Oedipus the King

With your book answer the following questions thoroughly in ink and in complete sentences. Provide a page and line number to strengthen your answer.

  1. At the beginning of the play, what problem is facing the city of Thebes?
  1. From whom/what did Oedipus free the Thebans?
  1. What is ironic about Oedipus saying that “there is not one of you, sick though you are, /that is as sick as I myself”.
  1. As the play opens, what has Oedipus sent Creon to do?
  1. What/who is it that "Lord Phoebus" wants the people of Thebes to drive
    out?
  1. Who was the former king of Thebes prior to Oedipus' arrival?

7. How would you characterize Oedipus as a ruler?

  1. Oedipus has two main interests in locating Laius’ murder. What are the two reasons?
  1. Why is one of these reasons significant to the plot? (hint irony who’s in danger from whom?)
  1. What is Oedipus claiming in lines 234-238?
  1. Why are lines 270-275 full of irony?
  2. Whom does the Chorus advise Oedipus to consult when they are unable to discover the killer of Laius?
  1. In what way is Teiresias physically challenged?
  2. Of what does Oedipus accuse Teiresias?
  1. According to Teiresias, who is "the godless defiler of this land"?
  1. What skill does Oedipus have that he is proud of?
  1. Although Teiresias is blind, he has authoritative vision. Interpret his claim that “Of themselves things will come, although I hide them and breathe no word of them.”
  1. Why didn’t Teiresias want to tell Oedipus the truth? And how did Oedipus provoke Teiresias to finally tell him?
  1. What is ironic about a seer being blind?
  1. What is one of the stories of how Teiresias became blind and a seer?
  1. Teiresias says, “You blame my temper but you do not see/ your own that lives within you.” What else does Oedipus reveal about his character in his exchange with Teiresias?
  1. Tell me two of the prophesies Teiresias predicts to Oedipus.
  1. Why does Oedipus distrust Creon?
  2. How does Creon try to prove that he has no interest in being the king of Thebes?
  1. In terms of plot, what is significant about the exact time when Oedipus comes to the crossroad where he kills the people in the carriage?
  1. Why doesn’t Jocosta want Oedipus and Creon to argue in the streets?
  1. In what two ways is Creon related to Oedipus?
  1. According to Jocasta, an oracle once came to Laius that his fate would be what? What did Laius do when he learned his fate?
  1. Who did Oedipus wrongly think his parents were? Who were his real parents?
  1. What reason does Jocosta give for not having faith in the prophecy?
  1. In terms of their approach to destiny, what do Jocosta and Oedipus have in common?
  1. At what point do you think that Jocasta begins to suspect the truth?
  1. Where and what were the details of Oedipus' killing of Laius?
  1. According to Jocasta, who killed Laius?
  1. How did Oedipus become the foster son of Polybus?
  1. In what way is Oedipus physically challenged?
  2. How does Jocasta die?
  1. Based on what you have read thus far; what choices has Oedipus made? What choices has Jocasta made?
  1. What is significant about what Oedipus does with Jocasta’s brooches?
  1. Interpret the Chrous’ remarks: “Time who sees all has found you out against your will.”
  1. In lines 1450-1453, Oedipus says that Apollo brought his bitterness to completion, but the hand that stuck him was his own. What does his statement reveal about him at this point in the play?
  1. Why does Oedipus insist that he is better off blind and living than dead?
  1. Explain the wisdom of the famous lines that end this play: “Count no / mortal happy till / he has passed the final limit of his life secure / from pain.”
  1. Explain the relationship between the following events: (a) the riddling sphinx terrorizing Thebes and (b) Thebes suffering a plague.
  1. Explain two of the motifs (a design or recurrent image or idea) in the play so far? What do they represent/metaphor?
  1. Why is the connection between Oedipus’ name and his ankles so important?
  1. When Jocasta runs off the stage, Oedipus thinks she is afraid he will be proven a peasant. Why does this idea make him so happy? And how does Jocasta seem to you now?
  1. Why is it futile for Oedipus to try to escape the circumstances of his life?
  1. What was Oedipus trying to do when he finds his wife-mother dead?