Antigone

Reading Guide Answers

Prologue1. “repulse of the Argive army,” Thebes

wins, Eteocles & Polyneices die

2. Antigone & Ismene are arguing about burying their brother, Polyneices

Prologue

1. It is the right thing to do- God’s law

2. He is a traitor (broke his exile, made war on his home city and family)

3. Fear & respect for the law

Prologue

6. “we are only women, we cannot fight with men” “I have no strength to break laws that were made for the public good” “Impossible things must not be tried at all”

7. not loving Polyneices8. very! Without proper burial the dead

person’s soul would wander the Earth without rest for all eternity

Prologue

9. Oedipus- went insane, tore own eyes out

Iocaste- strangled herself

10. No! Tell everyone, they’ll hate you otherwise when they find out what I’ve done

11. If she dies, “that crime is holy” and “it will not be the worst of deaths—death without honor”

Prologue

12. City Elder/Senator, and (choragos) leader of the elders

13. the battle the night before, how Eteocles and Polyneices kill each other in battle

Scene 1

1. Creon

2. What does the future hold; why has he called us together?

3. A ship “our Ship of State”

4. their loyalty

5. strong and wise, not afraid to make the difficult decisions

6. Polyneices cannot be buried

Scene 1

7. they agree to obey the law

8. the sentry

9. Polyneices has been buried

10. selling his loyalty

11. the sentries threw dice

Ode 1

12. a lyric sung by the chorus which develops the importance of the action

13. the power of human intelligence

14. Intelligence combined with respect for the law

Scene 2

1. Someone buried Polyneices2. The choragos and sentry talk about who the

prisoner is and what she did3. To mourn him4. a mother bird who returns to an empty nest5. I do. I deny nothing.6. Did you hear of the new law?7. Yes8. It was not god’s law9. If she had left Polyneices unburied, she would

have suffered. Now she is at peace.

Scene 2

10. Breaking the law and boasting of it

11. Ismene

12. They agree with me(Antigone), but out of fear say nothing

13. Eteocles, they are both brothers and “equal in blood”

14. Yes, if she will let me say so. I am guilty.

Scene 2

15. No, you refused to help!

16. grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver

17. Yours did… when you assumed guilt with the guilty!

18. shock

Ode 2

19. death, the end of the family line

20. the things that humans find enjoyable will get us in trouble

Scene 3

1. Haimon

2. no marriage means more to me than your continuing wisdom

3. He would have to change his mind and admit he was wrong

4. Anarchy, anarchy!

5. He says the people think Antigone did the right thing; “it is not reason to never yield to reason!”

6. Anger

Scene 3

7. He feels they are inferior, “If we are to be defeated, let it not be by women.”

8. Peacemaker

9. Suicide

10. A young man in a rage is dangerous

11. She will not be executed, she is pardoned

12. walled up in a cave with food

Ode 3

13. Love

Scene 4

1. Sad

2. She is dressed for burial

3. You will have a kind of honor since your death is like those of famous demi-gods before, yet unique among humans

4. Death is death…Antigone is dying an unjust death

5. Her father, Oedipus

Scene 4

6. Only herself, “Your death is the doing of your conscious hand”

7. “Our hands are clean”

Ode 4

8. A woman imprisoned in a tower; her beauty attracts Zeus… the child(Perseus) mistakenly kills a man he failed to recognize as his grandfather. Moral? Be careful who you kill…

9. He was punished for his opposition to the worship of the god Dionysos.

10. A kings’ new wife who blinds the sons of the old wife…

Ode 4

11. The god of war

12. All have tragic endings…

Scene 5

1. A blind prophet2. Teiresias helped discover that Oedipus

married his mother and killed his father… 3. A seat in the temple where Teiresias

would deliver his predictions about the future

4. The god of fire and the forge5. A bunch of birds fighting, tearing each

other to pieces

Scene 5

6. He has a boy describe it to him7. Bury Polynices, you have angered the

gods…8. He thinks Teiresias has been paid to say

these things9. Creon will pay back “corpse for corpse”10. Fear, “your house will be full of men and

women weeping, and curses will be hurled at you from afar”

Scene 5

11. “Go quickly: free Antigone from her vault and build a tomb for Polynices”

Exodus

1. The founder of the city of Thebes

2. The king of Thebes who built the walls of the city

3. “Fate raises up, and Fate casts down the happy and unhappy alike: no man can fortell his fate” “I would not give so much as the shadow of smoke for all he owns”

4. Creon

Exodus

5. Haimon killed himself, Antigone killed herself

6. Eurydice, Queen of Thebes7. Unlocking the gate to the temple of

Athena8. The messenger describes the action in

great detail9. They are gods/godesses of the

underworld

Exodus

10. Pray, bathe the corpse in holy water, burn the body and build a barrow over it

11. one of the servants

Exodus

12. I heard a voice grieving within the chamber

13. Haimon

14. she “made a noose of her fine linen veil and hanged herself”

Exodus

15. “that his father had stolen her away from him”

16. Haimon spits in Creon’s face, lunges at Creon, falls own sword & dies

17. Silence, she goes into the palace

18. The silence

19. Check on the Queen

20. “My own blind heart has brought me from darkness to final darkness” It’s all my fault!!!!!!

Exodus

21. Eurydice is dead, suicide

22. Death

23. “I alone am guilty”

24. “No wisdom but in submission to the gods” follow the rules (especially god’s laws)

Antigone• Description

– sister/daughter of Oedipus– niece of Creon– protagonist – stubborn, headstrong, devout, foolish

• Action– Bury Polynices

• Motivation– Divine Law

Ismene• Description

– sister/daughter of Oedipus– niece of Creon– fearful, timid

• Action– beg Antigone to obey Creon’s law

• Motivation– Fear

Creon• Description

– King of Thebes– Husband of Eurydice– Antagonist– Proud, paranoid, vindictive

• Action– Deny Polynices’ Burial

• Motivation– Stability, power, pride(Hubris)

Haimon• Description

– Creon’s son– engaged to Antigone– Prince of Thebes

• Action– Tries to save Antigone

• Motivation– Will of the people & self about right & wrong

Teiresias

• Description– Blind prophet

• Action– Predicts Haimon’s, Eurydice’s death

• Motivation– Give Creon a chance to save his son &

Antigone

Eurydice

• Description– Wife of Creon

• (Queen of Thebes)

• Action– Curses Creon– Commits suicide

• Motivation– Creon’s actions caused the death of her last

son(Haimon) and Antigone

Antigone confronted by the dead PolynicesNikiforos Lytras, 1865

Tragic Hero

• Aspects of the Greek Tragic Hero: – must be of noble birth or hold an important

social position – is generally virtuous – has a desire to do good deeds – often dies in the end of the play

Tragic Flaw

• A defect in the character of a tragic hero that brings about the downfall of the hero

• The hero realizes his/her flaw but it is too late…

Hubris

a Greek term, meaning “arrogance”Oedipus decides to go to Thebes by chariot

Another charioteer tells him to clear the roadOedipus refuses(he’s in a bad mood)

The other charioteer refuses

Characteristics of Tragedy

• Characteristics of a Tragedy– A piece of literature (especially a play)– Protagonist:

– a significant person (king or hero)

– Cause of the tragedy– a tragic flaw, or weakness (like hubris or greed)

– Purpose?– Provoke feelings of fear/pity in the audience (Catharsis)– Convey a sense of grandeur and nobility of the human

spirit