Please Answer in Your Notebook. Due ______

ENGLISH 10

HOMEWORK: Oedipus Questions

Homework Questions

Please answer in your notebook. Due ______

1.  What is the dramatic purpose of the prologue?

2.  How does Oedipus characterize himself?

3.  What is his attitude toward the suppliants?

4.  What conditions in Thebes does the Priest describe?

5.  What request does the Priest make of Oedipus?

6.  According to Creon what did Apollo say must be done in order to cure Thebes of its pollution?

7.  What is Oedipus resolved to do after hearing from Creon?

8.  What is the reaction of the Chorus to the advice of Apollo ('the Delian Healer') to Thebes?

9.  What conditions in Thebes does the Chorus describe?

10.  Why does Oedipus summon Teiresias?

11.  What is Teiresias's reaction to Oedipus's request for help?

12.  How does Oedipus view Teiresias's behavior?

13.  What does Teiresias reveal to Oedipus as a result of the king's angry accusation? Note the emphasis on sight and blindness in the dialogue between Oedipus and Teiresias. What irony is implicit in this emphasis?

14.  What suspicion does Oedipus begin to harbor about Creon?

15.  What superiority does Oedipus claim over Teiresias? Note the frequent equation of physical sight with knowledge throughout this scene and the rest of the play. What is the irony of this equation? Teiresias then tells Oedipus the horrible truth about himself.

16.  What does Teiresias predict will happen to Oedipus?

Answers

1.  to introduce the setting, conflict and characters

2.  He says he is dedicated to the Thebans and men call him great.

3.  He pities suffering of the suppliants of Thebes.

4.  A god is sending a plague – crops are dying, animals and people are not having offspring

5.  The priest asks Oedipus to save the city, “raise it up.”

6.  Creon says the Oracle demands Oedipus purge the city of Lauis’ murderer and punish this man.

7.  He pledges to find the murderer.

8.  The Thebans claim Apollo helped before; The Chorus reminds the gods that Apollo has in effect sent Oedipus to save the city by killing the Sphinx.

9.  In the Chorus, Thebes is engaged in “war.” The ship’s timbers are rotten, women are not bearing children.

10.  The Chorus suggests they seek answers from the gods. Oedipus claims he sent Creon to summon Teiresias.

11.  Teiresias immediately asks to go home.

12.  Oedipus thinks T. is disloyal and traitorous.

13.  T. reveals the Oedipus is the murderer; he is blind to the truth. Ironic: T. is literally blind, metaphorical he has internal sight.

14.  Oedipus suspects Creon schemed with T. to accuse Oedipus of the murders.

15.  Oedipus brags that he was able to solve the riddle of the Sphinx.

16.  Teiresias predicts Oedipus will become blind, poor and discover he is married to his mother.