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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Oedipus reveal to Jocasta at the end of the play?
(a) He is leaving Thebes.
(b) He is her son.
(c) He never loved her.
(d) He is cursed by the gods.

2. Why can Ulysses not spare Astyanax?
(a) Ulysses will be killed by Agamemnon if he does not comply with orders.
(b) Calchas demands the sacrifice.
(c) Astyanax can rightfully claim to be an heir to the Spartan throne.
(d) Astyanax needs to join his father in the afterlife.

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Andromache hide her son?

2. Whose priests gave Oedipus the prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother?

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

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

5. What does Oedipus believe about himself in the fifth act?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ulysses trick Andromache at Hector's tomb and why?

2. Why does Oedipus refuse to commit suicide?

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

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

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

6. What does Pyrrhus demand for Achilles and why?

7. Why did Oedipus leave Corinth?

8. What does Oedipus reveal about his journey to Thebes in the fourth act?

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

10. How did Oedipus become king of Thebes?

(see the answer keys)

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