What problem causes the people to come to Oedipus for help?
The City is blighted with pestilence, affecting crops and people
What mythical creature did Oedipus defeat to become King of Thebes
Sphinx
To address the current problem in Thebes, Oedipus first:
Consults the oracle at Delphi
Teiresias, the blind prophet, tells Oedipus that the city’s problem is pollution. This pollution has to do with:
The murder of its former king
The oracle at Delphi is dedicated to:
Apollo
Oedipus, according to the prophet, is to blame for the city’s problems because he is a stranger ruling Thebes rather than one born into the ruling family.
FALSE
Teiresias tells Oedipus, “With those you love best/you live in foulest shame unconsciously” (410-411). What does he mean by this?
Oedipus had committed incest by marrying Jocasta
Teiresias predicts, “ shall grind no man as it shall grind you” after attempting to show Oedipus the truth about the pollution in Thebes:
Misery
Oedipus is compared to a tracker (hunter) who searches out his prey, a murderer.
TRUE
The story of Laius’s murder, as the people of Thebes know it, involves:
A group of robbers who killed many
Oedipus states, “If with my knowledge he [the murderer] lives at my hearth/ I pray that I myself may feel my curse.” (Lines 270-271) In these lines, Oedipus:
Unknowingly curses himself
According to Teiresias (the blind prophet) Oedipus’s fatal flaw may be
His flaring temper
Oedipus accuses Teiresias and Creon of the crime of
Conspiracy
Ironically, the blind prophet accuses Oedipus of
Failing to see that he lives in sin
The two parts of the prophecy King Laius and Queen Jocasta received, which was the same as the one the priestess at Delphi told Oedipus, are that he will kill his father and
Marry his own mother
Out of the three main characters, the first to realize the truth about who pollution is and the fulfillment of the prophecy is:
Jocasta
Oedipus is determined to find out who he is and what his place in the universe is. He doesn't understand his true identity until the end of the play. This search for a sense of place and identity evidences the
Knowledge motif
Oedipus receives news that his father, Polybus, is dead from old age. He reacts with
Relief
Jocasta advises him to forget, the, the second part of the prophecy and live
Unthinkingly and without fear
Jocasta dies by
Hanging himself
A herdsman (shepherd) of King Laius brings the final "testimony" which proves that Oedipus was the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta
