he traces the story, noting particularly the activities and statements of Jocasta. He concludes that Jocasta was aware of her responsibility for the murder of her husband and incest with her son, and that these crimes were committed as a means of combating her persecutory mother superego figure. Stewart also suggests that such wishes may be as universal in women as Oedipal wishes are in men.