View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Creon say can validate a man who is true?

2. Who does the messenger say gave Oedipus to Polybus?

3. What does Creon do initially when he hears Oedipus charged him with causing Teiresias to lie?

4. What does the chorus leader say he does not know about Oedipus'scharges against Creon?

5. What does Jocasta ask Oedipus to do regarding her brother?

Short Essay Questions

1. After Jocasta exits, when Oedipus is intent on finding out his true identity, how does the chorus feel about Oedipus' search?

2. Why does Oedipus question how his father could love him?

3. How does Creon seem to react to Oedipus leveling charges against him?

4. What is the chorus' foremost concern?

5. What is Jocasta's response, when Oedipus wants to find and question the shepherd that the messenger said gave him the infant Oedipus?

6. What favor did Jocasta do for the person who told her about Laius' death?

7. What main news does the messenger from Corinth bring?

8. How does Jocasta react to the messenger's news?

9. How does the chorus react to Creon's self defense?

10. What did the oracle at Delphi tell Oedipus about his parentage?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Oedipus's justification of choosing blindness and exile as his punishment.

1) Why does Oedipus feel the need to punish himself for his "crimes'?

2) Why does Oedipus choose the particular punishment of blindness? Why does Oedipus want to be exiled from Thebes?

3) Will Oedipus's punishment fit his crime? Is Oedipus's punishment a fair one? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the timeline of Oedipus' story.

1) Why does Oedipus' story begin years after Oedipus killed his father?

2) How does the audience gain information about Oedipus's past?

3) What is the importance of the past events in Oedipus' life: the prophecy given to him, leaving his parents, meeting the stranger on the road, and defeating the Sphinx? Are any of the events in the play comparable in importance to the past events in Oedipus' life?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss dramatic irony in OEDIPUS THE KING.

1) How does the fact that the audience knows the story of Oedipus affect the way the writer tells the story? How could the story be told differently, if the audience were unfamiliar with it?

2) How does dramatic irony affect the audience's perception of Oedipus? Is the audience more or less sympathetic toward Oedipus? Why or why not? How does the audience perceive Oedipus' quarrels with Teiresias and Creon?

3) How does dramatic irony affect the audience's perception of Jocasta?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 790 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample