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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why is Oedipus fearful of returning to his homeland?
(a) He does not wish to leave his wife.
(b) He is still afraid of the prophecy.
(c) He does not want to abandon Thebes.
(d) He does not want to be a king.

2. According to Hecuba, what also died on the same day as her warrior son?
(a) Hope.
(b) Her heart.
(c) Priam's resolve to win the war.
(d) Troy.

3. What does Oedipus reveal to Jocasta at the end of the play?
(a) He never loved her.
(b) He is leaving Thebes.
(c) He is cursed by the gods.
(d) He is her son.

4. Whom does Hecuba predict will not find peace for a long time?
(a) Pyrrhus.
(b) Menelaus.
(c) Agamemnon.
(d) Ulysses.

5. What does Oedipus do to Creon at the end of the third act?
(a) He exiles him.
(b) He tortures him.
(c) He imprisons him.
(d) He kills him.

6. For whom do Hecuba and the chorus lament, though they say nothing will ever adequately express their loss?
(a) Priam.
(b) Hector.
(c) Paris.
(d) Achilles.

7. From where does the messenger in the fourth act come in "Oedipus"?
(a) Thebes.
(b) Corinth.
(c) Troy.
(d) Sparta.

8. What course of action does Tiresias propose he take in order to help avenge the king's murder?
(a) He will sacrifice himself to the gods for the end of the plague.
(b) He will go to the Oracle himself.
(c) He will pray to Zeus for guidance.
(d) He will summon the king's ghost.

9. Where does Andromache hide her son?
(a) The temple of Apollo.
(b) The marketplace.
(c) The caves by the edge of the city.
(d) Hector's tomb.

10. About what does Hector warn Andromache in a dream?
(a) She must take care of Hecuba.
(b) The Greeks will kill their son.
(c) The Greeks will attempt to claim her as a prize.
(d) Polyxena is going to be sacrificed.

11. How does Oedipus punish himself at the end of the play?
(a) He tears out his eyes.
(b) He cuts off his hands.
(c) He sacrifices himself to Zeus to end the plague.
(d) He kills himself.

12. Why is Pyrrhus angry at Agamemnon?
(a) Agamemnon refuses to acknowledge Pyrrhus as a warrior.
(b) Agamemnon refuses to accept responsibility for Achilles' death.
(c) Agamemnon has not sacrificed a maiden in honor Achilles.
(d) Agamemnon refuses to take the Trojan women captive.

13. About what does a Trojan elder instruct Andromache to lie?
(a) She will claim that she was not Hector's wife.
(b) She will claim that she is protected by Apollo.
(c) She will claim Astyanax is hiding in the castle.
(d) She will claim Astyanax was killed when Troy fell.

14. Whose priests gave Oedipus the prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother?
(a) Hephaestus.
(b) Apollo.
(c) Hades.
(d) Zeus.

15. According to the ghost, what will end the plague?
(a) Jocasta's death.
(b) Oedipus' departure from Thebes.
(c) Creon's ascension to the throne.
(d) Oedipus sacrificing himself to Zeus.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why is Creon sent away at the end of the first act of "Oedipus"?

2. What is significant about Hecuba's exit at the end of the play?

3. What does the messenger reveal that Oedipus refuses to do in the fifth act?

4. Why does Helen claim she is in a worse position than the Trojan women?

5. What deception must Helen play on Polyxena?

(see the answer keys)

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