Section: Reading Date:
Heading: Antigone Reading Questions, Prologue and Parodos (692-698)
Background Information:
The Greeks believed that the spirit of a dead person could enter Hades (the abode of the dead) only after the body had been purified and buried. If these rites were not carried out, the person hovered at the gates of Hades.
Prologue:
1. What is Creon’s decree? Why does he make this law? What is the punishment for anyone who violates his law?
2. Contrast Antigone’s and Ismene’s views about this decree.
3. What do Antigone’s words “He is my brother. And he is your brother, too” suggest about her (33)?
4. What three arguments does Ismene mention to try to make Antigone change her mind? To which three events does she refer?
5. Explain Antigone’s words, “You may do as you like,/ Since apparently the laws of the gods mean nothing to you” (60-62). What do they suggest about her? What type of conflict is this?
6. What do lines 65-69 tell you about Ismene’s feelings for her sister? How does Antigone take Ismene’s words and twist them another way?
7. Which of Antigone’s parting comments to Ismene seem especially cruel or hurtful? How can you explain or defend Antigone’s verbal cruelty?
8. How do Ismene’s final words summarize key elements of Antigone’s character?
9. How does knowing about their beliefs increase the horror of Creon’s decree?
“Ancient Greek Burial Practices”
10. Summarize the burial process by filling in the blanks below.
In ancient Greece, Greeks feared that the ______would punish those who neglected minute burial details. After death, the family closed the dead person’s ______and ______and began to prepare the body for the wake or ______. The ______of the house washed the body and dressed it in ______clothes. Then they placed the body on a ______, a portable framework. They made sure to point the feet toward the ______and sprinkled the body with ______, which were believed to keep evil spirits away. At the ______, while the ______waited near the body, the men entered in a formal ______, with their ______raised high in the air. When the closest relative reached out and held the dead person’s ______with both hands, the other mourners began to ______and ______. They also ______and ______accompanied by a ______, the reed pipe. These lamentations continued at the ______, the burial, which usually took place several days after the prothesis. Offerings at the tomb, consisting of mainly ______, ______, ______, and an ______, were made on the ______, ______, and ______days after death, then again after one year, and on certain ______.
Background Information:
The huge death toll of the battle between the Argives and Thebans would have greatly affected the women of Thebes. Women in ancient Greece had to depend on male relatives for support. Girls married when they were thirteen or fourteen, and their husbands were often more than twice their age. Women in wealthy households were secluded, had no legal rights, and did not inherit property. If a woman’s husband died, a man in her family, her guardian, would try to find her another husband.
Parodos:
11. In terms of “The Myth of Oedipus,” what event does the “Parodos” summarize?
12. How is Polyneices similar to a fierce, wild, warlike eagle? What device does Sophocles use?
13. How does Sophocles personify the spears of Polyneices’ forces?
14. Whose “jaws” are likewise described as hungry for the blood of the people of Thebes?
15. To what fierce beast is the city of Thebes itself compared?
16. Who does Zeus strike down first? Why?
17. Describe the battle according to the Chorus.
18. Describe the mood the Thebans based upon the final stanza, Antistrophe 2. What hopes for the future does the Chorus express? Do you think these expectations will be fulfilled? Explain.
Section: Reading Date:
Heading: Antigone Reading Questions, Scene 1 and Ode 1 (700-705)
Background Information:
During part of Creon’s speech (ll. 21-35), Sophocles’ original audience may have “heard” political commentary between the lines. Athens was a democracy, but ruling families had been known to place family interests ahead of public good. Thus, the audience would have found it appropriate for Creon to criticize inappropriate promotion of family and to distance himself from Polyneices.
Scene 1:
1. What is the “Ship of State” that Creon refers to? What are the “recent storms” that threatened it?
2. What kind of ruler is Creon? Explain using a quotation from his monologue.
3. What is the Choragos’ response to Creon’s edict? Why?
4. What does Creon mean when he says, “And death it is; yet money talks, and the wisest/ Have sometimes been known to count a few coins too many” (64-65)?
5. How does the arrival of the Sentry defuse the tension of this scene?
6. What does the Sentry report?
7. Who does Creon think is responsible for burying Polyneices? What literary device is this?
8. True feelings sometimes emerge when one is angry. From Creon’s speech in lines 115-141, how do you think he really feels about the elders of Thebes? Include a quotation to support your ideas.
9. What qualities in Creon might Sophocles’ audience have found most godlike? What might the audience have considered to be Creon’s “human defects”?
10. What does Creon threaten to do to the Sentry if “the man” is not found? What does Creon mean when he says, “Do you understand me? / A fortune won is often misfortune”?
Ode 1:
11. Jot down three examples from this ode that prove the following theme: Humanity is the greatest of the world’s wonders, but despite its many conquests, it cannot escape death.
A.
B.
C.
12. According to the last stanza of the ode, why do you think that the Chorus supports Creon?
Section: Reading Date:
Heading: Antigone Reading Questions, Scene 2 and Ode 2 (707-713)
1. Why is the Sentry so relieved? Why does he return?
2. From Creon’s initial reaction, what can you deduce about Creon’s relationship with Antigone?
3. Explain the following comparison: “I have seen / A mother bird come back to a stripped nest, heard / Her crying bitterly a broken note or two / For the young ones stolen. Just so, when this girl / Found the bare corpse, and all her love’s work wasted, / She wept, and cried on heaven to damn the hands / That had done this thing” (35-41).
4. What reason does Antigone give for violating Creon’s decree? What theme of the play does her reasoning express?
5. How does the Choragos describe Antigone?
6. Why does Creon charge Ismene? How do you feel about Creon’s accusation of Ismene?
7. In lines 121-127, the Choragos and Creon each apply an image to Ismene. What are the two images? How do these images reveal the different viewpoints of the Choragos and Creon?
8. Considering everything you know about Ismene so far, why do you think she desires death? What is her motivation?
9. How can Antigone’s rejection of Ismene be seen as a matter of pride, or hubris?
10. Ismene and Antigone are dramatic foils. In what ways are these two characters different?
11. Explain Creon’s final passage in this scene.
Ode 2:
12. According to the ode, what kind of man is fortunate?
13. Jot down the simile used in the first stanza. What is being compared?
14. Who is the “last flower of Oedipus’ line”? What do the “passionate word and a handful of dust” refer to?
15. How does the Chorus explain the curse on the house of Oedipus?
Section: Reading Date:
Heading: Antigone Reading Questions, Scene 3 and Ode 3 (716-721)
Scene 3:
1. How is Haimon related to Creon and Antigone?
2. What is your first impression of Haimon’s attitude toward his father?
3. What is ironic about Creon giving advice about Antigone?
4. What words are sometimes used to name the kind of leader Creon is describing when he says, “Whoever is chosen to govern should be obeyed— / Must be obeyed, in all things, great and small, / Just and unjust!” (35-37)?
5. What is the point that Haimon is trying to make to Creon in lines 51-91?
6. Haimon uses two analogies, or comparisons, to show Creon that it is wise to be flexible. What are the two analogies?
A.
B.
7. Why do you think the Choragos avoids taking sides in the argument between Haimon and Creon?
8. What character flaws in Creon are revealed when he says, “You consider it right for a man of my years and experience / To go to school to a boy?” (95-96)?
9. Whose view—Creon’s or Haimon’s—better expresses the Greek ideal of democracy?
10. Although Haimon has not spoken with Antigone since the play began, how does his view echo hers? Include a quotation from this scene to support your ideas.
11. What does Haimon mean when he says, “Then she must die. But her death will cause another” (119)? How does Creon interpret this last sentence?
12. How has Haimon’s attitude toward Creon—his father and his king—changed since the beginning of the scene?
13. Whose life is saved in this scene? How do you know?
14. What is Creon’s final decision concerning Antigone’s punishment? How does Creon’s decision “absolve” the State?
15. Based on what you have read so far, would you describe Creon as a good ruler or a poor ruler? Explain.
Ode 3:
16. This ode responds to Scene 3, in which Creon accuses of Haimon of being led by the love of a woman. What does the Chorus say it believes about love?
Section: Reading Date:
Heading: Antigone Reading Questions, Scene 4 and Ode 4 (723-726)
Scene 4:
1. The play is moving toward its climax. What dramatic action is about to occur?
2. Compare and contrast Antigone to the following characters:
A. Niobe
B. Tantalos
3. What do these characters have in common?
4. What change do you notice in Antigone’s manner?
5. What two things does Antigone ask of the elders of Thebes?
6. What does Antigone mean in line 41 when she says that her father’s “marriage strikes from the grave to murder” her own marriage? How does the Chorus argue against this view in lines 45-48?
7. Why do you think that Creon publicly reasserts that his hands are clean in this matter? Do you think his hands are clean?
8. Antigone says about Creon, “May his punishment equal my own” (70). If Creon receives a punishment “equal” to Antigone’s, what do you think it will be?
9. Include a quotation from this scene that shows that Antigone believes that she has done the right thing.
Ode 4:
10. Compare and contrast Antigone to the following characters:
A. Danae
B. Dryas’ son Lycurgos
C. Cleopatra
11. What is the main literary device that Sophocles uses in this passage?
12. Do you think Sophocles is using this ode to condemn Antigone for her pride or praise her courage in accepting her fate? Explain.
Section: Reading Date:
Heading: Antigone Reading Questions, Scene 5, Paean, and Exodos (728-737)
Scene 5:
1. According to Teiresias, what has caused the gods’ anger?
2. How do Creon’s words to Teiresias demonstrate his pride?
3. Teiresias says, “You are a king because of me” (64). Why is Creon a king because of Teiresias?
4. Who is the child thrust “into living night” (73)? Who is the child “kept from the gods below” (74)? What does Teiresias seem to foreshadow in this speech as a whole?
5. What are Teiresias’ “arrows” (84)? How does his word choice connect to earlier words of Creon’s in this scene?
6. Creon’s confession of pride can be interpreted as the turning point of the play. Immediately after this confession, Creon demonstrates a true change of heart by asking the Choragos for advice and help. Jot down the lines that show that Creon is starting to change.
7. Why do you think Creon decides to save Antigone?
Paean:
8. Why might Sophocles have interrupted the action at this point to insert a hymn to Dionysos?
9. Describe Dionysos.
A.
B.
C.
D.
10. List the places that are mentioned in this section.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
11. List 3 Greek cries.
A.
B.
C.
12. List the people and/or gods and a description for each.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
13. What does the chorus mean by asking Dionysos to come “with clement feet” (13-14)? What is ironic about this plea?
Exodos:
14. The Messenger says, “Fate raises up, / And Fate casts down the happy and unhappy alike: / No man can foretell his Fate” (4-6). To whom does this theme most apply? Why?
15. Who dies? How does each character die?
A.
B.
C.
16. Do you think Creon is justified in placing all the blame upon himself? Explain.
17. How has Creon changed?
18. Why do you think the Choragos addresses the audience directly at the end of the play? Paraphrase the final four lines of the play.