English 10 World Literature
Oedipus the King Summer Reading Assignment
Acquire a copy of Three Theban Plays by Sophocles, ISBN-978-0-14-044425-4 (Please purchase this
version if possible or use the PDF: http://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/bruce.brogdon/english2332/greektragedy/oedipus-the-king-text-fagles-translation/view)
The Story of Oedipus
The audience that first saw Oedipus the King knew the story before they entered the theater. A modern
reader too should know certain crucial facts to understand how Sophocles uses an old tale to create
scenes of high drama and, at times, of intense irony. Oedipus was a royal prince, son of Laius, king of
Thebes, and his queen Jocasta. After his birth, there was a prophecy that Oedipus would kill his father
and wed his mother. Horrified, Laius had a rivet driven between the baby’s ankles and ordered a servant
to take him to Mount Cithaeron and leave him there to be killed by exposure to the elements. The
servant, pitying the child, instead gave him to a shepherd, who took Oedipus to another city-state,
Corinth, where the childless king Polybus adopted him as his own. Oedipus grew up, and as a young man
again heard the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. To prevent this he fled
Corinth for a life of wandering. One day, journeying through central Greece, he got into a fight with a
belligerent old man and killed both him and his servants. Traveling on he reached Thebes, which at the
moment was being destroyed by a monster, the Sphinx, which posed a riddle no one could answer:
“What walks on four legs at dawn, two legs at noon, and three legs at nightfall.” Oedipus, solver of
riddles, knew the answer: man. With the Sphinx repulsed, the joyful Thebans declared Oedipus their
king and offered him their widowed queen as his wife. Years pass, and they have their own children. But
now a plague falls upon the city. To the Thebans, this seems a terrible punishment from the gods. A
decisive ruler, Oedipus sends his wife’s brother, Creon, to Apollo’s oracle at Delphi to learn what they
must do to save the city. At this point, the play begins. Oedipus the King begins with one of life’s most
bewildering mysteries: Why do we suffer? Is it because we are guilty of something? Such questions have
troubled individuals and nations. Sophocles examines their significance for a Greek city and for a single
man. With this background information in mind, you will now examine the plot, the nature of the
protagonist, and the sustained use of Irony.
DIRECTIONS: Use the text-guided questions and notes to annotate the pages of your play with specific
interpretive comments. Be prepared to show that you closely interacted with the text while reading the
play. Consult the cited text lines to help you as you consider greater symbolic significance of the play’s
events.
1. How does the description of the crowd of suppliants as “my children, the new blood of ancient
Thebes” (1) suggest the problem of hereditary guilt?
2. What does Oedipus’s first speech suggest about him as a protagonist?
3. How does the metaphor of lines 18-19 illustrate the Priest’s fears?
4. Why do the people think Oedipus can solve the current crisis (57-69)?
5. How, through actions, should the player performing the role of the Priest suggest his character’s
feelings?
6. Explain what Oedipus means by lines 71-73, and the real truth that he unknowingly utters.
7. How does Oedipus shorten, or condense, the action so the play can be confined to a one-day period, a
practice that has been coined as one of the classical “unities”?
8. Why might Creon want to deliver his message inside (103-104)?
9. What problem does the oracle create (109-111)?
10. Does this ignorance of Oedipus concerning his predecessor’s fate seem unlikely (115- 124)? Explain
your answer.
11. Note that though Creon says “thieves” (139) attacked Laius, Oedipus immediately speaks of a “thief”
(140). What does this suggest about Oedipus?
12. How should Oedipus speak lines (145-147)?
13. What sort of modern story form does the plot now begin to resemble? -- Almost every mention of
light and dark, day and night, sight and blindness carries double meaning. These references are intended
to be ironic.
14. In lines 200-203 the Chorus compares Thebes to a flock of seabirds. What does the simile suggest
about the current state of the city?
15. Explain the Chorus’s description of Ares (218-228).
16. What does Oedipus mean in lines 245-261? What is the effect of these lines? -- Note how lightly
Oedipus speaks of exile in line 261. By the end of the play he will look upon this form of punishment
differently. -- Many people in Sophocles’ audience believed in the power of a formally delivered curse,
such as the one in lines 280-283; as the play unfolds, we will see this curse exactly fulfilled.
17. What is ironic about Oedipus’s remarks in lines 284-287? -- Note that Oedipus must assert he is one
with the line of previous Theban kings because he thinks himself the son of another royal household.
During the subsequent action Oedipus will discover that he is literally a member of this royal line.
18. Explain how Sophocles has condensed the play’s action in lines 315-340.
19. What is the discrepancy between the Leader’s words in line 340 and Oedipus’s in line 341? -- Note
that the blind prophet is a familiar figure in ancient times, sightlessness suggesting a power of inner
vision denied to those who see everyday things (344).
20. Why do Oedipus and the Leader put so much emphasis on Tiresias’s help (322-329)?
21. How should the actor portraying Tiresias deliver his first lines (359-362)?
22. Why does Tiresias refuse to tell what he knows (364-366)?
23. Why does Oedipus change his attitude to Tiresias so radically that by lines 393-397 he is accusing
him of a part in the murder of Laius?
24. How will Oedipus’s mockery of Tiresias’s blindness (425-428) eventually recoil upon himself?
25. What does line 431 suggest about the relationship of Oedipus and Creon?
26. Why does Oedipus suddenly accuse Creon of conspiracy (437-442)?
27. Why does Oedipus suddenly bring up the Sphinx again (452-453)?
28. Explain the important civic role played by the Chorus (460-463).
29. Why is the reference to Cithaeron so telling (481-486)?
30. Why is Oedipus so eager to know the answer to the question he asks in line 498?
31. What does Tiresias mean in line 499?
32. Why is Tiresias so sure that Oedipus cannot destroy him?
33. How is the imagery in lines 517-518 reminiscent of the riddle of the Sphinx?
34. How do the Chorus members react to Tiresias’s warnings?
35. Why does the Chorus try to figure out the basis for the “strife” between Thebes and Corinth?
36. Why does the Chorus remain loyal to Oedipus? Infer ideas from characters’ words in a play. -Oedipus the King explores the potential doubleness of all human experience. It demonstrates how
words and actions can simultaneously mean two or more different things, depending upon what one
knows and how one looks at the world. The play poses the troubling question: “Do you understand your
place in life, or are you acting in dangerous ignorance?”
37. What is Creon’s greatest concern (573-583)?
38. What do you infer Creon is guessing at when he asks about Oedipus, “Was his glance steady, his
mind right” (590)?
39. Why does Oedipus ask if Tiresias referred to him years earlier (629)?
40. How does Creon react to Oedipus’s series of questions in lines 621-634?
41. What is the tone of Oedipus’s line 646?
42. What is Creon’s argument in the passage from lines 651-663?
43. Explain why “time alone” can bring the just man to light (689)?
44. Why does Oedipus want to rush the search for the murderer (693-697)?
45. Note in lines 701-705 Sophocles balances speeches by Creon and Oedipus, giving each of them half a
line. This device is known as stichomythia. What is the effect of the split in dialogue?
46. What does Jocasta try to do when she first enters (709-714)?
47. Why do the Chorus members now speak up (725-741)?
48. Why does Oedipus infer that to trust Creon will mean his own death or banishment (734-735)?
49. How is Creon’s description of Oedipus justified (746-748)?
50. Why does the Chorus try to keep Jocasta in ignorance (754-755)?
51. How does this effort to hide the truth repeat Thebes’s central problem (757-759)?
52. How should an actress playing Jocasta deliver line 773?
53. Explain the irony in Jocasta’s example of how unreliable an oracle can be (784-800).
54. What is Oedipus recalling in lines 710-711?
55. What has happened to Oedipus (814)?
56. When Oedipus asks, “My god, my god – what have you planned to do to me?” (814) what are his
assumptions about the relationship between free will and divine power?
57. What now is “clear as day” to Oedipus (830)?
58. Why does Oedipus keep asking questions, even when he can see the truth (841-844)?
59. Why do you think the lone survivor of Laius’s party pleaded to be sent to the hinterlands (834-840)?
60 Explain the irony of Oedipus’s statement, “Who means more to me than you?
(849). -- Note how the oracle (873-875) anticipated Tiresias’s later accusation. Oedipus’s refusal at first
to consider what Tiresias says is difficult to explain, unless the readers imagine that he was so disturbed
by this old warning that he forced it out of his conscious mind and so refused even to consider it.
61. Given Oedipus’s account of the death of Laius (884-898), do you think he was justified in killing the
old man? Why or why not?
62. What trait does Oedipus and his father Laius share?
63. Considering the way Oedipus has treated Tiresias and Creon, do you think you can trust his account
of the death of Laius? Why or why not? -- Note that Sophocles’ plays tend to take a traditional view of
subjects such as the Delphic oracle. Jocasta’s doubts (948-949) echo the religious skeptics of his day, and
as the play moves towards its conclusion, Sophocles will show that oracles are always right, and that
those people who doubt them suffer for their disbelief.
64. Contrast the speech by the Chorus in lines 954-997 with the earlier speeches.
65. What does the contrast in speeches show about the Chorus’s feelings for Oedipus?
66. Explain the irony in Jocasta’s prayer to Apollo (1008-1011)?
67. Explain why the messenger’s news will both please and sadden Jocasta (1024-1026)?
68. Why is Jocasta so quick to send for Oedipus (1035)?
69. Characterize Oedipus’s reaction to the news of Polybus’s death (1054-1064). -- Note how Jocasta
summarizes the way in which a skeptic thinks about life and personal conduct (1069-1076).
70. Why does Sophocles rely on an accident—that the Messenger overhears Oedipus (1084)— to lead to
the final revelations about his past?
71. What is the significance of the Messenger’s revelation in lines 1113?
72. In what way might Oedipus’s pinned ankles (1133) symbolize his condition?
73. Comment on the coincidence that the shepherd who gave Oedipus to the Messenger is also the only
member of Laius’s party who escaped (1154-1159).
74. Why Oedipus want to discover the mystery of his birth (1160-1163)?
75. Is Oedipus’s desire to “see the truth at last” (1169) a flaw in his character?
76. What does Oedipus think motivates Jocasta’s desire to stop his search for his parentage? -- Note that
when his natural mother deserts him. Oedipus unconsciously proclaims himself the son of another
woman, the goddess of fortune. Determine how the succession of interrelated events leads to a story’s
resolution, or denouement. -- The denouement of Oedipus the King is ambiguous and complex. The
truth comes out, and the moral fault that has caused the plague can now be purged. Yet what the
audience witnesses is the suffering of people who acted in ignorance, and who, for all their weaknesses,
were trying to do right. The curse they bear remains unexplained.
77. Why is it important to note that the Shepherd and Messanger are “brothers in old age, two of a
kind”(1218)?
78. Why might the old Shepherd insist that his memory is failing him (1241)?
79. What danger lurks in the Messenger’s naïve eagerness to recall the past (1242-1252)?
80. How is the audience likely to react to the way Oedipus treats the old Shepherd (1266-1267)?
81. In what way does the Shepherd’s cry, “Oh no, I’m right at the edge, the horrible truth – I’ve got to
say it!” indicate that we are reaching the climax to the plot of the play?
82. What did the Shepherd hope to achieve in giving the child to another (1301-1305)?
83. Given what happens to the Shepherd’s efforts to save a child, what place does pity seem to have in
human action?
84. How do the people of the chorus react to the revelation of Oedipus’s guilt?
85. How does the Chorus now evaluate Oedipus’s years of success?
86. Who or what is given credit in lines 1340-1345 for Oedipus’s fall? -- Note that the use of a Messenger
to describe in detail physical horrors that occur offstage (1351 on)
87. What do you infer Oedipus intends to do with the sword he calls for?
88. Poetic justice is the concept that a punishment should fit a crime. How does Oedipus’s choice of
punishment fit his actions? -- Note that the play never offers any explanation for the fact that Oedipus is
godforsaken.
89. Do the words of the Chorus justify Oedipus’s inference that they are “dear friend[s] (1464-1466)? -Note, in lines 1469-1471, Oedipus’s assertion of his own free will in at least this one part of the play.
90. In what way is Oedipus’s claim to be “this great murderous ruin, this man cursed to heaven, the man
the deathless gods hate most of all!” (1479-1480) consistent with his character?
91. Why does Oedipus continue to list his guilty acts?
92. How does Oedipus still behave like the king of Thebes?
93. Explain how Creon’s political role has changed?
94. Why does Creon want to hide Oedipus (1561-1566)? -- Note, in Creon’s action, the reaffirmation of
the power of the oracle.
95. Why does Oedipus want to be exiled to Mt. Cithaeron (1589-1593)? -- Note that Oedipus’s obscure
sense that he is still destined for “something great and terrible, something strange” (1597) foreshadows
the legends that surround the end of his life. After years of wandering Oedipus will come to Colonus in
Attica where he miraculously disappears, the place becoming holy ground, and his continuing spiritual
presence guaranteeing local prosperity. Sophocles’ last play, Oedipus at Colonus, depicts this
unexpected conclusion to Oedipus’s suffering.
96. What do Oedipus’s figurative words about sharing food indicate for his daughters?
97. What kind of future does Oedipus predict for Antigone and Ismene (1627-1644)? -- Note that
Oedipus’s predictions express an old, often-used theme of children suffering for the sins of parents or of
a curse afflicting several generations of a family.
98. What is the tone of Creon’s remark (1675-1677)?
99. What is the final message of the Chorus (1678-1684)
Honors: Siddhartha Summer Reading Assignment
Answer each of these questions below in a well-developed paragraph (minimum of 5-10 sentences).
Responses must be typed, double-spaced. Please write your answers without assistance from others.
This writing activity will demonstrate how thoughtful you can be independently. You will receive points
based on the above criteria. Be sure to include quotes and paraphrases from the text in each response.
1) Siddhartha says there are many ways to lose yourself. Explain what this means and describe
four different ways.
2) Why does Vadsudeva seem to have no big problems in life? Why does he speak so much about
the River? What does time mean to him?
3) Siddhartha’s keys to life were “I can think, I can wait, and I can fast.” What does this mean?
What does he lack (if anything)? Why ought we emulate him?
4) Siddhartha preferred the sorrow of his son’s love rather than a tranquil life without him.
Suppose the son would not have left. Could Siddhartha have been happy? How?