Name:
Date:
Antigone Guided Reading (Prologue - Episode 2)
Prologue and Entry Ode (Parodos)
1. What is the setting?____________________________________________________
2. How are Antigone and Ismene related? How are they similar and different? _______
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3. Who are the two brothers mentioned and how and why are they killed? ___________
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4. What is King Creon's decree? ____________________________________________
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5. What does Antigone plan to do? Why is this task so important to her and what
consequences will she face? ______________________________________________
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6. What is Ismene's decision regarding Creon's decree? __________________________
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7. What is Ismene's view of the relationship between men and women? _____________
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8. What word does Ismene use to describe Antigone? ___________________________
9. What conflict in Greek values does Antigone's desire to bury her brother represent?
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10. What general purpose does the chorus play in Greek tragedy? ___________________
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11. What does the Chorus compare Polyneices to in the Parados (Entry Ode)? _________
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12. What side did the Chorus favor in the war? __________________________________
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13. The Chorus mentions 4 gods: Name them and their duties. ____________________
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14. What does the Chorus compare Thebes to? __________________________________
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Name:
Date:
First Episode and Ode 1
15. Why has Creon called the Chorus together? What does he share with them? _______
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16. What crime has Polyneices committed in Creon's opinion? _____________________
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17. Why does Creon order Eteocles be buried with honors and Polyneices be left to rot on field?
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18. How does he justify this? ________________________________________________
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19. What is the chorus' attitude toward Creon's decree? ___________________________
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20. What news does the sentry bring to Creon? __________________________________
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21. How does Creon believe the act of burying Polyneices was carried out? ___________
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22. What does Creon demand that the sentry do? ________________________________
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23. According to Ode 1 - what is the most wonderful of all the world's wonders? _______
24. What wind has man not secured himself against? _____________________________
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25. List man's accomplishments according to Ode 1. _____________________________
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Name:
Date:
Second Episode and Ode 2
26. Who has the sentry captured and brought to Creon? ___________________________
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How did the guards happen to catch Antigone? _________________________________
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How did she react to being captured? _________________________________________
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What reason does she give for defying Creon's decree? ___________________________
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What is the Chorus' opinion of her now? _______________________________________
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Who else does Creon have arrested in connection with the crime of burying Polyneices?
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Why is Antigone angry with Ismene? _________________________________________
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Besides being Antigone's uncle - how else is she related to Creon? __________________
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What is to be Antigone's punishment for burying her brother and honoring the gods?
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What is Creon's opinion of women? __________________________________________
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According to Ode 2, who is the fortunate man? _________________________________
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According to Ode 2, who is the god who must not be made angry? _________________
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Name:
Date:
Antigone Guided Reading (Episode 3 - Epilogue)
Third Episode and Ode 3
1. When Haemon arrives, what is the first question that Creon asks him?_____________
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2. What is the reason Creon gives when he claims that it is necessary for him to
condemn Antigone? What further points does Creon make to his son? ____________
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3. What is the point that Haemon is attempting to make to Creon by the analogies of the
tree and the ship? ______________________________________________________
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4. By refusing to listen to his son, what does Creon reveal about himself? ___________
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5. What threats does Haemon make to his father? _______________________________
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6. Does gender bias (against women) and age bias (against youth) affect Creon's
decision to punish Antigone? Does Haemon feel the same way about women that his
father does? __________________________________________________________
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7. How does the city feel about Antigone's crime? ______________________________
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8. What is Creon's death sentence for Antigone? How is this different from what he
originally said he would do? _____________________________________________
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9. What is the focus of the third stasimon? ____________________________________
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Name:
Date:
Fourth Episode and Ode 4
10. Whose fate does Antigone compare to her own? What do they have in common? ____
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11. What is the intent of the chorus' response to Antigone's comparison of herself to Niobe?
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12. What does the chorus suggest brought on Antigone's trouble? ___________________
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13. What does Antigone blame for her terrible misfortune? ________________________
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14. What is the purpose of the three mythological examples in this episode? What do all
of the examples have in common? _________________________________________
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15. What do the 3 myths have to say about Antigone's future? ______________________
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Name:
Date:
Fifth Episode and Ode 5 (Exodus)
16. What omen causes Tiresias to approach Creon? ______________________________
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17. What happened when the blind prophet began "the rites of burnt-offering at the altar?
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18. What opinion does Tiresias express to Creon? _______________________________
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19. How does Creon react to his advice? _______________________________________
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20. What warnings does Tiresias give to Creon if he refuses to heed the prophesies?
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21. What is the effect of Tiresias' warnings to Creon? ____________________________
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22. What advice does the chorus give to King Creon once Tiresias leaves? ___________
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23. How does he react to this advice? What does he do as a result? __________________
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Name:
Date:
Epilogue and Choral Dialogue
24. The chorus prays to a "God of many names." What are some of these names?______
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25. Who does the messenger claim is a walking "dead man"? ______________________
26. How has Tiresias' prophecy that Creon would pay the gods "flesh of [his] own flesh"
come true? ___________________________________________________________
27. Who is Eurydice? ______________________________________________________
28. When Creon left to make right his wrong deeds, he was on his way to release
Antigone. Is that what he did? ___________________________________________
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29. What were Creon and the messenger doing when they prayed to Hecate and Pluto?
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30. Describe what Creon saw when he looked through the crevice into Antigone's tomb.
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31. What did Haemon do upon seeing his father? ________________________________
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32. What happened after the messenger relayed the news about Haemon and Antigone to
Eurydice? ____________________________________________________________
33. How Eurydice's suicide fulfill Tiresias' prophecy and what were her final words?
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34. What dramatic change takes place in Creon's character as a result of the tragedies?
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35. Explain the final words and judgment of the chorus (hubris and the gods)
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Name:
Date:
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