QUESTIONS

1. Examine the significance of the Prologue to the play and the role of the stranger in the opening scene.

2. What is the dramatic function of the Parados in Oedipus At Colonus?

3. Comment on Sophocles' use of the "kommos" or choral lament in the different episodes of the play.

4. What are the contrasting effects created by the presence of the chorus and the arrivals of Ismene and Theseus in Episode I?

5. Critically analyze the function of the chorus in the play. 6. What are the major Themes and images highlighted in the various stasima of this Sophoclean play?

8. How does Sophocles prepare us for the arrival of Polyneices? Describe the confrontation between father and son. What are Antigone's reactions to her brother's departure?

9. What is Theseus' role in the first three episodes of the play? Does the nature of his role change after Episode IV?

10. What account does the Messenger provide of the mysterious circumstances of Oedipus' death?

11. Contrast the characters of Theseus and Creon as statesmen of their respective city-states.

12. How does Sophocles make use of Greek myths, religious rituals, and the legend of the house of Thebes in Oedipus At Colonus?

13. Critically examine the structure of Sophocles' Oedipus At Colonus. Do you think it is a typical Greek classical tragedy? 14. Comment on the difference in Oedipus' relationships to his daughters and to his sons.

15. Discuss the view that Oedipus At Colonus embodies a profound philosophy about the meaning of life and the mystery of death.

16. Explain, in some detail, the deeper symbolic significance of this tale of Oedipus' old age, suffering and death.

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