ENG 230
World Literature I
Oedipus, Part I (485 – 502)
Reading Questions
1. Who is King Laios and how is he important to the plot of the play?
2. Who is Tiresias and what kind of archetype?
3. What is Tiresias’ most prominent attribute?
4. According to the Chorus, what is fear?
5. What supposedly happened in the House of Oedipus in Korinth?
6. In the opening scene in the Royal Palace in Thebes, what does the Priest tell Oedipus about the daily life of the citizenry?
7. To whom does the Priest refer when he uses the phrases “bird from god” and “brought good luck?”
8. Who brings back the message from the Oracle of Apollo to Oedipus?
9. Who was murdered?
10. Who is the “Healing God from Delos?”
11. What is importance of the following passage:
Our rich earth shrivels what it grows;
Women in labor scream, but no
Children are born to ease their pain.
One life after another flies—
You see them pass—l
Like birds driving their strong wings
Faster than flash-fire
To the death god’s western shore.
12. Why does Oedipus become angry with Tiresias?
13. According to Oedipus, Tiresias is the master of what?
14. Why does Tiresias say, “It will happen. My silence can’t stop it.”
15. What will happen from every mountain outcrop on Kithairon?
ENG 230
World Literature I
Oedipus, Part II (503 – 518)
Reading Questions
1. What is the nature of the “groundless rumor” mentioned by th Leader?
2. Who does the Herdsman say feared the prophecies?
3. According to the Leader, who is the “pitiable woman?”
4. What does Oedipus mean when he says, “I know you mean well when you try to calm me, but do you realice where it will lead?”
5. Whose ankle joints were pinned together?
6. What happened at Phokis?
7. Why does Oedipus “look heart sick?”
8. Who was “tall, with some gray salting in his hair?”
9. What is the significance of the following passage:
A violent will
Fathers the tyrant, and violence, drunk
On wealth and power
Does him no good;
He scales the heights—
Until he’s thrown
Down to his doom,
Where quick feet are of no use.
10. Who does Jokasta say is “at the mercy of everybody’s words?”
11. Where is the Earth’s navel?
12. Who “won’t let past experience calm his present fears, as a man of sense would.”
13. Who “grieved for the bed?”
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