Name: ____________________________________ Period: ______
STUDY GUIDE: Oedipus the King, Part II.
Pages 461-471
1. What has Jocasta just done in the beginning of Part 2?
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2. What (not WHOM) does she pray for?
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3. What has happened to King Polybus?
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4. How do Jocasta and Oedipus feel about oracles after hearing the news? Support your
answer with a quote.
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Quote: __________________________________________________________________
5. Explain how Jocasta’s line “Listen to this man and when you hear reflect what is the
outcome of the holy oracles of the Gods” is ironic and identify the type of irony the line
contains.
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6. What important information/detail does the messenger give Oedipus on page 464?
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7. How did the messenger know Oedipus from before?
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8. What defining feature did he see on Oedipus that would let Jocasta know the truth
about her and Oedipus’s relation?
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9. Why do you think Jocasta has no lines on pages 464-465?
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10. Who does Oedipus want to interrogate (question) next?
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11. Why does Jocasta not want Oedipus to meet the person from question 10?
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12. What is ironic about lines 1162 – 1164?
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13. What kind of irony do lines 1183-1184 contain? Explain your answer.
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14. Why does Oedipus think Jocasta doesn’t want him to know the truth about his birth
(what does he think is the truth about his birth)?
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15. How do the speculations of the chorus both create dramatic irony and increase
suspense?
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16. How does the chorus describe the shepherd?
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17. Why is the description from question 16 so important to this scene?
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18. What does Oedipus threaten to do to the Herdsman if he doesn’t confess what he
knows?
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19. Does Oedipus’s sudden anger and threatening behavior surprise you? Explain.
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20. Why does the Herdsman beg Oedipus to allow him to be silent?
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21. Identify parallelism in lines 1275-1280.
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22. In what ways does the Herdsman’s pity for the infant Oedipus present an example of
situational irony?
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23. Identify the “recognition” part of the tragic plot (when the hero recognizes his true
identity/nature).
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Pages 472-482
1. Paraphrase lines 1350-1351.
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2. What news does the second messenger bring?
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3. How does the event from question 2 occur?
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4. Where does the event from question 2 occur (specifically)?
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5. Why is the answer for question 4 so significant?
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6. Why did the messenger not see what exactly happened to her?
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7. What is “a field of double sowing” referring to?
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8. What could the noose be a symbol of?
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9. What does Oedipus do to himself post-Jocasta’s death?
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10. What did he use to do this?
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11. Why is the material they (the object(s) from question 10) are made of important?
What could it symbolize?
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12. Did Tereisias’s prophecy come true?
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13. What natural disaster does line 1400 sound like?
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14. Why does Oedipus want someone to “unbar” the door?
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15. Summarize lines 1411 – 1419.
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16. Fill in the blanks: “What ________ leaped upon your life to your _____ - a leap
beyond man’s strength!”
17. What kinds (yes, MORE THAN ONE) of darkness is Oedipus referring to in lines
1435 and 1436?
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18. On whom does Oedipus blame his misfortune (besides himself):
a. _________________________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________________________
19. Find antithesis in lines 1465-1470.
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20. The chorus tells Oedipus that he “would be better dead than living,” (1478). Do you
agree? Why or why not?
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21. Why does Oedipus say he hurt himself?
a. ________________________________________________________
b. ________________________________________________________
c. ________________________________________________________
22. What do lines 1499-1500 mean?
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23. Who will become the ruler of Thebes now?
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24. What does Oedipus want from Creon on page 478?
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25. Why does Oedipus want to die on Mount Cithaeron?
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26. Why does Oedipus say sickness will not kill him?
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27. What good deed does Creon do for Oedipus on page 450?
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28. When Oedipus says he wishes that God guards Creon better on his “road,” what does
he really mean by the word “road”?
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29. What does Oedipus say will follow the daughters into marriage?
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30. What does Oedipus request Creon to do for his daughters?
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31. What should his daughters pray for, according to Oedipus?
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32. What do Creon’s last lines on page 482 mean?
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33. At the play’s end, do you think Oedipus is ennobled by his suffering? Explain your
answer.
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34. Sophocles reveals the truth of Oedipus’s identity slowly, thus postponing the crisis,
or climax, of the play. In what ways does this strategy add both to the play’s dramatic
irony and to its suspense?
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35. Oedipus tries desperately to avoid his fate and at the same time learn his identity.
How are both goals connected?
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