- How does our contemporary concept of “tragedy” differ from Sophocles? What elements are necessary to qualify as “tragedy” then and now?
- 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 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?