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The Oedipus Plays

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The Oedipus Plays

Sophocles

Quiz

1. Which of the three Theban plays was probably written last?

(A) Oedipus at Colonus

(B) No one knows

(D) Antigone

2. How many children does Oedipus have?

(A) 2

(B) 3

(D) None

3. In Oedipus the King, whose murder must be avenged to end the plague in Thebes?

(A) Creon’s

(B) Polybus’s

(D) Polynices’

4. Which of Oedipus’s children does not appear in Oedipus at Colonus?

(A) Antigone

(B) Polynices

(D) Ismene

5. What does the name “Oedipus” mean?

(A) “Incest-monger”

(B) “King of Thebes”

(D) “Blinded by Fate”

6. Which of the three Theban plays was probably written first?

(A) No one knows

(B) Oedipus the King

(D) Antigone

7. In what country was Oedipus raised?

(A) Colonus

(B) Thebes

(D) Athens

8. In which play does Tiresias not appear?

(A) Oedipus the King

(B) Antigone

(D) Oedipus at Colonus

9. What sentence does Creon impose upon Antigone for violating his edict prohibiting Polynices’ burial?

(A) She must be hanged

(B) Her eyes must be stabbed out

(D) She must be buried alive

10. What is Creon’s relationship to Jocasta?

(A) Brother

(B) Father

(D) Uncle

11. What does Oedipus use to stab out his own eyes?

(A) Knives

(B) Sticks

(D) The horns of a sacrificial bull

12. From whose curse did Oedipus rescue Thebes?

(A) The Sphinx’s

(B) Laius’s

(D) Creon’s

13. Who speaks last in each of the Theban plays?

(A) Ismene

(B) Creon

(D) The Chorus

14. Whom was Antigone meant to marry?

(A) Polynices

(B) Haemon

(D) She was not meant to be married

15. Which god did Athenian theatrical performances celebrate?

(A) Athena

(B) Zeus

(D) Sophocles

16. Which of the following characters remains alive throughout the three Theban plays?

(A) Oedipus

(B) Creon

(D) Jocasta

17. Where was Laius killed?

(A) On a one-lane bridge

(B) Between a rock and a hard place

(D) At a three-way crossroads

18. In Oedipus at Colonus, how does Creon attempt to coerce Oedipus to return to Thebes?

(A) He kidnaps his daughters

(B) He bribes Theseus

(D) He promises Oedipus new eyes

19. What does Oedipus prophecy about Polynices and Eteocles?

(A) They will rule Thebes together

(B) They will die at each other’s hands

(D) They will sleep with their mother and kill their father

20. Who is the last remaining survivor of Oedipus’s family?

(A) Ismene

(B) Antigone

(D) Eteocles

21. Which of the following deaths occurs onstage?

(A) Oedipus’s

(B) Jocasta’s

(D) None of these deaths occurs onstage

22. What does Creon do just before he finds Antigone dead?

(A) Banishes Tiresias

(B) Argues with his wife, Eurydice

(D) Visits the oracle

23. What is the name of the character who helps Oedipus in Oedipus at Colonus?

(A) Merope

(B) Polybus

(D) Cadmus

24. Which of the following characters does not commit suicide?

(A) Antigone

(B) Ismene

(D) Eurydice

25. To whom do the woods belong where Oedipus at Colonus takes place?

(A) Euripides

(B) The Eumenides

(D) Theseus

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The Oedipus Plays

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