CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS: OEDIPUS

Directions: Answer each question fully. You must write ate least 5 sentences for each question. Type your responses. This will be collected and counted as a test grade.

Critical Thinking

1. Which plays a greater role in this play: fate or free will? Pay attention to the fact that each who was told the prophecy tried to avoid his/her fate. Then again, Oedipus could have stopped his

search if he wanted to. Support your decision with evidence from the text.

 2. Why is it particularly ironic that Teiresias, the prophet, is blind?

3. Define “tragic hero”. Does Oedipus fit this definition? Why or why not?

4. Discuss the playwright’s use of dramatic irony throughout the tragedy.

5.Examine Jocasta’s entrance in Scene II. How are her words to her husband like those of a scolding mother? Explain the irony of her lines.