View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What news does the messenger give Oedipus in the fourth act?
(a) Tiresias is a fake.
(b) Zeus has ended the plague.
(c) Polybus has died.
(d) Creon has seized control of Corinth.

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

3. 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.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Why is Creon sent away at the end of the first act of "Oedipus"?

2. What is Tiresias unable to do in the second act of "Oedipus"?

3. Who is Oedipus' father in Corinth?

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

5. According to Calchas, why must Polyxena and Astyanax die?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Tiresias summon Laius' ghost?

2. Describe Hecuba's mocking of the Greeks throughout "Troades."

3. How and why does Jocasta commit suicide?

4. In the first act of "Troades," for whom does Hecuba lead the grief-stricken chorus and why?

5. Why does Andromache hide her son from the Greeks?

6. Why does Oedipus imprison Creon in the third act?

7. Describe Polyxena's fate.

8. For what reasons does Agamemnon claim to forgo sacrificing a maiden?

9. Why is Oedipus summoned back to Corinth and why is he reluctant to go?

10. Describe the pestilence in Thebes and how it affects Oedipus.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,109 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample