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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Creon say his current position brings?
(a) power and benefits without fear
(b) fear and power but no freedom
(c) freedom from fear but no power
(d) royal benefits but no freedom

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

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

4. What does the messenger ask the chorus when he first arrives?
(a) where to find Jocasta
(b) where to find Oedipus' home
(c) where to find Teiresias
(d) where to find Creon's home

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

6. Does the chorus leader recognize the approaching shepherd?
(a) Yes, but he can't remember who the old man was.
(b) Yes, he identifies the old man of a servant of Laius.
(c) No, he has never seen the old man.
(d) Not at first, but then the old man begins to look familiar.

7. 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 ask for her own safety
(d) to cleanse what is corrupting Thebes

8. What does Creon say can validate a man who is true?
(a) prophecy
(b) the gods
(c) time
(d) nature

9. What nationality does Oedipus say the mother who raised him was?
(a) Dorain
(b) Aeolian
(c) Macedonian
(d) Ionian

10. Who does the chorus think can help end the conflict between Creon and Oedipus?
(a) Teiresias
(b) the oracle
(c) Apollo
(d) Jocasta

11. How long would the shepherds stay in the fields each year?
(a) nine months
(b) six months
(c) one month
(d) three months

12. What does Oedipus say the chorus' position will result in?
(a) destruction of Thebes
(b) Creon becoming a tyrannt
(c) Oedipus' exile or death
(d) war with Corinth

13. What simile does Jocasta use to describe the people of Thebes?
(a) like soldiers who see their commander slain
(b) like people in a carriage who see the driver terrified
(c) like children who see their father's fear
(d) like people on a ship who see the helmsman is afraid

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who accused Oedipus of not being his father's real son?

2. In the encounter between Oedipus and the stranger in the carriage, what was the initial violent act?

3. What was Oedipus' response to the information he got from the oracle at Delphi, when he asked about his parentage?

4. Who first sees the old shepherd approaching?

5. Who is with the approaching shepherd?

(see the answer keys)

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