Questions on Act III of A Doll’s House

1. (a) What draws Mrs. Linde and Krogstad back to each other ? (b) Do these two characters have more in common than Nora and Torvald do ? Explain. (c) How does Nora’s and Torvald’s situation contrast with Mrs. Linde’s and Krogstad’s situation at the end of the play ?
2. Why does Mrs. Linde tell Krogstad not to ask for his letter back ?
3. After Nora and Torvald return from the party, why does Nora tell Torvald to « go away » and « leave [her] alone » ?
4. (a) How would you describe Torvald’s reaction to the news that Rank is going to die ? (b) What does Torvald’s reaction reveal about his personality ?
5. (a) What is ironic about Torvald’s comment that now that Rank is gone, he and Nora will be « thrown back on each other completely » ? (b) What other examples of irony can you find in his comments to Nora ?
6. How does Rank’s demise parallel the collapse of Nora and Torvald’s marriage ?
7. When Torvald asks Nora if she understands what she has done, she responds, « Yes. I’m beginning to understand everything now. » What is it that she is actually beginning to understand ?
8. (a) What does Torvald’s response to the letter reveal about the true nature of his feelings for Nora ? (b) What conclusions do you draw about him based on this response ?
9. (a) How does Torvald’s reaction to the note along with the immediate shift in his attitude following the receipt of the second note expose him as a hypocrite ? (b) Why is Nora unmoved by Torvald’s declaration that he has forgiven her ?
10. Explain whether you think that Torvald truly understands Nora’s reasons for leaving.
11. How does the play’s title relate to Nora’s explanation of her decision to leave Torvald and the children ?
12. When this play was first performed, the people in the audience were stunned by Nora’s decision to leave her husband and children, since it puts her duty to her family second to her responsibility to herself. (a) Do you agree with her decision ? Why or why not ? (b) Do you think that her decision is as shocking today as when the play was first performed ? Explain.

QUESTIONS ON ACT II: A DOLL’S HOUSE

1. How does the condition of the Christmas tree at the beginning of the second act relate to the developments in the characters’ lives?
2. (a) What is the significance of Nora’s openly questioning whether her children would forget her if she were “gone for good”? (b) What later event might her question foreshadow or hint at?
3. What later event might be foreshadowed by Dr. Rank’s comment: “Those who go away are soon forgotten”?
4. (a) In what way does Dr. Rank’s condition parallel Nora’s situation? (b) (b) How does Rank’s condition parallel Krogstad’s situation? (c) What options are available to Nora and Krogstad that are unavailable to Rank?
5. (a) How would you characterize Nora’s relationship with Dr. Rank? (b) How would you describe her relationship with Anne-Marie? (c) What do Rank and Anne-Marie offer her that her husband does not?
6. (a) What is the significance of the fact that it begins to get dark during Nora’s conversation with Rank? (b) What does the lamp that the maid brings into the room symbolize or represent?
7. Why does Nora cover her ears when Rank speaks of suffering for the sins of his father?
8. Why does Nora decide not to ask Rank for the money?
9. (a) What is Krogstad’s attitude toward Torvald? (b) How is his attitude conveyed?
10.What is ironic about Torvald’s comment that Nora dances “as
If her life were at stake”?
11.What might be the “miracle” for which Nora says she is
waiting? Explain your answer.
12.What do you think that you might learn about personal
relationships from the problems facing Nora and Torvald?
13.(a) For which characters in the play do you have the most
sympathy? Why? (b) Which characters do you find dis-
tasteful ? Why?
14.How do you react to Nora’s comment that “there are some people that one loves most and other people that one would almost
prefer to be with”? Explain.

ACT II, A DOLL'S HOUSE

Students,

Please post your RRJ's for Act II of A Doll's House here...

Thanks!

ACT 1: A Doll's House

Students,

Don't forget to print out the remaining questions on Act 1 for Monday's class!

On Themes...

Recognizing Themes

A Doll’s House is an example of a literary work with numerous possible themes. To be considered valid, each of these possible themes must be supported by evidence in the play. For example, the idea that the play is an expression of the need for women to escape from the confinement and restriction that they faced in nineteenth-century European society is supported by the condescending manner in which Torvald treats Nora and by his frequent references to the respective roles of men and women.
Questions :

1. What evidence in the play supports the theme concerning the characteristics of a successful marriage ?
2. What evidence supports the theme that society and authority hinder the development of individuality ?
3. What evidence suggests that the play is about « the struggle which all serious-minded human beings have to wage with themselves to bring their lives into harmony with their convictions » ?
4. What theme does the play convey concerning the role of morality in people’s lives, and how is this theme conveyed ?

Notes continued...

NOTES AND QUESTIONS ON CHARACTERIZATION

In modern dramas, such as A Doll’s House, characters are generally developed through dialogue, action, and physical appearance. Although they may be regarded as an element of a character’s appearance of behavior, it is worth noting that personal possessions, such as Nora’s macaroons, may also play a minor role in character development.

1. What is revealed about Torvald’s personality through his explanation of his decision to fire Krogstad and his refusal to reconsider his decision?
2. What seems to be Torvald’s main concern in life? Support your answer.
3. How does Torvald’s main concern contrast with Nora’s primary concern?
4. How would you characterize Nora based on her comments and actions in the first acts?
5. (a) How would you characterize Dr. Rank? (b) How is his personality conveyed?

Predictions
After reading the first two acts of A Doll’s House, make predictions about the outcome of the play based on what you have already learned about the characters and their situations. Support your predictions with details from the first two acts.

1. How will Torvald react if he reads Krogstad’s letter?
2. How will Torvald’s reaction affect Nora and Torvald’s marriage?
3. What will become of Dr. Rank?
4. What will become of Krogstad and Mrs. Linde?

Appropriate Diction

In realistic drama, the diction, or the writer’s choice of words, must be appropriate for the characters. For example, it would be inappropriate to have uneducated people speak in elaborate, elevated language. However, this type of language would be suitable for a group of scholars.

1. How would you describe the language used by the characters in A Doll’s House?
2. Explain why this type of language is appropriate for these characters.
3. How does the language used add to the realism of the play?

More Notes

CHARACTERIZATION IN DRAMA

Characterization is the means by which a writer reveals a character’s personality. In a work of fiction, a character may be developed through a variety of different methods, including direct statements about the character’s personality and insights into the character’s thoughts and feelings. Similarly, the verse dramas written before Ibsen’s time often included soliloquies in which characters revealed their innermost thoughts directly to the audience. In contrast, realistic dramas generally do not include soliloquies, because in real life people rarely recite their thoughts aloud. As a result, characters in a realistic drama must be developed through physical appearances, comments, and actions and through other characters’ remarks about them. Everything the audiemce learns about the characters, including their names and occupations, must be revealed through the characters’ comments, actions, and appearances. Yet the dialogue cannot be written with the sole intention of conveying details about the characters. Instead, the dialogue must seem natural and realistic, as if it were taken from real-life conversations.

Act I, A DOLL'S HOUSE

Questions on Act I of A Doll’s House

1. Torvald refers to Nora by such names as his « little lark, » his « squirrel, » and the « little spendthrift. » (a) What does his use of these names suggest about his attitude about her ? Explain. (b) What seems to be Torvald’s attitude toward women in general, and how is his attitude revealed ?
2. What else is revealed about Torvald’s personality in the opening scene, and how is it revealed ?
3. Considering what Nora reveals to Mrs. Linde later in the act, what is ironic or surprising about Torvald’s comments concerning Nora’s management of money ?
4. (a) How would you characterize Nora and Torvald’s relationship based on their interactions in the opening scene ? Support your characterization with details. (b) What details in the first act indicate that Nora and Torvald do not know each other very well ? (c) Considering the true nature of Nora and Torvald’s relationship, what is ironic about her comment that if he found out her secret, it « would just ruin their relationship » ?
5. (a) What aspects of Nora’s personality are revealed in the information that she reveals to Mrs. Linde ? How do these aspects of her personality contrast with the impression that she conveys to her husband ?
6. Krogstad arrives just as Nora is commenting that « it is marvelous to live and be happy ! » (a) What is the signifiance of his timing ? (b) How do Nora’s actions following Krogstad’s arrival reveal that she is nervous ?
7. When the children appear at the door, Torvald comments that this place is unbearable now for anyone but mothers. » (a) What does this comment suggest about his attitude toward his children ? (b) What do Nora’s interactions with her children suggest about her relationship with them ?
8. (a) What aspects of Krogstad’s personality are revealed through his interactions with Nora, and how are they revealed ? (b) What seems to have been the nature of his previous relationship with Mrs. Linde ? (c) What details in the first act hint at the nature of the relationship ?
9. (a) What do Torvald’s comments about morality reveal about his character ? (b) How do his comments relate to Nora’s situation ? (c) What are the implications of his comments on her situation ?
10. How and why did your impression of Nora change throughout the course of the first act ?
11. Given the behavior of the characters during the first act, what differences can you see between our society and the society depicted in the play ?
12. It has been said that people who live their lives to please others never find real happiness. Do you agree or disagree ? Explain your answer.
13. Explain whether you think that the situation depicted in the play seems like something that would occur in real life.
14. Explain how the detailed set described in Ibsen’s stage directions contributes to the play’s realisitic quality.
15. Nora’s beloved macaroons are an example of the type of minute details that Ibsen often included in his plays. How does this inclusion of the macaroons contribute to the development of both Nora’s and Torvald’s character and add to the play’s realism ?
16. Find a passage of dialogue that you find especially realistic. Then explain how this passage resembles a real-life conversation.

Act I, A DOLL'S HOUSE

REALISM

The movement towards realism in the theater occurred in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Realism began as a reaction to the excessively contrived, sentimental, and didactic melodramas that dominated drama in nineteenth-century Europe and America.
Realism began in Europe with playwrights like Ibsen, Strindberg, and Shaw, reaching America a few years later where it found its fullest American expression in Eugene O’Neill.
Realists take a mimetic approach to theater, striving to create the illusion of everyday life on stage, with the audience’s eavesdropping on a slice of life.
Realists tend to depict the middle, lower, and lower-middle classes : their work, family life, language, dress, and problems.
They prefer contemporary settings.
In a direct response to melodrama, realists strive to create complex characters, to make internal conflict as dramatic as external conflict.
They prefer the open ending, which does not resolve all the play’s questions and sometimes leaves in doubt the future of the protagonist. The resolution or denouement is generally short in realistic dramas and virtually non-existent sometimes.

Act I, A DOLL'S HOUSE

Students, please post your Reader's Response Journal entries to A Doll's House under the comments. Thanks!

Assignments for the week of Aug. 31-Sept. 4

Flow Map Charts on Oedipus Rex were due Monday, 8/31. Projects on Oedipus Rex are due this Friday, 8/4. Unit Test on this play is this Thursday, 8/03. READ ALL NOTES ON THE BLOG AND STUDY TERMS WELL!

In-class essay: Comparative essay--Compare and contrast Oedipus and another major character from another play or novel that you've read. Must do prewriting, rough draft, get peer critiques from 3-4 peers, and edit/rewrite. Due Wednesday near the end of class. Must be in blue or black ink, on loose-leaf paper--Please DO NOT write on the back. Please double-space (skip lines to leave me space to comment, if necessary).

More Notes on OEDIPUS REX

Background Notes on Greek Tragedy

Greek tragedy apparently started with the singing of a choral lyric, the dithyramb, in honor of Dionysus. It was performed in a circular dancing-place, the orchestra, by a group of men who may have impersonated satyrs by wearing masks and dressing in goat-skins. (The Greek word tragoedia means “goat-song.”) Eventually, the content of the dithyramb was widened to any mythological or heroic story, and an actor was introduced to answer any questions posed by the choral group. (The Greek word for actor is hypocrites, which literally means “answerer.” It is the source of our English word “hypocrite.”) Tragedy was recognized as an official state cult in Athens in 534 BC. According to tradition, different Greek playwrights kept adding actors to their respective plays.
Greek tragedies were performed in late March/early April at an annual state religious festival in honor of Dionysus. The presentation took the form of a contest between three playwrights who presented their works on three successive days. Each playwright would prepare a trilogy of three tragedies which often featured linked stories. The Greek theatre was in the open air, on the side of a hill, and performances usually lasted most of the day. Performances were apparently open to all citizens, even women.
The presentation of the plays probably resembled modern opera more than what we think of as a “play.” All of the choral parts were sung (to flute accompaniment), and some of the actors’ answers to the chorus were sung as well. The play as a whole was composed in various verse meters. All actors were male and wore masks, which may have had some amplifying capabilities. A Greek chorus danced as well as sang. (The Greek word choros means “a dance in a ring.”) No one knows exactly what sorts of steps the chorus performed as it sang. But choral songs in tragedy are often divided into three sections: strophe (“turning, circling”), antistrophe (“counter-turning, counter-circling”), and epode (“after-song”). So perhaps the chorus would dance one way around the orchestra (“dancing-floor”) while singing the strophe, turn another way during the antistrophe, and then stand still during the epode.
Tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of hubris, fate, and the will of the gods. The tragic hero’s powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty (flaws in reason, hubris, society), the gods (through oracles, prophets, fate), or nature. Aristotle said that the tragic hero should have a flaw and/or make some mistake (hamartia). The hero need not die at the end, but he/she must undergo a change in fortune. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition (anagnorisis—“knowing again” or “knowing back” or “knowing throughout”) about human fate, destiny, and the will of the gods. Aristotle terms this sort of recognition “a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate.”
The tragic hero is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness—he undergoes this change because of some mistake. He is neither a villain nor a model of perfection but is basically good and decent. Our word “mistake” (hamartia) is translated as “flaw” or as “error.” The hero falls through—though not entirely because of—some weakness of character, some moral blindness, or error. The gods are in some sense responsible for the hero’s fall.
Plot is the most important element of tragedy. The best tragic plot is single and complex, rather than double (“with opposite endings for good and bad”—a characteristic of comedy in which the good are rewarded and the wicked punished). All plots have some pathos (“suffering”), but a complex plot includes reversal and recognition.
a) “reversal” (peripeteia)—occurs when a situation seems to be developing in one direction, then suddenly reverses to another.
b) “recognition” (anagnorisis)—a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate. Recognition scenes in tragedy are of some horrible event or secret, while those in comedy usually reunite long-lost relatives or friends. A plot with tragic reversals and recognitions best arouses pity and fear.
c) “suffering” (pathos)—this can also be translated as “a calamity,” the third element of plot is “a destructive or painful act.” (The English words “sympathy,” “empathy,” and “apathy” all stem from this Greek word.)


Analysis of Oedipus Rex

IMAGERY AND FORESHADOWING
Recurring images of darkness and light are associated with knowledge and ignorance…these images work as examples of a kind of foreshadowing.

THEMES/MOTIFS
1) Knowledge and ignorance
2) Choices and Consequences
3) Public versus Private Life
4) The quest for identity
5) The nature of innocence and guilt
6) The nature of moral responsibility
7) Human will versus fate
8) The abuse of power

CHARACTERS
1. Jocasta—she alternately condemns and upholds the authority of the oracles as best suits the direction of the argument at the moment. Finally, she gives up the struggle and hangs herself.
2. Creon—states that he does not wish for the throne; when he does become king, he acts with compassion towards Oedipus, leading him into the palace and then, as Oedipus requests, into exile.
3. Teiresias—he represents Apollo
4. Oedipus—prideful, stubborn, “blind” to the truth, suspicious of Creon’s motives.

STYLE
The protagonist inspires in his audience both emotions of pity and fear/horror; there is an opportunity for catharsis. Also, Sophocles builds suspense by doling out information bit by bit and postponing the crises.

STRUCTURE
The Prologue introduces the play; the parodos brings in the Chorus; there are four scenes presented with odes separating each scene; lastly, there is the Exodos (final act/scene). The fate of Oedipus is revealed herein.

STAGING
The Chorus performed on a raised stage—there were no female actors; plays were performed in amphitheatres; actors wore large masks and costumes—sometimes they wore elevated shoes.

CHORUS
Choral ode has a 3-part structure: a) strophe, b) antistrophe, c) epode (song and dance pattern). Choral odes bring an additional viewpoint to the play and often this perspective is broader and more socio-religious than those offered by individual characters; it is also conservative and traditional at times, in an effort to reflect the views of its society rather than the protagonist.

SETTING
Action occurs outside Oedipus’s palaces in Thebes.

Arg!! More Notes on Oedipus Rex

The three “unities: unity of place; unity of time; and unity of action.
Place: The setting of the play should be one location: in Oedipus Rex it is the steps before the palace.

Time: The action of the play should represent the passage of no more than one day. Previous events leading up to the present situation were recounted on stage.

Action: No action or scene in the play was to be a digression; all were contribute directly in some way to the plot. (There was very little irrelevant by-play as the action developed.)

Remember—1) To the Greeks the act counted, not the motive.
2) The murder of Liaus wasn’t a crime per se—in fact it was any Greek’s duty
to harm his enemies (as well as helping his friends). And as far as he knew
at the time Laius was an enemy—by insulting Oedipus he had made
himself one.
3) The worst conceivable crime was to kill one’s father; the second worst was to sleep with one’s mother.
4) Oedipus, the greatest of men, the solver of riddles, can only solve the
riddle of his own origins by revealing a truth too awful to bear.
5) The power of the curse—Oedipus, having cursed the murderer of Laius, feels he must carry out the sentence on himself.

The Sphinx is a creature having the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and horribly, the face and breast of a woman. She is treacherous and merciless: those who cannot answer her riddle suffer the horrible fate of being gobbled up whole and raw, eaten by this ravenous monster. Oedipus ends the Sphinx’s reign of terror over the people of Thebes by solving her riddle; but the man who overcomes the great threat to human culture posed by the Sphinx is the same man responsible for causing an even more serious pollution—this same man commits the cardinal sins of patricide/regicide and incest. Both the response and the responder to the riddle of the Sphinx is Man and Man turns out to be both the preserver and the polluter of the society. One possible interpretation of Sophocles’ message to his fifth century audience—that man has the power to both preserve and destroy. In order to make the right decision, he must go about his business with both eyes open.

Pollution: A pollution is a religious uncleanliness which is usually the result of murder of of other serious crimes(intentional or unintentional) and infects anyone and anything which comes into contact with.

Symbols: Oedipus’ swollen feet
The Three-Way Crossroads


Even More Notes on Oedipus Rex

Oedipus Rex, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus Tyrannos are three titles for the same play. “Tyrannos” means “tyrant,” and today means to the Greeks what it does to us; however originally, it was simply the title given to a ruler who came to the throne through his merit, not through hereditary succession.

For the Greeks the fertility of the soil and of the community were linked; therefore, one sees the imagery of agriculture and fertility in this play.

The fertility and the righteousness of a ruler were thought to be directly connected to the prosperity of his land.

The Chorus was very important in Greek plays. The Chorus was both engaged and passive, at times, both a participant and an observer. Made up of citizens, the Chorus was, in some way, Everyman—an Athenian citizen.

Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex when war-torn Athens had just been ravaged by a severe plague that devastated the city, killing its people and undermining faith in the laws and religious customs of the commonwealth.


Functions of the Choral Odes

Parodos: The Chorus establishes a melancholy mood and provides exposition. The leading citizens of Thebes are confused, frightened, and desperate.

Ode 1: Prepares the audience for what will occur, including the fact that the killer of Laius will be caught and that Teiresias will make a bold, bewildering pronouncement.

Ode 2: Helps establish themes, such as the importance of keeping the laws of the gods and maintaining faith in the oracles of Delphi, and warns against hubris.

Ode 3: Focuses attention on the critical issues: who are the parents of Oedipus? The tone is desperate and full of concern for their beloved king.

Ode 4: Expresses great sympathy for Oedipus, which, in part, manipulates the audience’s emotional response.

Exodos: The Choragos closes the play with a comment about human frailty and the unpredictable nature of existence.

More Notes on Oedipus Rex

--all violence takes place offstage
--all the action takes place in a single location and involves a small number of characters interacting with the central figure of Oedipus, who remains on stage for nearly the entire play
---The Chorus are turned into a “collective actor” within Oedipus Rex
--Oedipus Rex is mostly dramatic dialogue; BUT, what is left unsaid is often more powerful than what is explicitly expressed.
--Many lines contain a possible double meaning or ambiguity.
--Verbal irony and dramatic irony
--Oedipus’s initial desire to learn the identity of who murdered Laius is really a consuming desire to know his own identity.
--Tragic characters choose their destinies. Their choices cause their downfalls.

Yep ! More Notes on Oedipus Rex

Tragedies were performed in the context of a religious and civic festival, honoring the god Dionysus, provider of the grapes and wine that constituted one of the city’s major exports, and the patron goddess Athene. The inhabitants all came together to reaffirm their cohesion as a community. On the tragic stage, issues deeply affecting both the private individual and the citizen as a member of his or her polis were presented in such a way as to arouse pity and fear and to effect a purging of those emotions in the viewers.

A motif is a design or recurrent image or idea. The motif of the quest for knowledge is apparent from the beginning of Oedipus the King . In the priest’s speech, he refers to « speaking, » « teaching, » « hearing, » and « learning, » all of which are associated with knowledge. Oedipus’ initial desire to learn the identity of who murdered Laius is really a consuming desire to know his own identity.

Certain conditions must exist in tragedies. First, tragic characters must be of high birth or noble status in society. Second, they must experience a series of events that threaten their positions. These events should have a causal relationship; each event affects the next, so that every action is crucial to the plot. Finally, tragic characters must suffer a tragic fall through their own actions. The gods interfere to some degree ; they may even determine the outcome of the plot. However, they never direct the plot or the characters’ actions. Characters are responsible for their own actions—that is what renders tragedy tragic. A person who dies after an air conditioner falls on his/her head as he or she passes underneath it is not a tragic character because that person made no conscious choice. The even was simply an accident. Tragic characters, on the other hand, choose their destinies. It is their choices that cause their downfalls.

Notes...

Analysis of Oedipus Rex

IMAGERY AND FORESHADOWING
Recurring images of darkness and light are associated with knowledge and ignorance…these images work as examples of a kind of foreshadowing.

THEMES/MOTIFS
1) Knowledge and ignorance
2) Choices and Consequences
3) Public versus Private Life
4) The quest for identity
5) The nature of innocence and guilt
6) The nature of moral responsibility
7) Human will versus fate
8) The abuse of power

CHARACTERS
1. Jocasta—she alternately condemns and upholds the authority of the oracles as best suits the direction of the argument at the moment. Finally, she gives up the struggle and hangs herself.
2. Creon—states that he does not wish for the throne; when he does become king, he acts with compassion towards Oedipus, leading him into the palace and then, as Oedipus requests, into exile.
3. Teiresias—he represents Apollo
4. Oedipus—prideful, stubborn, “blind” to the truth, suspicious of Creon’s motives.

STYLE
The protagonist inspires in his audience both emotions of pity and fear/horror; there is an opportunity for catharsis. Also, Sophocles builds suspense by doling out information bit by bit and postponing the crises.

STRUCTURE
The Prologue introduces the play; the parodos brings in the Chorus; there are four scenes presented with odes separating each scene; lastly, there is the Exodos (final act/scene). The fate of Oedipus is revealed herein.

STAGING
The Chorus performed on a raised stage—there were no female actors; plays were performed in amphitheatres; actors wore large masks and costumes—sometimes they wore elevated shoes.

CHORUS
Choral ode has a 3-part structure: a) strophe, b) antistrophe, c) epode (song and dance pattern). Choral odes bring an additional viewpoint to the play and often this perspective is broader and more socio-religious than those offered by individual characters; it is also conservative and traditional at times, in an effort to reflect the views of its society rather than the protagonist.

SETTING
Action occurs outside Oedipus’s palaces in Thebes.

Notes on OEDIPUS REX continued...

Questions on Scene 3/Choral Ode

1. Discuss how the messenger’s arrival makes us feel that the plot has been tied into a « knot » that needs to be undone.
2. Look up the Greek word « philos. » How is this ironic when Oedipus uses this word in speaking to Jocasta ?
3. How do you respond to Oedipus’ reaction of relief to the messenger’s message ? Why ?
4. How does the fact that Oedipus should derive comfort from what ought to be bad news highlight the way in which everything is turned upside down in this legend ?
5. By refusing to go near his parents, and thus, theoretically, eliminating the chance of fulfilling the oracle, what is Oedepus really avoiding ?
6. Who is « Liaus’ man »?
7. What does Jocasta mean in lines 140-142 ?
8. Why do you think Jocasta does not want the truth about Oedipus’ birth revealed ?
9. How is Oedipus being unfair to Jocasta in lines 158-162 ?
10.What is Oedipus’ reaction to his being a foundling ?
11.What is the Chorus’ reaction to this news ?

Oedipus Rex

Questions on Scene 4/Choral Ode

1. How does the messenger’s well-meaning effort to jog the old herdsman’s memory remind us of the way a cross-examiner might try to get a recalcitrant witness to « remember » in court ?
2. Why is the old man (herdsman) reluctant to answer ?
3. What does Oedipus threaten to do to make the herdsman talk ?
4. Why does the herdsman shrink from saying what he’s been forced to tell ?
5. Why does Oedipus feel compelled to hear the truth uttered aloud ?
6. The rapid-fire dialogue between Oedipus and the herdsman is an example of what ?
7. Why does Oedipus want never again to see the light of sun now that the truth has been clearly revealed ?
8. Do the Chorus’ words suggest that Oedipus did anything to deserve his fate ?
9. Oedipus’ fall from grace is an example of what ?
10. Explain the metaphor of « Time » in Antistrophe 2.
11. Choruses frequently meditate on the ways in which affection brings suffering. Why ?

Questions on the Exodos

1. Describe the prelude to Jocasta’s death.
2. How did Jocasta die ?
3. What was Oedipus’ reaction to Jocasta’s suicide ?
4. Why did Oedipus commit this act ?
5. Whom does Oedipus curse ?
6. What does Oedipus mean when he says that Apollo was the curse, but he himself is the agent of his own blinding ?
7. Is it reasonable that Oedipus feels he cannot bear to look on anything in the world anymore ?
8. What ironies are involved in Oedipus’ curse on the man who saved him ?
9. Why is he disturbed that his friends pity him and feel pain for him ?
10. Do you agree or disagree witgh the Chorus that Oedipus would be better off dead than blind and banished ?
11. What might Oedipus’ decision to go on living in blindness, exile, and suffering say about his heroic statue ?
12. Why does Oedipus say that he deserves worse punishment than hanging ?
13. Now that Oedipus is blind, where is his inner vision turned ?
14. How are Creon’s tone and remarks reminiscent of Jocasta ?
15. Is there evidence that Creon is cool and impatient with Oedipus ?
16. Analyze lines 222-242.
17. How is Oedipus’ speech like a funeral lament ?
18. Is Creon’s admonition about Oedipus’ children mean-spirited, kindly, justified ? Why ?