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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Oedipus.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Phaedra doing in the beginning of the fifth act?
(a) Attempting suicide.
(b) Mourning Hippolytus.
(c) Cutting and burning her hair.
(d) Seducing Theseus.

2. What does the messenger reveal to Oedipus about his past?
(a) Oedipus has no royal blood.
(b) Oedipus was adopted.
(c) Oedipus' mother is Jocasta.
(d) The messenger is Oedipus' father.

3. From where does the messenger in the fourth act come in "Oedipus"?
(a) Troy.
(b) Corinth.
(c) Sparta.
(d) Thebes.

4. According to Calchas, why must Polyxena and Astyanax die?
(a) Their deaths will ensure a safe voyage home for the Greeks.
(b) They have the plague.
(c) They pose too much of a threat to the Greeks.
(d) Apollo demands that they die or he will kill the Greeks.

5. For what does Hecuba pray?
(a) Hope.
(b) Polyxena's soul.
(c) Ulysses' death.
(d) Death.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Andromache, what is the worst fate for a Trojan woman?

2. How does Phaedra respond when Theseus demands to know why she is apparently suicidal?

3. What does the nurse show Theseus when he demands to know why Phaedra is determined to die in the third act?

4. In the fourth act of "Oedipus," what does the titular character recall before his arrival in the city?

5. Why does the messenger in the fourth act urge Oedipus to leave the city?

(see the answer key)

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