View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Creon advise Oedipus to do after the former relays the message from the murdered king?
(a) Pray to Zeus.
(b) Consult with Tiresias.
(c) Commit suicide.
(d) Renounce the throne.

2. What does Hecuba tell the chorus they must not do in regards to Priam?
(a) Pity him.
(b) Speak unkindly against him.
(c) Remember him as frail.
(d) Betray his memory.

3. Whom does Oedipus defeat before the start of the play?
(a) Medusa.
(b) The Sphinx.
(c) The Furies.
(d) The Sirens.

4. Where does Andromache hide her son?
(a) Hector's tomb.
(b) The temple of Apollo.
(c) The marketplace.
(d) The caves by the edge of the city.

5. How does Jocasta kill herself?
(a) She hangs herself.
(b) Fire.
(c) She throws herself out of a tower.
(d) Oedipus' sword.

6. What has happened to the Trojan widows after their army was defeated?
(a) The women escaped the city.
(b) The women have all been prepared for suicide.
(c) The women took up arms to defend themselves.
(d) The women have all been claimed by the Greeks.

7. Why is Pyrrhus angry at Agamemnon?
(a) Agamemnon refuses to take the Trojan women captive.
(b) Agamemnon refuses to acknowledge Pyrrhus as a warrior.
(c) Agamemnon has not sacrificed a maiden in honor Achilles.
(d) Agamemnon refuses to accept responsibility for Achilles' death.

8. What course of action does Tiresias propose he take in order to help avenge the king's murder?
(a) He will sacrifice himself to the gods for the end of the plague.
(b) He will go to the Oracle himself.
(c) He will summon the king's ghost.
(d) He will pray to Zeus for guidance.

9. According to the chorus, what is the best way for a man to die?
(a) At home with his family.
(b) Suicide.
(c) In battle.
(d) At sea.

10. What is Talthybius' station among the Greeks?
(a) Herald.
(b) Weaponsmith.
(c) Priest.
(d) Prophet.

11. What does Oedipus do to Creon at the end of the third act?
(a) He exiles him.
(b) He tortures him.
(c) He imprisons him.
(d) He kills him.

12. According to Hecuba, what was ignored before the fall of Troy?
(a) Priam's pleas for surrender.
(b) The demands of the gods.
(c) Her prophesies.
(d) The death of Hector.

13. For whom do Hecuba and the chorus lament, though they say nothing will ever adequately express their loss?
(a) Achilles.
(b) Paris.
(c) Hector.
(d) Priam.

14. Who is Oedipus' father in Corinth?
(a) King Atreus.
(b) King Polybus.
(c) King Menelaus.
(d) King Priam.

15. What is plaguing Thebes?
(a) Pestilence.
(b) The Greeks.
(c) Floods.
(d) Drought.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What news does the messenger give Oedipus in the fourth act?

3. What does Oedipus believe about the news from Creon from the ghost?

4. What deception must Helen play on Polyxena?

5. What does Oedipus wish upon the murderer of Jocasta's late husband?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 552 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample