Oedipus+Study+Guide+Questions

Back to Oedipus //Copy and paste the following questions into a Google Doc and share it with jnahra@bedford.k12.oh.us//

=Oedipus Rex Study Guide Questions= Identify the following characters. Provide at least two facts about each. 1. Oedipus 2. Laius 3. Creon 4. Jocasta 5. What is the problem in Thebes as the play begins? 6. How did Oedipus become king? 7. What was the prophecy Oedipus had fled his homeland to escape?
 * Pages 1-61:**

Identify the following and provide at least two facts about each. 8. Polybus 9. Merope 10. Why were Oedipus and Jocasta happy to hear that Polybus had died? 11. What advice did Jocasta give Oedipus about prophecy? 12. Who does Oedipus want to find to help him solve the murder of Laius' murder?
 * Pages 62-88:**

13. How does Jocasta die? 14. What does Oedipus do to punish himself? 15. What happens to Oedipus at the end of the play? 16. Who becomes leader after Oedipus? 17. What religious issue did the play teach the Greeks?
 * Pages 89-end**

18. To what extent is Oedipus a realistic human being and to what extent is he an ideal type? 19. What are Jocasta's religious beliefs? How does she serve as a foil to Oedipus? 20. What kinds of "blindness" are there in this play? Explain their significance. 21. Sophocles uses much tragic irony in this tragedy and in others. Irony, in this sense, means that the tragic figure says something "all too true," related to his fate, that the audience understands but that he does not. Find examples of tragic irony. What is their effect? 22. To what extent is Oedipus a puppet of the gods and to what extent is he a free man? 23. What is Oedipus' attitude at the end of the play? What has he learned about himself and life? What is the difference between a tragic view of life and a merely pessimistic one?
 * General:**