Ms J. Cowley
Prologue – ll. 1 – 116
Antigone Study Questions
NAME:
[1-99]
1.What contrasts between Antigone and Ismene appear in the first 21 lines of the play?
How do differences between them show up even in their speaking styles?
2.What do lines 21-50 reveal about Antigone's character? How?
3.What do lines 60-80 reveal about Ismene's feelings for her sister? How does Antigone
take Ismene's words and twist them?
Parados – ll. 117-79
[100-62]
1.Which words and phrases in the song extend the metaphor of Polyneices as a fierce,
warlike eagle?
2.How does Sophocles personify the spears of Polyneices’ forces? Whose “jaws” are
hungry for the blood of the people of Thebes? What fierce beast is the city of Thebes
itself compared to?
3.Rephrase lines 156-163 to state exactly what happened.
4.How does the final antistrophe (ll. 164-172) remind the audience of physical and
emotional setting?
References:
Bronkar, J. (2003, December 1). Antigone Questions. Retrieved February 10, 2004 from
http://www.cibacs.org/teacherpages/jbronkar/PDFs/Antigone%20Questions.pdf
Ms J. Cowley
Antigone Study Questions
NAME:
Episode/Scene 1 – ll. 179-376
[163-331]
1.What is the “Ship of State”? What was the “merciless pounding of the storm” that
recently threatened it?
2.How does the end of Creon's speech differ in tone from the beginning?
3.How does the Choragos feel about Creon’s command? How do you know this?
4.What do lines 247-8 reveal about Creon’s attitude or mindset?
5.How does the Sentry’s arrival diffuse the tension of the scene?
6.Someone has directly violated Creon’s decree. How? Who?
7.List the sequence of events described between lines 281-314.
8.True feelings sometimes emerge when one is angry. From Creon’s speech (ll. 316-344),
how do you think he really feels about the elders? Provide proof.
9.What might the audience have considered Creon’s human defects?
10.What is Creon threatening to do to the Sentry if “the man” is not found (ll. 344356)? What does Creon mean when he says: “Filthy profits wreck most men, you’ll see-/they’ll never save your life”?
11.Where did you hear line 366 before? Did it surprise you that the Sentry speaks the
line?
Stasimon/Ode I – ll. 377-416 [332-75]
This is really a 'choric interlude' called a stasimon (also the Choragos interrupting the action so
the actors have time to change/indicates the 'scene' change)
References:
Bronkar, J. (2003, December 1). Antigone Questions. Retrieved February 10, 2004 from
http://www.cibacs.org/teacherpages/jbronkar/PDFs/Antigone%20Questions.pdf
Ms J. Cowley
Episode/Scene 2 – ll. 417-655
Antigone Study Questions
NAME:
[376-581]
1.From his initial reaction to Antigone, what can you deduce about Creon's relationship
with her?
2.In lines 436-439, what can you deduce about the Sentry’s motivation? Is he only too
happy to bring in a traitorous princess, or is he driven by something else?
3.What reason does Antigone give for violating Creon's decree? What theme of the play
does her reasoning express?
4.The Choragos uses a kind of psychological shorthand in the phrase “like father, like
daughter”. Who is Antigone’s father? How is this relevant?
5.How do you feel about Creon’s accusation of Ismene?
6.Do you think that Antigone reads the hidden motives of the Theban elders correctly (ll.
560-565)? Why or why not?
7.What is the central difference in the moral thinking of Creon versus that of Antigone?
8.In lines 593-600, 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 of Creon?
9.Considering everything you know about Ismene so far, why do you think she desires
death? What is her motivation?
10.How can Antigone’s rejection of Ismene be seen as a matter of pride (ll. 605-7)
Stasimon/Ode II – ll. 656-700 [582-626]
References:
Bronkar, J. (2003, December 1). Antigone Questions. Retrieved February 10, 2004 from
http://www.cibacs.org/teacherpages/jbronkar/PDFs/Antigone%20Questions.pdf
Ms J. Cowley
Antigone Study Questions
Episode/Scene 3 – 701-878
[627-780]
NAME:
1.What is your first impression of Haemon’s attitude towards his father?
2.What is ironic about Creon giving Haemon advice about Antigone?
3.What words are sometimes used to name the kind of leader Creon describes in lines
748-51?
4.State Haemon's key arguments to spare Antigone.
5.What two analogies does Haemon use to argue with his father?
6.Why do you think the Choragos avoids taking sides in the argument between Haemon
and Creon?
7.What character flaw of Creon’s is revealed in lines 834-5?
8.Whose view – Creon's or Haemon's – better expresses the Greek ideal of democracy?
Why?
9.What possibilities other than Antigone's death does Haemon mention in line
843?
(<-edited)
10.How does Haemon's attitude toward his father change from the beginning of the
scene?
11.Whose life if saved by the Choragos?
12.How is Antigone supposed to die?
13.Is Creon a good ruler or a poor one? Why?
Stasimon/Ode III – ll. 879-94 [781-801]
References:
Bronkar, J. (2003, December 1). Antigone Questions. Retrieved February 10, 2004 from
http://www.cibacs.org/teacherpages/jbronkar/PDFs/Antigone%20Questions.pdf
Ms J. Cowley
Episode/Scene 4 – ll. 895-1034
Antigone Study Questions
[802-943]
1.As the play moves toward its climax, what dramatic action is about to occur?
2.What change do you notice in Antigone's manner in lines 915-24?
3.What two things does she ask the elders of Thebes (ll. 930-942)?
4.Why does Antigone bring up the family curse again (ll. 947-59)?
5.What is Antigone's view of the Underworld?
6.What curse does she pronounce upon Creon?
Stasimon/Ode IV – ll. 1035-90
[944-87]
References:
Bronkar, J. (2003, December 1). Antigone Questions. Retrieved February 10, 2004 from
http://www.cibacs.org/teacherpages/jbronkar/PDFs/Antigone%20Questions.pdf
NAME:
Ms J. Cowley
Antigone Study Questions
Episode/Scene 5 – ll. 1090-1238
NAME:
[988-1114]
1.What does Creon's reaction to Teiresias' warnings (ll. 1144-61) show about his
character?
2.Why does Teiresias see Creon as a person who is “sick”? Do you think he has an
illness? Explain.
3.What does Teiresias’ prophecy in 1181-1209 mean?
4.What reason does Creon give for finally giving in? How does he give in?
5.Who says, “it’s best to keep the established laws/to the very day we die”? Why is this
ironic?
Hyporchema (~Epilogue) – ll. 1239-72
[1115-58]
References:
Bronkar, J. (2003, December 1). Antigone Questions. Retrieved February 10, 2004 from
http://www.cibacs.org/teacherpages/jbronkar/PDFs/Antigone%20Questions.pdf
Ms J. Cowley
Antigone Study Questions
NAME:
Exodos – ll. 1272-1470 [1159-1353]
1.Why does the messenger say Creon has become “a living corpse”?
2.How did Haemon, Antigone, and Eurydice die?
3.Why would what Haemon does to Creon before killing himself have made his death
even more painful for Creon?
4.How would Eurydice’s final words compound his pain?
5.Why do you think neither Creon nor Oedipus dies at the end of the plays
(Antigone andOedipus at Colonus respectively)?
References:
Bronkar, J. (2003, December 1). Antigone Questions. Retrieved February 10, 2004 from
http://www.cibacs.org/teacherpages/jbronkar/PDFs/Antigone%20Questions.pdf