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Greek Drama
Background Story of Oedipus
That One Character
Say What?!?! Oedipus Rex The Play
Vocabulary Terms
100
What is a tragedy?
A 100
A story in which the protagonist comes to an unhappy ending.
A 100
How many actors were onstage during a Greek
play?
A 200
There were three ACTORS in a Greek Drama
1)The Protagonist2)The Deuteragonist3)The Tritagonist
A 200
How did the audience determine which actor played which character
onstage?
A 300
Masks and Costumes
A 300
What is the difference between the job of an Actor and the job of a
member of the chorus?
A 400
Actors were hired and paid professionals.
Participating as a member of the Chorus was considered a
civic duty.
A 400
Name at least three roles of the Chorus in a
Greek drama.
A 500
To provide a link from actors to audience
To respond in the way a perfect audience member would respond to the action of the play.
To provide tension release.
To reflect on what has already happen and to ponder what might happen next.
To separate one scene from another.
To sometimes provide advice to central characters in the play
A 500
What is the prophecy first told to King Laius and then to Oedipus as an
adolescent?
B 100
The son will kill the father and marry/mate with the
mother
B 100
The Oracle at Delphi where the prophecy is told is a holy place of
which God?
B 200
Apollo
B 200
What is the name of the King and Queen of
Corinth?
B 300
Polybus and Merope
B 300
What does the name Oedipus mean?
What does Rex translate to?
B 400
Oedipus means “he of the swollen feet”
Rex translates to “the King”
B 400
Explain the answer and the logic to the following riddle of the Sphinx that Oedipus solved:
What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon,
and three legs in the evening?
B 500
MAN – crawls on “four legs” in the morning or the beginning
of life as a baby, walks on “two legs” in the afternoon or
middle of life as an adolescent and adult, and walks on “three
legs” in the evening as an elderly person with a cane or
walking stick.
B 500
The protagonist of the story whose character
flaw is hubris.
C 100
Oedipus Rex
C 100
The mother & wife of Oedipus Rex who dies tragically in the play
C 200
Jocasta
C 200
The uncle & brother-in-law of Oedipus and Jocasta’s
brother who is accused by Oedipus of conspiracy and being a traitor to Thebes
C 300
Creon
C 300
C 400
Place A Wager
The messenger who arrives in Part III of the play from Corinth, who delivers the
news of the death of the King of Corinth, is also the drunk man who tells Oedipus in his adolescence that he is adopted.
What connection does he have to Oedipus’ childhood and to the one
surviving witness to the killing of King Lauis?
C 400
He took the baby from the servant of King Laius and shepherd of Thebes to the King and Queen of Corinth
C 400
The blind transgender prophet of Apollo who sees and knows everything in the past, present
and future
C 500
Tiresias
C 500
Explain the significance of the following quote spoken by Tireseias in Part I of the
play:
“Ah, but aren’t you the best man alive at solving
riddles?”
D 100
Oedipus cannot solve the riddle of his life
D 100
Explain how the following quote spoken by Creon in Part II indirectly characterizes
Oedipus:
“My fellow-citizens, I hear King Oediups levels terrible charges at me. I had to come. I resent it
deeply.”D 200
Oedipus is characterized as being arrogant, or
quick to jump to a conclusion
D 200
Explain what vocabulary term is demonstrated by the two following quotes, spoken by Oedipus at the
beginning and end of the play:
“Here I am myself – You all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus.”
“What grief can crown this grief? It’s mine alone, my destiny – I am Oedipus.”
D 300
Tragic Downfall is demonstrated through these two quotes
because they represent Oedipus at the beginning of the play, as a famous hero, and at the end of the play, as an infamous tragic hero who has come to a tragic
downfall
D 300
Summarize the following lines spoken by Jocasta – what the
heck is she saying here?
“A prophet? Well then, free yourself of every charge! Listen to me and learn
some peace of mind: no skill in the world … can penetrate the future. Here is the
proof, quick and to the point.”
D 400
Jocasta assures Oedipus not to worry because she has quick and easy proof that
prophets, and no human or skill can predict the future.
D 400
Explain the dramatic irony in the following passage spoken by
Oedipus in Part I:
“But I am the King now, I hold the throne that he held then, possess his bed and a wife who shares our seed might be the same, children born of the
same mother might have created blood-bonds between us if his hope of offspring hadn’t met
disaster … So I will fight for him as if he were my father, stop at nothing, search the world to lay my
hands on the man who shed his blood …”
D 500
Oedipus does not know that he is the “seed” of King Lauis, his real father, with whom he shares
“blood bonds”
“Children born of the same mother” describes his relationship with his wife and mother, Jocasta, with whom he has four children
Oedipus declares to “fight for [Laius] as if he were my father,” not knowing that he will be on
a search looking for himself
D 500
How does the Chorus feel about Oedipus at the beginning of the play?
E 100
They feel he is like a god
They feel he is a hero for saving Thebes from the Sphinx
and the first plague
E 100
What message does Creon bring back from the Oracle
about how to cure Thebes of the plague?
E 200
They must find and punish the man who killed King
Laius
E 200
Name at least three elements of the plague
that are affecting Thebes at the beginning of the
play.
E 300
Dying crops
Dying cattle
Women dying in labor
Babies being born dead
Dead bodies spreading the plague
Everyone is being affected, from young to old, men and women
E 300
Where does Oedipus ask to be banished at the end of the play and why is this
place significant to Oedipus?
E 400
Mount Cithaeron where Oedipus was abandoned to
die as a baby
E 400
What is the symbolic significance of Oedipus’ self-blinding in the final
scene of the play?
E 500
Oedipus blinds himself because there is nothing in the world that could ever bring him joy. He was previously blind to the truth of his life; now he knows the truth but is
physically blind.
E 500
What is Hubris?
F 100
Overwhelming pride or arrogance and the character flaw of
Oedipus Rex
F 100
What is a Tragic Hero?
F 200
A character who is neither totally good nor
completely evil who experience their
downfall because of their character flaw
F 200
What is a Tragic Flaw?
F 300
A character weakness or error in judgment that leads
to a character’s downfall. The flaw may or may not be
within the character’s control.
F 300
What is Dramatic Irony?
F 400
Instances when the audience knows something
of importance that a character or many
characters in the play do not know
F 400
F 500
What is the purpose of the prologue? Name at least two
things.
To introduce characters
To establish a setting for the play
To establish the problem in the story
To give necessary background information
F 500
The Final Jeopardy Category is:
The Play
Please record your wager.
Click on screen to begin
What is the moral of the story of Oedipus Rex,
according to the last lines in the play, spoken by the
Chorus?
Click on screen to continue
Please come up with an answer as a group.
Click on screen to continue
Thank You for Playing Jeopardy!
