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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is plaguing Thebes?

2. What actions did the old shepherd perform before the beginning of "Oedipus"?

3. What message does the ghost of Jocasta's husband send?

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

5. Because of the plague, what does Oedipus consider doing because he is unable to stop it in the first act of the play?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why are the Greeks unable to leave Troy in the beginning of "Troades"?

2. Why is Creon reluctant to give Oedipus the information from Laius' ghost?

3. Describe Polyxena's fate.

4. How and why does Jocasta commit suicide?

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

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

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

8. What do the shepherd and the messenger reveal to Oedipus about his past?

9. Why does Tiresias summon Laius' ghost?

10. How does Agamemnon view the dead Achilles?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the debate regarding the performance ability of a Senecan tragedy? How does the emphasis on rhetoric suggest that these plays were meant to be recited? How is this related to the on-stage violence? What are some other suggestions that point to these plays having been written with the intention of being performed? Discuss both sides of this debate in a brief essay and conclude with your opinions on whether Seneca intended for his work to be performed.

Essay Topic 2

What is the relationship between life and death in the Senecan tragedy? How does this account for the frequent presence of the ghosts in these plays? What does this suggest about the afterlife? How do the living characters face their death and why is this important? Develop a clear thesis on this topic and cite specific examples from the text to support your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss fate and free will in "Oedipus" in the following format:

Part 1) Laius' order that his son be killed at birth.

Part 2) The subversion of Laius' order and Oedipus' subsequent adoption.

Part 3) Oedipus fleeing from Corinth.

Part 4) The pestilence and need to punish Laius' murderer.

Part 5) Jocasta's realization that they were pawns of fate.

Part 6) The irony of the self-fulfilling prophecy.

(see the answer keys)

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