Card 0 of 12
In this ancient Greek play, a man abandoned as a child fulfills a prophecy by becoming the king of Thebes, murdering his father Laius and marrying his mother Jocasta in the process. Which play is it?
The play described is Oedipus Rex, an iconic tragedy written around the 420s BCE by the Greek playwright Sophocles. The play, which belongs to a trilogy including Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone, gave rise to numerous other works and to the Freudian concept of an oedipal complex.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Which classic Greek play genre used pranks, burlesque elements and choruses of inebriated goat-like males (often equipped with phallic props) to portray material from Greek mythology or epic poetry?
The satyr play is the genre described above. It often appeared as the final play in a four-play cycle of ancient Greek tragedy, of which Sophocles’ Oedipus cycle is a famous example.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Which tragedy by the Greek playwright Euripides features the story of Jason’s wife, a woman who is abandoned for a Corinthian princess and subsequently seeks a bloody revenge?
This is Euripides’ Medea, named after the heroine of the play. In the drama, Medea murders Jason’s new wife and her children and escapes to Athens to begin a new life. A controversial work at the time, Medea, like many of Euripides’ works, is remarkable for its complex and nuanced portrayal of a victim’s struggle for autonomy in an unsympathetic society.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
This Athenian playwright is known for comedies such as The Frogs, The Clouds, and Peace. Who is it?
The comic genius Aristophanes is responsible for these plays and for nearly two dozen more, some of which are now lost. The playwright was known especially for lambasting society with his scathing wit, a skill that contributed to the condemnation and death of Socrates.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
This trilogy of Greek tragedies was written by Aeschylus and follows the story of the doomed House of Atreus. What is it?
The Oresteia, composed of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides, concerns a curse placed on the House of Atreus after the murder of Agamemnon by his wife, Clytemnestra. The works include the reunion of Agamemnon’s children Electra and Orestes, who murder their mother to avenge their father’s death, and the pursuit and torture of Orestes by the Erinyes, or Greek furies responsible for justice.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
The play Antigone, which concerns a Theban legend of civil war and an unsanctified dead body, was written by which of the following Greek dramatists?
Antigone was written by Sophocles, who, along with Aeschylus and Euripides, is one of the only ancient Greek dramatists with work surviving today. The play in question contains the familiar Greek character Tiresias, the blind prophet, as well as Creon, the new king of Thebes; the slain brothers Eteocles and Polyneices; and the sisters Antigone and Ismene. In addition to its literary significance, the play achieved political importance by speaking out against despotism and anarchy and by promoting democratic society.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Which of the following Greek comedies concerns a group of women who try to end the Peloponnesian War by withholding sex from their husbands and lovers?
This play is Lysistrata, written by Aristophanes (the “Father” or “Prince” of ancient comedy). It concerns the eponymous heroine Lysistrata, who rallies the women in their efforts to bring about peace, and serves as commentary on the relationship between men and women in patriarchal ancient Greece.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Several nineteenth-century European plays were based on which famous novel-in-verse of the same name by the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin?
Eugene Onegin, originally written by Alexander Pushkin, concerns the eponymous main character, the fictional poet Vladimir Lensky, the shy but passionate Tatyana, and her vain older sister Olga. The novel’s and subsequent plays’ themes include the relationship between art and life, the absurdity of social conventions such as duels, and the mortality and loneliness of man.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Which famous nineteenth-century Scandinavian playwright wrote A Doll’s House, The Wild Duck, Peer Gynt, and An Enemy of the People?
The listed works are by Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian dramatist, director, and poet. His work is known for its strict, often bleak realism and for its role in introducing modernism to the theater. Plays such as A Doll’s House criticized social conventions that Ibsen saw as limiting and artificial, particularly marriage, motherhood, and family life.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Which eighteenth-century German poet and playwright was responsible for dramas such as Wilhelm Tell, The Maid of Orleans, The Robbers, and the Wallenstein trilogy?
Friedrich Schiller, one of the most important playwrights of the 1700s, was known for shepherding in the artistic movement known as Weimar Classicism. He did so with the help of Goethe, a friend and literary rival, and with his own work, which include the lyrics to Beethoven’s famous Ode to Joy.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Which four-part operatic masterpiece by the German composer Richard Wagner includes use of ancient Norse sagas, mythical structures, and musical elements such as the leitmotif?
The dramatic work in question is the Ring cycle, known in German as Der Ring des Nibelungen. The work’s structure is modeled on the ancient Greek dramas that contained three tragedies and a satyr play, with a full performance lasting more than half a day. Characters include Wotan, Fricka, Freia, Siegmund, Sieglinde, Siegfried, Gunther, and Brünnhilde.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Which famous Mozart opera is based on the legend of a seductive, lascivious Italian nobleman and has inspired such writers as Flaubert, Kierkegaard, and George Bernard Shaw?
This is Don Giovanni, named after the title character. Don Giovanni (or Don Juan as he is known in legend) seduces and takes advantage of many other characters in the opera before he is confronted with a ghost that kills him and carries him down to hell. This character has served as an archetype and as a common cultural reference for a young male philanderer in literature.
Compare your answer with the correct one above