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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Andromache, what is the worst fate for a Trojan woman?
(a) Exile from their home.
(b) Abandonment by their husbands.
(c) Marriage to a Greek.
(d) Death in the name of the Greeks.

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

3. How does Oedipus punish himself at the end of the play?
(a) He sacrifices himself to Zeus to end the plague.
(b) He tears out his eyes.
(c) He cuts off his hands.
(d) He kills himself.

4. 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.

5. How are the Greeks dividing the captive Trojan women among themselves?
(a) They are having a competition.
(b) They are drawing lots.
(c) They are taking the wives of the Trojans they have personally killed.
(d) They are letting the gods decide.

6. Because of the plague, what does Oedipus consider doing because he is unable to stop it in the first act of the play?
(a) Leave Thebes.
(b) Abdicate the throne.
(c) Raise the ghost of the murdered king.
(d) Sacrifice himself to Zeus.

7. How does Ulysses trick Andromache into revealing Astyanax's location?
(a) He watches her eyes as she looks around for him.
(b) He claims Hector's tomb must be torn down.
(c) He suggests that the boy is a coward.
(d) He pretends to leave but watches her walk into the tomb.

8. What does Oedipus believe about himself in the fifth act?
(a) He deserves to live among the animals.
(b) The gods must hate him.
(c) He is not even human anymore.
(d) He is fit to neither live or die.

9. What does Agamemnon claim as being forbidden, due to shame and honor?
(a) Dishonoring the graves of the fallen Trojans.
(b) Abandoning their dead warriors.
(c) Claiming the Trojan women as concubines.
(d) Sacrificing a maiden for Achilles.

10. In the second act of "Oedipus," what knowledge does Creon relate that will end the plague?
(a) Jocasta must bear another child.
(b) Laius' murder must be avenged.
(c) Oedipus must seek out a special herb.
(d) Oedipus must make a human sacrifice to Hera.

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

12. What is Tiresias unable to do in the second act of "Oedipus"?
(a) Raise Laius' ghost.
(b) Save Jocasta's life.
(c) Authenticate Oedipus' royal blood.
(d) Explain the Oracle's prophecy.

13. What did the Greeks admire about Polyxena?
(a) Her ability as warrior.
(b) Her anger.
(c) Her courage.
(d) Her piety.

14. Who is Creon?
(a) Oedipus' brother.
(b) Tiresias' brother.
(c) Laius' brother.
(d) Jocasta's brother.

15. According to Talthybius, what did a prophet witness that suggests the sea mourns for Achilles?
(a) An animal fell into the rocks.
(b) The sea has grown turbulent.
(c) A tree fell in a storm.
(d) The earth split into two.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the messenger reveal to Oedipus about his past?

2. Where does Andromache hide her son?

3. What does the messenger reveal that Oedipus refuses to do in the fifth act?

4. For what does Hecuba pray?

5. What is revealed about Troy in the background of "Troades"?

(see the answer keys)

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