Oedipus Rex : Questions on Scene 1/Ode
1. Summarize Oedipus’s first speech in Scene 1.
2. How do you respond to Oedipus’s curse ? What does it say about human knowledge that Oedipus, renowned for his intelligence, cannot see what is plain to us, with our hindsight ?
3. Oedipus thinks of himself as a « stranger » to the city and to the royal house. Why is this a tragic mistake ?
4. Does Teiresias sound reasonable ? Is Oedipus justified in feeling infuriated ?
5. What do you think is revealed in Scene 1 as one of Oedipus’s flaws ?
6. Is Oedipus’s suspiciousness based on reasonable (even if ultimately false) conjecture ?
7. What does Teiresias imply about the role of seer ?
8. What does Oedipus accuse Teiresias of ? Why do you think he does this ?
9. How does the audience understand Teiresias in a way Oedipus does not ?
10. Give specific examples of Oedipus’s arrogance in this scene.
11. Summarize Teiresias’s prophecy in this scene.
12. One of the ironies of the play is that the structure of its plot is essentially comic, that is suited to a story with a happy ending. Normally, the stranger who proves to be a citizen gains rewards. What does Teiresias say will happen to this « stranger » ?
13. What does the metaphor « a fellow sower in his father’s bed » mean ?
14. Why does the Chorus seem not to understand Teriesias’s prophecy, which to us seems quite explicit ?
15. Oedipus has represented himself as a « tracker. » What is the effect of the Chorus speaking of itself now as a tracker, or a pack of hunting hounds ?
16. Why is the Chorus reluctant to believe Teiresias ? On what is the Thebans’ allegiance to Oedipus based ?
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