Transcript Antigone

Antigone
Reading Guide Answers
Prologue
1. “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 Polyneices
8. 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 Polyneices
2. The choragos and sentry talk about who the
prisoner is and what she did
3. To mourn him
4. a mother bird who returns to an empty nest
5. I do. I deny nothing.
6. Did you hear of the new law?
7. Yes
8. It was not god’s law
9. 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 prophet
2. 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 forge
5. A bunch of birds fighting, tearing each
other to pieces
Scene 5
6. He has a boy describe it to him
7. Bury Polynices, you have angered the
gods…
8. He thinks Teiresias has been paid to say
these things
9. 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 Thebes
7. Unlocking the gate to the temple of
Athena
8. The messenger describes the action in
great detail
9. 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 Polynices
Nikiforos 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 road
Oedipus 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