Oedipus Rex: Discussion Questions

Oedipus Rex: Discussion Questions

  • Submitted By: beebamunda
  • Date Submitted: 02/18/2013 6:14 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 665
  • Page: 3
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Discussion Questions, Oedipus Rex

1. The most widely accepted view of Oedipus is that he is guilty of overweening pride, and hence, he has to suffer. The primary basis for this view comes in lines 963 – 978, which read in the Fagles translation: “Pride breeds the tyrant/violent pride, gorging, crammed to bursting/with all that is overripe and rich with ruin--/clawing up to the heights, headlong pride/crashes down the abyss—sheer doom!/No footing helps , all foothold lost and gone./But the healthy strife that makes the city strong--/I pray that god will never end that wrestling:/god my champion, I will never let you go./But is any man comes striding, high and mighty in all he says and does,/no fear of justice, no reverence/for the temples of the gods--/let a rough doom tear him down,/repay his pride, breakneck, ruinous pride!” Is pride the primary failing of Oedipus? Why or why not? Does Oedipus have any other failings? 2. Laius and Jocasta were warned by Apollo that their son would kill his father and marry his mother, yet they did not kill the baby when they had a chance. Are they guilty of defying the gods, and did they bring their doom upon themselves as a result? Was their doom merited? 3. Oedipus Rex is often seen as a play which is deterministic in outlook. Does Oedipus have choices, or is he locked into his fate? What supporting evidence can you give for either position? 4. The play makes use of the words “sight,” “see,” and “eyes” constantly. In addition, there is an interplay between Tiresias, the blind seer who “sees,” and Oedipus, the sighted man who is “blind.” Is this technique effective to set up one of the major themes of the play – the ability or inability to see what is before us, or our past? 5. Freud noted that the tale of Oedipus was rooted in the desire of the son for his mother, and the hatred of his father for possessing his mother. He later recanted part of this theory as it applied to the play, but held that it was still a valid...

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