Online text of Oedipus Rex
Subject
Humanities
Question Description
Online text of Oedipus Rex. (your worksheet questions correspond to this text)
1- How does Oedipus choose the spokesman from the group of supplicants?
2- What is your first impression of Oedipus? What characteristics of Oedipus are you aware of after he gives the opening speech?
3- What problem is afflicting Thebes at this time?
4- In case we didn't already know it, what exposition does the Priest provide in in the scene?
5- Why have the Priest and many citizens gathered as supplicants, and how do they view Oedipus? How does this view contribute to Oedipus's status as a classic tragic hero?
6- Why do the supplicants believe that Oedipus will be able to find a solution to the famine?
7- Why does Oedipus claim he suffers even more than the other citizens?
8- What action has Oedipus taken to find an answer to the city's problem?
9- When Creon arrives from Delphi, what does Oedipus insist that he do? What does this indicate about Oedipus's character?
10- Why do you suppose Creon wants to talk to Oedipus in private first?
11- What does Creon report from the Oracle?
12- What is Oedipus's reaction to Creon's information?
13- What happened to Laius, the former king? How did the city receive an account of the events?
14- What theory does Oedipus immediately develop about Laius's death?
15- Why did the citizens of Thebes not investigate Laius's murder at the time it occurred?
16- What does Oedipus promise to do? Why, according to Oedipus, must his resolution be strong?
17- Give details of how the chorus describes the city to the gods.