Oedipus Test
Name:
FALSE! All of the following statements are false. ONE changed word, however, will make it
true. Find the word that needs to be changed and write the CORRECTION on the blank before
the sentence.
_______________ 1. During the play, there would have been no more than seven actors on the
stage at once.
_______________ 2. When submitting plays for the contest, it would have been typical to
submit three comedies.
_______________ 3. One of the chorus’s functions in the play would have been to act as a
human shield between the actors and audience.
_______________ 4. Oedipus blames Tiresias for his eventual blindness.
_______________ 5. Oedipus eventually asks Creon to do him the favor of having him
pardoned.
_______________ 6. The country where Oedipus was raised was Thebes.
_______________ 7. When Oedipus talks to his daughters at the end, he tells them he knows
they will never walk.
_______________ 8. In order to rescue Thebes from the plague, the murderer of Polybus must
be found and punished.
Multiple Choice.
_____ 9. Why are the people of Thebes in despair at the beginning of the play?
A. The king is dead.
B. a plague is killing the city’s people.
C. Their beloved queen Jocasta is dying
D. Their army has just been defeated by Corinth.
_____ 10. What is the cause of the city’s problems?
A. The people have worshipped the wrong gods.
B. The queen has been plotting to murder the king.
C. Oedipus refuses to follow the will of the gods.
D. Within the city is the murderer of King Laius.
_____ 11. How does Tiresias anger Oedipus?
A. He accuses Oedipus of being the murderer.
B. He accuses the queen of being the murderer.
C. He tells Oedipus that Creon is trying to become king.
D. He tells Oedipus that Jocasta is his mother.
_____ 12. Creon claims
A. that Tiresias is the one plotting against Oedipus.
B. that he is innocent of Oedipus’s charges.
C. to be a god.
D. that he wants to be king.
_____ 13. What news does the messenger of Corinth bring Oedipus?
A. His army is defeated.
B. The people of Corinth want Creon to be their king.
C. His mother is dead.
D. His father is dead.
_____ 14. How does Jocasta respond to this news?
A. She says it proves the prophecies are wrong.
B. She says it proves the prophecies are true.
C. She believes that the plague will end now.
D. She believes Oedipus will now surrender to Corinth.
_____ 15. Before Tiresias leaves Oedipus, he makes a final prediction telling Oedipus that
A. he will one day marry his mother
B. he will be blind and penniless
C. Creon will soon be king
D. he will soon rid Thebes of the terrible curse
_____ 16. What does Oedipus do in sorrow and shame?
A. He hangs himself.
B. He kills his children.
C. He blinds himself.
D. He poisons himself.
_____ 17. What does Oedipus use to inflict pain upon himself?
A. a dagger B. a rope
C. Tiresias’s cane
D. Jocasta’s brooch
_____ 18. Where was Laius killed?
A. on a one-lane bridge
C. in the mountains of Corinth
B. between a rock and a hard place
D. at a three-way crossroads
_____ 19. What is Tiresias’s initial response to Oedipus’s request for any information that he knows?
A. He tells him he is the murderer B. He refuses any information
C. He informs him he knows nothing
D. He leaves Thebes
_____ 20. What does the name “Oedipus” mean?
A. “incest-monger” B. “King of Thebes” C. “swollen foot”
D. “blinded by fate”
Fill-in.
21. The author of Oedipus the King is __________________________________________________.
22. The character who interferes in the quarrel between Oedipus and Creon is __________________.
23. Oedipus thinks Tiresias and ______________________________ are plotting against him.
24. When Oedipus overhears __________________________________________ (whom) at a party,
he questions his parents about his birth.
25. Oedipus originally fled from Corinth because he ______________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________.
Short answer essay. Please be complete.
26.-29. What is the riddle of the sphinx and the answer to the riddle?
30.-31. Why does the eyewitness to the murder ask Jocasta to send him away when Oedipus comes to
Thebes?
32. Why was Oedipus convinced his daughters’ futures will be all-suffering?
33.-34. Why would all violent acts have taken place off stage, and how does the audience know what
happened?
35. Give one example of dramatic irony from the play.
Essay. Please answer in complete sentences.
36.-40. As the play begins, Oedipus begins his journey to discover the murderer of Laius. As the play
progresses, how does Oedipus’s quest change? Support your answer with evidence from the text.
Why would Oedipus be considered a tragic hero?
Matching. Match the character with his/her description or quote.
A. Oedipus
B. Creon
C. Jocasta
E. Messenger
H. Servant
J. Polybus
D. Tiresias
_____ 41. The only witness to the killing of King Laius
_____ 42. The seer
_____ 43. “I tell you, no man that walks upon the earth shall be rooted out more horribly than you.”
_____ 44. Tells Oedipus to ignore seers and prophesies
_____ 45. A murderer
_____ 46. Gave the infant Oedipus to the messenger
_____ 47. “You are fatally wrong! May you never learn who you are!”
_____ 48. The man Oedipus believes is his father.
_____ 49. Jocasta’s brother
_____ 50. The one who commits suicide