Oedipus Rex Lesson: Pages 1345 to 1359
Lesson plan for the end of the play, with a quiz and discussion questions that have answers.
ENGLISH 11AP:
Daily Plan
UNIT: Oedipus Rex
DAY: 3
Assignment to have been completed: Students should have read pages 1345-1359 of Oedipus Rex.
Objectives:
- 1. To analyze a full-length drama
Activities:
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A. Distribute quiz over assigned scenes. Allow students about 10 minutes (less if everyone is finished) to complete the quiz. Collect the quizzes and place them with these plans.
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B. Go over the following questions with the students. Call on volunteers or go up and down the seating chart. I have provided answers to guide your judgment of their responses.
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1. What is the tone of the Shepherd’s lines: 1067, 1069, 1077, and 1080?
evasive
What about those lines creates that tone?
1067 – He answers a question with a question.
1069 – At first he answers with a solid no, but then backpedals as though he wishes not to tell a lie.
1077 – At first he answers with a solid yes, but then notes that the events transpired long ago, implying that he cannot be certain.
1080 – He becomes defensive.
What is the tone of line 1082?
Angry and demanding
What about that line creates that tone?
He resorts to a curse and a command that the Messenger be silent as though he had the authority to do so.
What is the tone of lines 1086 and 1088?
Dismissive and pleading
What about those lines creates that tone?
He claims the Messenger is a troublemaker with nothing to support his claim, and he finds himself afflicted by these questions about an event that took place years ago.
What is the tone of lines 1092, 1094, 1100, and 1104?
Remorseful and afraid of what he knows
What about those lines creates that tone?
What he knows is so horrible that he wishes he had been punished the day he helped set it in motion.
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2. What makes lines 1118-1123 the probable climax of the play?
Oedipus knows that he has murdered his father and married his mother. From such a realization, there is no turning back.
Ode 4
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1. What is the tone of Strophe 1?
lamentation
What evidence supports that tone?
The initial word “Alas”
“generations / That breathe on the void and are void / And exist and do not exist?”
“Who bears more weight of joy / Than mass of sunlight . . .”
“Your splendor is all fallen”
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2. What is the tone of Antistrophe 1?
Respectful reminiscence
What evidence supports that tone?
They praise Oedipus’ mind.
They recall and celebrate his overcoming the sphinx.
They marvel at his wisdom as a lawgiver.
What figure of speech is used in line 115?
Apostrophe
What is the tone of lines 1160-1162?
Incredulity
What is the main idea of Antistrophe 2?
Time has caught up with Oedipus’ sins.
Exodos
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1. What do the following words mean: malediction, execrable, parricide, and purge?
Malediction – a prayer that harm will come to someone
Execrable – extremely unsatisfactory
Parricide – the killing of a parent
Purge – extremely unsatisfactory
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2. What figure of speech is used in lines 1180-1182?
hyperbole
What is its function?
It emphasizes the enormity of Oedipus’ sins, touching on those of Laios and Iokaste as well.
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3. Line 1184 might be regarded as a theme statement for this play. Do you believe it is or not?
THIS IS AN OPEN QUESTION.
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4. Paraphrase line 1200.
Iokaste conceived a husband (Oedipus) with her husband (Laios), and she gave birth to children whose father was her child (their brother).
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5. What figure of speech dominates Oedipus’ speech in lines 1220-1225?
Hyperbole
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6. Anadiplosis is a construction in which a word that occurs at the end of one sentence or clause is repeated at the beginning of the next sentence or clause. Locate an example of anadiplosis on page 1352.
“. . . remorse in pain, / pain in remorse.” (1273-1274)
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7. What type of irony is presented in Strophe 1?
Situational – Apollo, the god of healing, has brought down both a plague and blindness.
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Assignment for next class meeting: Read pages 1345-1359 of Oedipus Rex.