AP ENGLISH LITERATURE & COMPOSITION
OEDIPUS THE KING STUDY QUESTIONS
Answer in at least 3 full, complete sentences and answer ALL the how’s and why’s of your answer. One word/sentence responses will be marked wrong.
1. Aristotle’s Poetics is essentially an observational report on the nature of Greek tragedy and comedy. It became theatre’s “bible” for 2,000 years and introduced/established such terms as in medias res, hamartia, hubris, deus ex machina, and catharsis. Explain how Sophocles used these terms in his play, Oedipus the King.
2. How does Sophocles manage to present information about what happened years before the action of the play while still maintaining Aristotle’s three unities (time, place and action)?
3. Why might Oedipus be considered more than one man?
4. Does Oedipus’ tragedy happen because of a “tragic flaw” or is he merely the victim of fate? Why?
5. What role does the idea of sight and blindness play in Oedipus the King? Why might this be significant when we consider idioms such as: “in the dark” or “came into the light”?
6. In the end, how does the riddle of the Sphinx come back to haunt Oedipus and in what way does Oedipus, himself, embody the riddle?
7. Consider the notion of one and the many, also doubles/twos: there are two herdsmen, two daughters, two sons, two opposing pairs of king and queen, and two cities. Why might this be significant?
8. In what way does the religion of the Greeks as seen in this play become significant in the present with our dominant Judeo-Christian religion?
9. Oedipus the King has played a significant role in philosophy and psychology well into the twentieth century. In fact, Sigmund Freud termed the psychological condition, “Oedipus Complex” based upon this play. Why would this play still be significant and pertinent in the 21st Century?
10. What great truths about life and human existence are illuminated by this play? Originally, this drama played a didactic (teaching) role in Greek society. What can it teach us?