English IV- AP Literature and Composition
Oedipus/Antigone Essay
Due: Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015 **
Even for Thursday classes! Upload by 7:15am!
Write a well-organized, multi-paragraph critical analysis essay over Oedipus the King OR
Antigone by Sophocles. All essays require the writer to examine the entire play.
The first paragraph, the introduction, must contain the author and title. Typically, this information
appears in the first sentence. A one-sentence thesis appears as the last sentence of the
introduction. The following body paragraphs prove your answer by offering evidence from the
text (quotes, paraphrase) and your analysis (commentary). Each body paragraph is governed by a
topic sentence. The final paragraph is the conclusion; this paragraph makes a judgment based on
what you proved in the essay. Do NOT merely give plot or summarize your essay. Your essay
requires strong analysis/commentary. Use the language of the prompt to guide your answer and
discussion. All essays must follow the MLA format and must be submitted to turnitin.com. The
turnitin.com receipt must be attached to the back of the essay on the day that the essay is due.
Failure to submit a turnitin.com receipt will result in a zero.
The essay must not exceed 3 pages, but it may not be less than 2 pages in length. Papers less than
2 FULL pages will be considered too short (you have exactly 2 lines of “wiggle” room). A paper
that does not satisfy minimum requirements will fail.
All essays are due at the beginning of class on the day you are scheduled. However, ALL essays
are to be submitted to turnitin.com by 7:15 am on Wednesday, September 2nd. If you are on
campus for any part of the day, including extracurricular activities, the hard copy of the essay is
due along with the turnitin.com receipt. Failure to submit an essay on time will result in a late
grade. The hardcopy of the essay, and the turnitin.com receipt, are due the first day you return to
school, whether you have English class that day or not.
The prompt (taken from the 2011 administration of the AP Literature and Composition
Exam)
In a novel by William Styron, a father tells his son that life “is a search for justice.”
Choose a character from a novel or play who responds in some significant way to justice or
injustice. Then write a well-developed essay in which you analyze the character’s understanding
of justice, the degree to which the character’s search for justice is successful, and the significance
of this search for the work as a whole.
You may use either Oedipus the King OR Antigone to respond to this prompt. Please be specific
in your choice; you will not be allowed to use both, nor will you be allowed to use a different
work of literature.
English IV- AP Literature and Composition
Oedipus/Antigone Essay
Due: Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015 **
Even for Thursday classes! Upload by 7:15am!
1. The tragic protagonist in Sophoclean tragedy is referred to as deinos, a Greek word that means
“terrible, wondrous, strange.” In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is indeed both repellent and
admirable. Examine how the traits which lead to Oedipus’s success and admiration are also the
traits which lead to his destruction.
2. Oedipus finally understands the horrific truth; but even in the depths of pain, he is
magnificent. He does not submit passively to his woe or plead that he committed his foul acts in
ignorance. Although he acknowledges his ignorance, he blinds himself in a rage of penitence,
accepting total responsibility for his destiny and the consequences of his acts. Discuss Oedipus’s
quest for self-knowledge and how his search for truth reveals a man who demands both pity and
admiration.
3. Respond to Bernard Knox’s criticism of Oedipus. Agree, disagree, or qualify your response.
(Qualify means to neither totally agree or totally disagree, but to address the strengths and
weaknesses of both arguments.) Be sure to use evidence from Knox and from the text to support
your answer.
“One freedom is allowed him: The freedom to search for the truth, the truth about the prophecies,
about the gods, about himself. And of this freedom he makes full use…searching for the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And in this search he shows all those great qualities
that we admire in him-- courage, intelligence, perseverance, the qualities that make human beings
great. This freedom to search, and the heroic way in which Oedipus uses it, makes the play not a
picture of man’s utter feebleness caught in the toils of fate; but on the contrary, a heroic example
of man’s dedication to the search for truth, the truth about himself. This is perhaps the only
human freedom, the play seems to say, but there could be none more noble.”