Oedipus Study Guide Questions
1. Tiresias: What is the function and importance of Tiresias in Oedipus? What does he bring to the
characters he confronts? How is he treated? What does his message have to do with the larger
themes of the play?
Note that in Greek mythology:
• Tiresias accidentally came across Athena while she was bathing, so she blinded him.
• At his mother's pleading Athena gave Tiresias the gift of prophecy to compensate for his
blindness.
• Among his prophecies were: A warning to Pentheus to recognize and honor Dionysus
when he first appeared in Thebes.
• A prediction of the greatness of Heracles.
• He revealed to Oedipus that Oedipus had unknowingly murdered his own father.
• Advice to Odysseus on how to placate Poseidon
2. The Chorus: Some say the chorus represent elders or citizens of Thebes. Others say they share
the perspective of the audience. Can both of these perspectives be true, or are they mutually
exclusive?
• What is the dramatic function of the chorus in Oedipus?
• How does the playwright represent the chorus?
• What values are associated with them?
• What dramatic purpose do they serve?
• What part of the community do they represent?
• What message do they convey to the audience?
3. Physical & Moral Blindness:
• Trace the motifs of blindness and sight throughout the play; what do they suggest about the play’s
larger themes?
• “Oedipus can see, but he arrogantly believes that he can circumvent prophecy; Tiresias cannot see
physically, but he is expert at divining the will of the gods.” Defend the previous sentence with
multiple examples. At the end of the play, then, why does Oedipus blind himself; is this an act of
weakness or one of strength?
• Do other characters suffer from this moral blindness, e.g. Jocasta, who can't see swollen-footed
Oedipus, who looks like Laius, as her son?
• Agree or disagree: "Oedipus's pride prevents him from seeing the truth, and this is why he takes
such a fall. Oedipus is blinded by his pride and cannot accept that he could not avoid his fate. The
irony is that the only time Oedipus is not blinded by his pride, is when he blinds himself
physically."
4. Full & Partial Knowledge: Men often aspire to full knowledge; partial knowledge involves
perils as well as protections. Who are the characters with partial knowledge and what happens
when they seek full knowledge? What conclusions can you draw from considering the idea of
'knowledge' in Oedipus? Could man’s desire to know all (grasp/possess knowledge) be
considered a form of hubris?
5. Fate & Free Will:
• To what extent is Oedipus a dupe of the gods who have sealed his fate? To what extent does
Oedipus bring about his own downfall? [Hint: If someone prophesied that you would kill your
father and marry your mother, the prudent person would avoid killing all men and resist marrying
an older woman.]
• Do Oedipus's attempts to escape his fate and even his search for truth constitute an attempt to be
all-seeing and all-knowing? Or does Oeidpus actually gain stature because he is striving against
the gods?
6. Hamartia in Oedipus: What is Oedipus’s flaw or error? his arrogance? his unrelenting desire for
truth? his desire to be, again, the savior of Thebes? his striving against the gods and fate? Does
Oedipus have a tragic flaw, or does he simply make a “mistake”?
7. Jocasta:
• When did Jocasta know that Oedipus was the baby she had ordered to be killed? She
should have known him when she first saw his feet (the name, "Oedipus," literally means
"swollen foot," or maybe even "wounded foot"), but did she? Pinpoint in the play when
Jocasta seems to know--is it only right before she kills herself, or could it have been some
time before that?
• How are Lady Macbeth and Jocasta similar in the ways they try to comfort their
husbands?
• Why does Jocasta try to undermine prophecy? Does Jocasta love Oedipus? Does Jocasta
downplay the prophecies to spare her beloved husband--or is she trying to spare herself
public shame?
8. Verbal Irony:
• Trace instances of verbal irony (including intentional sarcasm?) in the confrontations between
Oedipus and Creon as well as Oedipus and Teresias.
• Does Jocasta speak verbal irony, or does her attempt to calm Oedipus by debunking prophecy
result in dramatic irony--the unexpected happening?
9. Dramatic irony is created when a statement made by a character has one meaning for the speaker
and and additional and quite different one for the audience. For example, at the beginning of the
play, Oedipus is enraged at Laius' death and he wants to hunt down the killer; he talks about all
the terrible things he wants to do to the killer, yet the audience knows that he is the killer. This is
dramatic irony.
• Give examples and state the impact of dramatic irony on the story of Oedipus?
• How does the dramatic irony increase the sense of tragedy?
Examples of irony:
• One riddle, the Sphinx's riddle, makes him a great powerful king while the other riddle,
Tiresias' riddle, will destroy him.
• Tiresias is blind and can see the truth, hence him being a blind prophet. Oedipus can see but
can't see the truth (killing his father and Jocasta being his mother), but once Oedipus sees the
truth he blinds himself.
• When the gods tell Oedipus his fate, Oedipus runs away from Corinth-- apparently away
from his "parents"--and goes to Thebes. But he is actually running towards his problems not
away.
• He is abandoned on Mt. Cithaeron as a baby and is saved. Now he is going back to the same
Mountain to die.
• Oedipus becomes the Sphinx. He protects the city, but in time becomes a pollution. The
Sphinx protected the city, but would kill anyone who answered the riddle falsely.
• The riddle of the Sphinx is Oedipus's own life. Think about it.
• The truth was ALWAYS right in front of Oedipus (his feet). He was blind to the facts.
Ironically, the only time he saw the truth was when he blinded himself physically.
• Laius and Jocasta helped fulfill the destiny by not insuring the death of their child. They
played it off as going perfectly as planned, although the gods had already ruled out this
destiny.
• Tiresias is essentially what Oedipus becomes.
Dramatic Devices (besides irony):
A. Hyperbole (exaggeration): Are there places in the story where exaggeration seems to be deliberately
used by the speaker, making the event reported larger or more important than it is? (Hint: Check
Creon's report of the Oracle and Teresias' predictions about Oedipus.)
B. Foreshadowing: What instances of foreshadowing are there in the play, and how to they help build a
sense of inevitability?
C. Dichronic Time: Sophocles uses flashbacks to recover pieces of Oedipus's past and create the
cumulative force of inevitability that comes down on Oedipus when he recognizes that he is the
killer of Laius AND that Laius was his biological father (and Jocasta his real mother). Trace the
movement of time in the play and list the clues that accumulate to pin down exactly who Oedipus is.
D. Contrast/Conflict: man vs. man (Oedipus vs. Creon), man vs. nature (Oedipus vs. the plague), man
vs. himself (Oedipus altruism vs. his pride), man vs. the gods (Oedipus vs. the oracles, [also Laius
and Jocasta] vs. the prophecy).
E. Reversal (of fortune) – see below
F. Recognition: When the shepherd and former servant of Laius confirms that he gave the baby to the
shepherd from Corinth and that he got baby Oedipus from Queen Jocasta, Oedipus realizes that he is
that baby, that the man he killed where three roads meet was Lauis, and that Lauis was his father-and Jocasta his mother. Aha! and ruin (reversal of fortune from king to exile) occur in the same
instant.
G. Investigative Results: In the course of the investigation regarding Laius' murder, many facts came
out supporting the suspicion that Oedipus killed Laius. What were these statements and accusations?
Why was Oedipus not convinced initially and what was his reaction to such accusation? What do
these facts reveal Oedipus as a character?
H. Universals: Aristotle wrote that the difference between history and poetry is that poetry is a more
philosophical and serious business than history; for poetry speaks more of universals (what can
happen) than history of particulars (what did happen). What do you think is universal about the play
Oedipus Rex? Is it the plot, the characterization, the theme or some combination of these or other
elements? Explain your answer using concrete references to the play.
I. Imagery: From the priest's description of the "ship of state" awash in a raging see of plague to the
"red hail" described by the messenger, this play is full of figurative language, especially in the choral
odes. Find, cite by line number, quote, and explain 5 important images. How do these images help
to set a tone for the play--and what is that tone? Imagery to look for: sickness and pollution, the
ship of state, blindness vs. sight, light vs. darkness
J. Foils: How are Creon and Tiresias both foils of Oedipus--whose personalities have traits opposite to
Oedipus, thereby exposing aspects of O's character? Of the two, who is the more effective at
bringing to our notice O's personality traits?
“Real World” Connections:
10. Why, do you think, is the play, Oedipus the King, still read today? What does the play hold for a
modern audience? For instance-- Does this play reflect on the notion that our lives are
determined either by our genetic heritage or by our upbringing (nature vs. nurture)?
11. How important is illusion in life? Give examples to support, and relate to Oedipus.