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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the messenger reveal that Oedipus refuses to do in the fifth act?
(a) Commit suicide.
(b) Free the imprisoned Creon.
(c) Flee Thebes.
(d) Tell Jocasta the truth about their relationship.

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

3. In the fourth act of "Oedipus," what does the titular character recall before his arrival in the city?
(a) He nearly died on his journey to the city.
(b) He was arrested.
(c) He killed a man on his way there.
(d) He was warned away from Thebes by Zeus.

4. Why does Helen claim she is in a worse position than the Trojan women?
(a) She is cursed by the gods.
(b) She will be forced back to Menelaus in chains.
(c) She is pregnant by Paris and Menelaus will doubtlessly kill the child.
(d) The Trojans and the Greeks both hate her.

5. Why do the Greeks fear Hector's son?
(a) He is part god.
(b) They are afraid he will grow up to be as fierce as his father.
(c) He will be the last rallying point for the Trojans.
(d) He is prophesied to kill them all.

6. For what purpose does Tiresias wish to take a particular action after he is unable to clarify the Oracle's message?
(a) The ghost can reveal his murderer.
(b) Zeus will listen to and answer his prayers.
(c) Tiresias' willing sacrifice will end the plague.
(d) The Oracle can explain herself to him.

7. What does Oedipus wish upon the murderer of Jocasta's late husband?
(a) His prophecy from Apollo.
(b) Subjection to an angry mob of Laius' subjects.
(c) Torment from Hades.
(d) Death.

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

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

10. What deception must Helen play on Polyxena?
(a) Helen must lure Polyxena to be sacrificed under guise of a wedding.
(b) Helen must suggest Polyxena pray to the wrong god so that she becomes cursed.
(c) Helen is going to switch places with Polyxena to escape her husband.
(d) Helen must talk Polyxena into committing.

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

12. About what does a Trojan elder instruct Andromache to lie?
(a) She will claim that she is protected by Apollo.
(b) She will claim Astyanax is hiding in the castle.
(c) She will claim Astyanax was killed when Troy fell.
(d) She will claim that she was not Hector's wife.

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

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

15. How did Astyanax defy the Greeks at his death?
(a) He jumped out of the tower before they could throw him out.
(b) He stabbed himself so that they cannot throw him from the tower.
(c) He prayed to Zeus as he died.
(d) He escaped from the Greeks and threw himself in the sea.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happened when Polyxena was sacrificed in honor of Achilles?

2. What does Creon advise Oedipus to do after the former relays the message from the murdered king?

3. Why is Andromache jealous of Polyxena?

4. According to Pyrrhus, who was most afraid of Achilles?

5. Who was murdered before the beginning of "Oedipus"?

(see the answer keys)

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