Oedipus the King -- Questions on Scene 1
http://abs.kafkas.edu.tr/upload/225/Oedipus_the_King_Full_Text.pdf 1. What do garlands and wreaths mean to the Greeks? Why have the people brought wreaths and garlands to the palace in the opening of the play? 2. What is the definition of "suppliant"? What is the meaning of "blight"? What is the concern of the people who come to the palace? 3. According to line 40 of scene 1, what heroic act did Oedipus perform when coming to Thebes? 4. According to line 79, to what god has Oedipus sent Creon to find an answer to the town's problems? 5. What is the meaning of the word "expiation"? What does the god, Apollo, say Thebes must do? (112-120. 6. In line 182, the phrase "stretched on the rack" is used. What might be meant by this metaphor? Why does the Chorus use this image? 7. In 203-208 the Chorus reports the situation in Thebes? How bad is the blight? 8. Beginning with lines 251, what is the curse Oedipus pronounces on the man who "keeps silence" regarding the murder of the former king, Laius? 9. When Teiresias the blind prophet is brought forward, whom does he accuse of murder? 10. In line 452, Oedipus taunts Teiresias with a failure? What did Teiresias "fail" to do in the past? 11. In line 487, Teireseas outlines a curse he says will fall upon Oedipus. What does the prophet say will happen to the King? 12. In line 1147, we discover that Oedipus not a child of the King Polybus of Corinth by blood. A messenger confirms this is true when he delivers news that King Polybus of Corinth is dead. The messenger says he brought Oedipus as a baby after a shepherd found him chained to a rock and left to die on a hill top. At this point, Jocasta, Oedipus's wife and Queen of Thebes, becomes distraught and isolates herself. What does Oedipus think has caused her reaction? |
A popular riddle of Greek mythology refers to the Sphinx who sat outside Thebes asking passers-by the riddle: “What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?” The one who failed to answer would meet with death. When Oedipus solves the riddle, the sphinx destroys itself. The Ancient Greeks used the riddles to mark the intelligence and creativity of a person in the eyes of the gods. The answer to this riddle? A man. He crawls in infancy, walks upright in his prime, and gets around with a cane in old age. By the time we get to the play's end, we see that Oedipus himself was the answer to the Sphinx's riddle, which begs the question: Was fulfilling the prophecy Oedipus's destiny? Did the gods choose Oedipus to suffer this fate?
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