Rosenman presents his own unique version of the preoedipal in Oedipus. He argues that Oedipus was the victim of his parents' directed torments. They in turn were once victims. Being victimized and the consequent sense of badness are said to lead to the desire to inflict it on, or implant it in, others. The final link in the chain of "bad introjects" in the myth is the plague that Jocasta and Oedipus cause to fall upon the people of Thebes. Jocasta thus undoes her rejection by Laius, and Oedipus eases the pain of his early abandonment by his parents.