Here are some questions to think about for Wednesday’s class.

• How does our contemporary concept of “tragedy” differ from Sophocles? What elements are necessary to qualify as “tragedy”?
• What are the symptoms of the plague in Thebes? How are they appropriate to the crime?
• Locate examples of dramatic irony in the text? What is the intended effect of irony in Oedipus?
• Why is so much disclosed through riddles? Is there some relationship between riddle-solving and the exercise of free will?
• What is the narrative function of the 1st scene between Oedipus and Kreon (beginning at line 617)? What do we learn about each from the scene?
• Do you think Jokasta bears any blame for Oedipus’s fate? What errors does she make?
• How many different kinds of blindness are depicted in the tragedy? How does blindness function on both a literal and figurative level?