Quiz ShowOedipus, The King

By Sophocles

Prologue and Parados (Part I)

Multiple Choice: I will tell you the choices, you will tell me the letter.

Who is Creon?

C. He is Jocasta’s brother

Who does Oedipus send to Delphi to learn how to save Thebes?

B. Creon

Who is Laius?

C. He is Jocasta’s first husband

No one attempted to find the truth about what happened to Laius because:

A. They were too busy trying to defeat the Sphinx that was terrifying Thebes

Scene 1 and Ode 1 (Part I)

What promise does Oedipus make to anyone who comes forward with information about Laius’s murder?

C. He will give a formal pardon for the treason of witholding information

Who does the Chorus suggest could help Oedipus locate the whereabouts of the murderer?

B. Teiresias

Who does the prophet finally reveal as the murderer of King Laius?

D. Oedipus

Oedipus berates his people with regard to King Laius because:D. If the oracle had not commanded it, they

would have ignored their King’s murderer

Scene 2, Ode 2 (Part II)

Multiple Choice: I will tell you the choices, you will tell me the letter.

Why is Creon upset at the opening of Scene 2?

A. Oedipus has accused him of treason.

What is Oedipus’s reaction to hearing that Laius was killed in a place where the three highways met?

B. He remembers an altercation he once had in the same location.

Why had Oedipus fled Corinth many years before?A. An oracle told him that he would kill his father and marry his mother.

According to Ode II, what can be said about the hearts of mortals?A. They are weak in fear of the

gods.

Scene 3, Ode3 (Part III)

Multiple Choice: I will tell you the choices, you will tell me the letter.

How does Oedipus react to the Corinthian messenger’s news?

B. He is filled with relief.

Who does Oedipus claim to still fear in Corinth?B. He fears Merope, the wife of

Polybus

What revelation does the messenger make to Oedipus?

D. Polybus was not Oedipus’s natural father.

Who begs Oedipus to forget about finding the truth of his parentage?

B. Jocasta

Whose “great days [are] like ghosts gone?

B. Oedipus’s

Scene 4, Ode 4 (Part III)

Multiple Choice: I will tell you the choices, you will tell me the letter.

How did the shepherd and the messenger know each other?

B. They’d tended their flocks together for three seasons.

How does the shepherd react when the messenger states that King Oedipus was the baby the shepherd had given him?

C. He tells the shepherd to hold his tongue.

Who had originally given the infant to the shepherd?

A. Jocasta

Exodus (Part III)

Multiple Choice: I will tell you the choices, you will tell me the letter.

What news does the second messenger bring?

D. Jocasta is dead.

What takes the messenger’s attention away from the sin in the Queen’s room?

B. Oedipus runs in calling for a sword and cursing his wife.

What does Oedipus do after he held Jocasta in his arms?

D. He takes the brooches from her gown and blinds himself.

What finally becomes of Oedipus?

A. He lives in self-exile on Mt. Kithiron where he should have died as an infant.

Analytical paragraph (Worth 10 points)

On this test you will be required to write ONE paragraph and cite at least 3 examples or evidence to support your topic sentence.

Define “tragic hero”. List at least three ways that make Oedipus a tragic hero.

Be sure to STUDY FOR THE TEST! Bring a #2 pencil and pen, please.

GOOD LUCK!