OEDIPUS SCHOLARS

Question 1

what causes his ruin

Answer 1

is his strength and courage, his loyalty to Thebes, and his loyalty to the truth. In all this we are to see him as a free agent. And his self-mutilation and self-banishment are equally free acts.’ – Knox

Question 2

Oedipus is enraged

Answer 2

by Tiresias not because of his temple but because of his passion to help his people, as he believes Tiresias is conspiring against him. – Finglass

Question 3

Oedipus’ hamartia and tragic flaw…hubris

Answer 3

is his anger and his arrogance, leading to hubristic behaviour. – Wyles
* Accepting worship from his people, attitude towards oracles, treatment of Tiresias.
* Treatment of Tiresias, the shepherd and Jocasta

Question 4

Oedipus’ character caused the events

Answer 4

before the play to occur: he tried to escape his fate which resulted in it being fulfilled. His temper led to him killing Laius and his pride at solving the Sphinx’s riddle lead him to marry his mother. – Wyles

Question 5

For Aristotle, this play is the perfect example

Answer 5

of a tragedy “which presents someone of high reputation and prosperity who falls into misfortune, not because he is wicked, but because of some mistake”. – Garvie

Question 6

The search for the killer

Answer 6

of Laius turns into “the search for his own identity. Laius is forgotten, as is his earlier determination to save the city from the plague” [Compare this with Finglass’ emphasis on pity as Oedipus’ motivation]. The shepherd is never questioned about the killing of Laius for which he was originally summoned. - Garvie

Question 7

Double determination –

Answer 7

combination of human motivation and the will of the gods/fate combine to create an unavoidable, fated outcome. – Wyles

Question 8

“This is not

Answer 8

a play of crime and punishment” (Oedipus does not suffer because he did something wrong, but because of fate) - Rutherford

Question 9

Fate is not

Answer 9

entirely fixed. Jocasta chooses to commit suicide; Oedipus chooses to blind himself, fulfilling Tiresias’ prediction. - Rutherford

Question 10

“The divine power

Answer 10

and the human agent are working together, hardly separable.” – Rutherford

Question 11

Oedipus is not a

Answer 11

puppet. In Greek eyes, fate is predictable and inescapable but within it there is choice and freedom of action. – Knox

Question 12

In Sophocles, the gods

Answer 12

are not “just” but they are “real” and must be worshipped. - Knox

Question 13

‘the chorus’s songs

Answer 13

are of fundamental importance for an understanding of the play.’ – Winnington-Ingram

Question 14

Oedipus is his

Answer 14

own destroyer
- Fagles

Question 15

Oedipus is a paradox -

Answer 15

he is both a saviour and destroyer
- Goldhill

Question 16

Tiresias is physically blind,

Answer 16

while Oedipus, the physically sighted knows nothing
- Garvie