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Oedipus Study Questions & Answers Latest 2024
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Oedipus Study Questions & AnswersLatest 2024
What is Oedipus' tone in the long speech beginning? - ✔✔Confidence, he feels
very confident to rid the land of the plague.
Why does Oedipus insist that he will seek out and avenge Laius' murderer? - ✔✔As Laius
and Jocasta had no children, Oedipus will take on the cause of revenge "as if" Laius were his
own father.
In this speech, Oedipus refers to Laius' descendants as "ill-fated," but to his own good fortune
in obtaining Laius' throne as driven by "chance." Explain the difference between these two
concepts, and why Oedipus might choose to characterize these events in different ways. -
✔✔In contrast to the term chance, he thinks that his life is governed by chance.
Structurally, why is it appropriate for the Chorus to appear now? - ✔✔The Chorus first
appeared at the introduction of the conflict. Now the action has begun rising toward the climax:
Oedipus has ordered the culprit to come forward, and he has cursed the murderer. To mark the
beginning of the rising action and to build suspense, Sophocles again has the Chorus interject.
Once again, in whose voice does the Chorus speak? - ✔✔The commoners
Why is it significant that it was Creon whom Oedipus sent to the Oracle and now it is
Creon whom Oedipus has sent to get Tiresias? - ✔✔Oedipus is just using Creon as a
tool.
Explain what Tiresias means by his first statement to Oedipus. - ✔✔This knowledge will
hurt Oedipus.
,Why does Tiresias at first seem to refuse to help Oedipus? - ✔✔He knows that Oedipus is
the culprit
What terrible thing does Oedipus accuse Tiresias of doing? - ✔✔A plot to murder the king.
Goaded into anger by Oedipus, what does Tiresias finally tell him? - ✔✔The truth.
The truth revealed to Oedipus, what does Tiresias predict for him? - ✔✔Oedipus
accuses Tiresias of being blind
What is Oedipus' reaction to Tiresias' revelations? Of what does he accuse Tiresias? -
✔✔He is enraged. He accuses Tiresias of envy and trying to take the throne.
How does Oedipus try to discredit Tiresias? - ✔✔Oedipus asks why, if Tiresias is such a gifted
seer, was he unable to solve the riddle of the Sphinx.
How does the Chorus serve as the "conscience" of the play? - ✔✔Reminds him that this is
no time to argue but to consult with Tiresias in order to fulfill the Oracle.
In what ways is Oedipus blind according to Tiresias? - ✔✔Although he can physically see,
he is blind to the situation.
What prophecy for Oedipus does he reiterate? - ✔✔Tiresias predicts that Oedipus will
be physically blind as well, referring to how he will gouge his eyes out before he is exiled
from Thebes.
How is Tiresias' response to being ordered to leave comic and ironic? What traits of
Oedipus' does this emphasize? - ✔✔Oedipus tells him to leave and never come back.
Stubborness, lack of thought.
,What does Tiresias mean when he predicts, "This very day will sire you and destroy you?" -
✔✔Oedipus is going to learn who his father is.
Why does Tiresias say that Oedipus, of all people, should understand his riddles? -
✔✔Oedipus is known as a great riddle solver because he figured out the riddle of the Sphinx.
Whom does the Chorus believe, Oedipus or Tiresias? Why? - ✔✔Oedipus, because he
saved them from the Riddle of the Sphinx and they are not sure if they can trust prophecies.
What arguments does Creon use to defend himself? - ✔✔He would not gain anything
from plotting against Oedipus
Explain the irony of Oedipus calling himself wise. - ✔✔Oedipus knows the least about
the situation of everyone, including the audience.
Why would the Chorus assert that no one is better able to end the feud between Oedipus and
Creon than Jocasta? - ✔✔Jokaste is both Creon's sister and Oedipus' husband.
In what ways does Creon's behavior contrast from Oedipus'? - ✔✔Creon is calm
and reasonable. Oedipus is rash and stubborn.
Why does Jocasta believe Oedipus and Creon should be ashamed of themselves? - ✔✔It is
wrong for the two leaders to be pursuing a private quarrel in public when the country at large is
suffering so much.
What does Creon say that persuades Jocasta to urge Oedipus to believe him? - ✔✔He
takes an oath.
At this point, what appears to be Oedipus' hamartia? - ✔✔His stubbornness.
, For whose sake does Oedipus finally free Creon? - ✔✔For the sake of the people of Thebes.
What is unusual about Jocasta's initial reaction when Oedipus reveals the accusation
against him? - ✔✔She is not surprised.
What is Jocasta's opinion of soothsayers? On what does she base this opinion? - ✔✔She
has no faith in them.
What is significant about Jocasta's account of Laius prophesy and death? - ✔✔The place of
Laius' murder—the junction of three roads—sparks Oedipus' interest. Probably he is connecting
Laius' murder spot with where he killed the stranger.
After questioning Jocasta about the details of Laius' death, what does Oedipus - ✔✔Up
to this point he has denied killing Laius, now he begins to believe that he ma have.
Why does Sophocles use interrogation as a means of exposition rather than show the scenes
of Laius' death and Oedipus' encounter with him? - ✔✔Has to do with time. Uses it as a
flashback
What happened to the servant who survived the attack on Laius? - ✔✔When he saw
that Oedipus became king, he asked Jocasta to send him from the city to tend flocks.
What does Oedipus relate about his past to explain his fears? - ✔✔A drunken man told him
that his parents in Corinth were not really his parents. Although his parents denied this,
Oedipus was suspicious and went to the shrine at Delphi. There the god told him that he
would murder his father, marry his mother, and have children with her. After hearing the
dreadful prophecy, Oedipus fled Corinth to avoid this evil. Before he arrived at Thebes, he did
kill men where the three highways came together. At this point, Oedipus fears
that one of the men was Laius.
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