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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Jocasta advise Oedipus about his fears?
(a) to act to try to fulfill the prophecy
(b) to accept the prophecy, since he can't change the future
(c) to act to try to avoid the prophecy
(d) to ignore prophecies and live life as best he can

2. What was Oedipus' response to the information he got from the oracle at Delphi, when he asked about his parentage?
(a) Oedipus went to ask his parents about it.
(b) Oedipus ran away from Corinth.
(c) Oedipus confined himself to a room in his father's palace.
(d) Oedipus asked the oracle for more clarity.

3. What does Oedipus ask, when Jocasta tells Oedipus the messenger's news?
(a) He asks a servant to bring Creon to him.
(b) He asks a servant to bring Teiresias to him.
(c) He asks the messenger to tell him the news himself.
(d) He asks Jocasta to leave him and go to the palace.

4. Does the messenger identify the shepherd as the man he mentioned earlier?
(a) No, the messenger doesn't think he's the same man.
(b) Yes, but the messenger must question the shepherd before being certain.
(c) Yes, the messenger identifies him easily.
(d) No, the messenger knows it's him but won't identify him.

5. What does Jocasta say about human prophecy?
(a) Some human prophets are true and some are false.
(b) No human is skilled in prophecy.
(c) Human prophets are the voices of gods.
(d) Oedipus is a fool not to listen to human prophets.

6. What sentence does Oedipus want to give to Creon for his crime?
(a) banishment
(b) death
(c) imprisonment
(d) mutilation

7. What does Creon say Oedipus can do, if he finds proof Creon's lying?
(a) kill Creon before his sister's eyes
(b) cut Creon's throat then and there
(c) banish Creon from the kingdom forever
(d) arrest Creon and sentence him to death

8. Where did the messenger find the infant Oedipus?
(a) on the border of Corinth
(b) by the banks of a river
(c) in the valleys of Clithaeron
(d) on the doorstep of his home

9. Why does Oedipus say he must remain afraid?
(a) because they have no proof of what the messenger says
(b) because the prophets speak for the gods
(c) because his mother is still alive
(d) because the prophecy will probably be fulfilled in some surprising way

10. What does Creon do initially when he hears Oedipus charged him with causing Teiresias to lie?
(a) flees the city of Thebes
(b) challenges Oedipus to a fight
(c) talks to the people of Thebes
(d) makes a counterclaim of treason against Oedipus

11. Why does Jocasta come to pray to Apollo?
(a) to pray that Oedipus be forgiven
(b) to ask for Oedipus to be banished
(c) to cleanse what is corrupting Thebes
(d) to ask for her own safety

12. What does Creon accuse Oedipus of?
(a) being stupid and not the one to answer the Sphinx's riddle
(b) being power hungry and greedy
(c) being stubborn and forgetting common sense
(d) framing him to cover Oedipus's own crimes

13. What was the messenger's profession when he found the infant Oedipus?
(a) tailor
(b) farmer
(c) shepherd
(d) priest

14. What gives Oedipus hope that he did not kill Laius?
(a) The murder seems to have taken place at a different time than Oedipus remembers.
(b) The survivor may see Oedipus's face and be able to identify that he's not the killer.
(c) The description of the carriage does not match the one Oedipus remembers.
(d) The survivor reported being attacked by a band of thieves, not one man.

15. What does the old shepherd fear will happen to him if he tells the truth?
(a) He'll be cursed by Apollo.
(b) He'll be cast from the kingdom.
(c) He'll die.
(d) He'll be outcast among the people.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Oedipus say that he still fears, after hearing the news of Polybus' death?

2. Does the shepherd identify the messenger as someone he's met?

3. What part of her and Laius' infant child does Jocasta say Laius bound?

4. What does Oedipus do when the shepherd won't tell about giving away the infant?

5. How long would the shepherds stay in the fields each year?

(see the answer keys)

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