English 9/Fall 2011/Bebensee
Antigone Essay Assignment: Essay Due 11-4, 3:30 pm
Your task is to design and write a clear, concise, detailed, focused, and interesting short
essay of 750-800 words that:
1. expresses explicitly a thesis concerning Antigone based on one of the topics
below;
2. supports its thesis with solid, relevant, and sufficient evidence;
3. references Antigone through quotation and paraphrase;
4. uses a non-textual element as a cover page.
Assume for this essay that your audience is familiar with the play, so summary is
necessary only as it serves as evidence for a claim the essay is making.
Specific Skill Objectives
1. Develop a complex, interesting thesis
2. Develop a written voice
3. Adopt a vocabulary and tone appropriate for an educated audience
4. Control grammar and other technical matters
5. Define terms
6. Provide well-developed, sufficient evidence for claims
7. Integrate paraphrase, summary, and quotation
8. Organize ideas effectively
Topics
Construct a clear thesis for your essay by considering one or more of these topics:
1. The German philosopher Hegel stated that the play Antigone represents
the tragic collision of right against right, with both sides equally justified.
Do you agree with this interpretation? Why or why not?
2. Which is more important to Sophocles—family or authority? Be sure to
cite specific quotes from the play to support your claims.
3. Creon says to his son Haemon that it would be bad enough to yield to a
man, but he would never yield to a woman (meaning Antigone). What
does the play say about a woman's place in society? Be sure to cite
specific quotes from the play to support your answers.
4. Creon claims that the rule of the king must be obeyed even if it’s wrong in
order to avoid anarchy and chaos. Does the play agree or disagree with
Creon? Be sure to cite specific quotes from the play to support your
answers.
5. What is Creon’s fatal flaw? How does the flaw affect his state? His ability
as a leader? His downfall? What does a play that centers on this particular
fatal flaw have to say about the qualities that are needed or not needed in a
ruler?