Oedipus The King Reading Questions:

Oedipus the King Reading Questions:

1. What three "blights" have fallen on the city?

2. When the chorus states that the realm of Pluto "is full fed," what does that mean?

3. Two part question

. What is the "cruel singer" referred to in line 42 ? . Why do the crowds consider Oedipus especially suitable for solving mysteries or riddles as a result of his encounter with this singer?

4. Oedipus refers to the people of the city as "my poor children." What does this reveal abut Oedipus's attitude toward his relationship with the city of Thebes?

 Who or what is the Oracle at Delphi?  Why do the Thebans hope this Oracle can help them?

6. Who was King of Thebes before Oedipus took the job?

 Why didn't the Thebans avenge the king's death?  What new and more pressing problem distracted them from finding and punishing the murderer?

 When the chorus sings they call upon three gods. (1) Apollo (the Healer of Delos who inhabits the Pythian shrine), (2) Athena, and (3) Artemis. Why are these three gods suitable for invocation before hunting a murderer?  Why not call upon Nike (Victory), Rhea (Justice), or Zeus the Avenger?

9. Three part question - The Chorus prays that Ares should flee "in sudden rout."

 Why do they want Ares to run away?  Why do they call upon Apollo (the morrow's sun) and Father Zeus to slay the immortal Ares when killing a god technically impossible?  So what is Sophocles getting at figuratively?

10. Oedipus gives a practical set of reasons why he should seek out the murderer. List one of these reasons. 11. What public proclamation or call does Oedipus make to the people of Thebes reminiscent of "crime stoppers"?

12. What does Oedipus declare as punishment for Laius' murderer?

 What does Oedipus declare about his pronounced curse if it should turn out that Oedipus himself has given him admittance to his own hearth?  What does this reveal about his character?

14. Oedipus asks Teiresias, "Is this a plot of Creon, or thine own?" Why might Oedipus think Creon is plotting against him?

 What is the significance of blindness and seeing?  How are they use in the play?

16. What does Teiresias mean when he states “…the wedding by which you sailed into this royal house – a lovely voyage, but the harbor’s doomed?”

17.Two part question

 What does Creon claim about his own attitude to becoming a king ?  Does Creon say Oedipus should punish him if any evidence shows that he conspired with the prophet?

18. Why does the Chorus think Jocasta is particularly fit to be a peacemaker in the feud between Creon and Oedipus when she first appears on stage in lines?

19. Why does Jocasta say the two men ought to be ashamed of themselves for fighting?

20. What evidence does Jocasta offer to Oedipus in lines onward that no man has "skill in prophecy”?

 What did Laius do the ankles of his three-day old son?  Explain how this connects with Oedipus's name?

 Explain the symbolism of Oedipus looking up to the sun in lines.  Why does Sophocles have Oedipus look at the sun at this particular point in the story? Identification Passages: Identify the following for each passage:

 the plot part  the speaker  to whom he/she is speaking  the context for what is being said

A. "And now that I am Lord, Successor to his throne, his bed, his wife, (And had he not been frustrate in the hope Of issue, common children of one womb Had forced a closer bond twixt him and me, But Fate swooped own on him), therefore I His blood-avenger will maintain his cause As though he were my sire, and leave no stone Unturned to track the assassin. . . ."

B. “He was the most powerful of men. All citizens who witnesses this man’s wealth Were envious. Now what a surging tide Of terrible disaster sweeps around him. So while we wait to see that final day, We cannot call a mortal being happy Before he’s passed beyond life free from pain.”

C. “Do not condemn me on unproven charge. It is not fair to judge these things by guesswork, To assume bad men are good or good men are bad. … Give it some time. Then you’ll see clearly, since only time Can fully validate a man who’s true. A bad man is exposed in just one day.

D. "Ah, so it all came true. It’s so clear now O light, let me look at you one final time, A man who stands revealed as cursed by birth, Cursed by my own family, and cursed By murder where I should not kill.”

E. "For our city, as you yourself can see, Is badly shaken-she cannot raise her head Above the depths of so much surging death. Disease infects fruit blossoms in our land, Disease infects our herds of grazing cattle, And deadly pestilence, that fiery god, Swoops down to blast the city, emptying The House of Cadmus, and fills black Hades with groans and howls.."

. F. “All right, forget about those things you’ve said. Listen to me, and ease your mind with this- No human being has skill in prophecy… So don’t concern yourself with prophecies. What ever gods intend to bring about They themselves make known quite easily.”

G. “…Then we saw her. She was hanging there, swaying with twisted cords roped round her neck. When Oedipus saw her, with a dreadful groan he took her body out of the noose in which she hung, and then, when the poor woman was lying on the ground- what happened next was a horrific sight-"

H. ". . . The wretch Who murdered Laius--that man is here. He passes for an alien in the land But soon shall prove a Theban, native born...... To a strange land he soon shall grope his way. And of the children, inmates of his home, He shall be proved the brother and the sire. Go and ponder this. . .

Food for thought: Does prophecy allow for the existence of free-will?