Oedipus Rex Seminar Questions
Seminar Questions: Oedipus Rex
1. Oedipus is an “everyman” figure because even though he is a king he still has the same limitations and feelings as another human. On page 41 the attendant tells the chorus how Jocasta is dead and how Oedipus reacted to it by gouging his eyes out after everything building up into one big moment where he couldn’t take the burden and pain anymore. This caused him to make him take this sever action where he thought he had no way out and did this to try to make it stop.
2. People see Oedipus as honorable and a great solver of puzzles and riddles. The other thing that Oedipus is being called upon to do is to find out who murdered Lauis, the former king of Thebes. “If anyone knows anything about whose hand murdered Labdakus’ son, Laius, I order him to reveal everything. Pg. 10
3. The assumption that that the Chorus makes about the relationship with humans and gods is that the curses force him to speak but Oedipus contradicts him by saying that no mortal can force a god’s mouth. “all these curses of yours force me to speak” “but no mortal man can force a god’s mouth” pg. 11
4. The basis of Oedipus’s appeal to Tiresias is he wants Tiresias to tell him what he knows about Lauis’s murder. Oedipus tries to get the truth out of Tiresias by guilting him into how his information could stop the suffering and destruction of his country. “your being unfair and unkind to the city that raised you… do you want to send us and our country to absolute destruction”
5. Creon charges the king with killing his own relative which was his dad Lauis in a subtle way and predicts that he will soon uncover the entire truth and will not be able to handle it.
6. Oedipus reveals that he walked into the small group of people which one of the people there was his dad, the king of Thebes, and got into an altercation with them which lead to all but one of them dying. Oedipus understands a lot about his guilt because he realized that he was the one who Lauis and was
1. Oedipus is an “everyman” figure because even though he is a king he still has the same limitations and feelings as another human. On page 41 the attendant tells the chorus how Jocasta is dead and how Oedipus reacted to it by gouging his eyes out after everything building up into one big moment where he couldn’t take the burden and pain anymore. This caused him to make him take this sever action where he thought he had no way out and did this to try to make it stop.
2. People see Oedipus as honorable and a great solver of puzzles and riddles. The other thing that Oedipus is being called upon to do is to find out who murdered Lauis, the former king of Thebes. “If anyone knows anything about whose hand murdered Labdakus’ son, Laius, I order him to reveal everything. Pg. 10
3. The assumption that that the Chorus makes about the relationship with humans and gods is that the curses force him to speak but Oedipus contradicts him by saying that no mortal can force a god’s mouth. “all these curses of yours force me to speak” “but no mortal man can force a god’s mouth” pg. 11
4. The basis of Oedipus’s appeal to Tiresias is he wants Tiresias to tell him what he knows about Lauis’s murder. Oedipus tries to get the truth out of Tiresias by guilting him into how his information could stop the suffering and destruction of his country. “your being unfair and unkind to the city that raised you… do you want to send us and our country to absolute destruction”
5. Creon charges the king with killing his own relative which was his dad Lauis in a subtle way and predicts that he will soon uncover the entire truth and will not be able to handle it.
6. Oedipus reveals that he walked into the small group of people which one of the people there was his dad, the king of Thebes, and got into an altercation with them which lead to all but one of them dying. Oedipus understands a lot about his guilt because he realized that he was the one who Lauis and was