Oedipus Rex

If you were directing Oedipus Rex, how would you encourage the actor playing Jocasta to describe Laius’s attempted infanticide or the actor playing Oedipus to describe fleeing from the people he believes are his parents? Why would you stage these scenes this way?

The Chorus provides interludes of music, dance, and commentary. What dramatic, thematic, and emotional roles does the Chorus serve?

Where do you see Sophocles’s influence? Find a book, play, or poem influenced by Oedipus Rex, and compare that work to the play. How do later authors engage with ideas the play raises?

What dramatic and thematic purposes does the final scene between Oedipus and his daughters serve?

Trace the bird imagery throughout the play. Why do birds play such a prominent symbolic role?

The story of Oedipus would have been thoroughly familiar to Sophocles’s audience. How does Sophocles play upon viewers’ expectations? How does the play create drama and tension?

Research the mythical prophet Tiresias. Why is he be the one to bring Oedipus the bad news? How does his story connect to Oedipus’s?

While fate crushes Oedipus, the play also gives him opportunities to turn back. Many people beg him not to ask any more questions about the past. How does Oedipus’s curiosity work with the play’s ideas about destiny and truth?