Name_______________________
“Oedipus The King”
Sophocles
Directions: Answer the following questions thoroughly. All answers should be supported by the text.
1.
Oedipus is King of what city?
2.
List 3 different things the Priest lists as problems in Thebes.
3.
Who does Teiresias say murdered Laius?
4.
What is the answer to the riddle: What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon, and and three in the
evening? Explain your answer.
5.
Who did Oedipus send to the Oracle of Apollo?
6.
What, according to the Oracle, is responsible for all the death in Thebes?
7.
What has caused the underlying disease, and how will it be cured?
8.
Who is the murdered man of Thebes whose death is to be avenged?
9.
To whom is Oedipus married?
10. What did the lone survivor of Laius’s death scene claim happened?
11. What is Oedipus’s self-serving motivation for finding Laius’s killer?
12. What 3 gods are asked to aid Thebes (see Chorus)?
13. What does Oedipus offer to anyone willing to expose the murderer of Laius?
14. What character not only serves to directly give the audience pertinent information, but also has direct interaction
with other characters?
15. Who is regarded as someone who knows the truth about Laius’s murder, as well as all other things?
16. How did Oedipus save the city of Thebes prior to the beginning of the play? Explain your answer completely.
17. What is Teiresius’s disability?
18. Who does Teiresias imply is Oedipus’s mother?
19. What does Creon say he would rather do than live in Thebes with the reputation as a traitor?
20. What sentence does Oedipus give Creon for being a traitor?
21. Who interrupts the quarrel between Oedipus and Creon?
22. Whose words finally convince Oedipus to spare the life of Creon?
23. What did the Oracle tell Laius?
24. What did Laius do to his infant son? What specific act set his actions apart from others in his time period?
25. Where was Laius killed (geographically)?
26. What did Apollo tell Oedipus when Oedipus went to him for answers about his future?
27. Who raised Oedipus?
28. Why did Oedipus leave Corinth?
29. What happened at Phocis, where the 3 roads meet? Provide as much detail as possible.
30. Who does Oedipus need to speak with in order to determine whether the man he murdered was Laius?
31. What news does the messenger from Corinth bring?
32. What does the Messenger tell Oedipus to soothe his fear of marrying his mothering (thus changing his life)?
33. Who actually gave the child to the Messenger?
34.
From whom did the shepard/servant of Laius say he had gotten the child he gave to the Messenger?
35. How did Jocasta die?
36. What did Oedipus do shortly after seeing Jocasta’s dead body?
37. Who is King in Oedipus’s place?
38. Who was the man in the chariot that Oedipus killed in Phocis?
39. Who were Oedipus’s biological parents?
40. What does Oedipus specifically demand of Creon? What does he ask as a favor?