AP English Lit/Mr. Kirby
Name: Jeffery Regan
LITERARY ANALYSIS DATA SHEET
Title: Antigone
Author: Sophocles
Date of Publication:
Sources:
Significant biographical details about the author:
Was the Shakespeare of Greek dramatists, the
poet whom Aristotle felt had perfected the form
of tragedy of the time.
Believed that the Gods in his dramas didn’t play
a prominent role and that suffering taught
wisdom through his tragedies.
Was a general at the age of sixty-five.
His wife, son, and grandson were all tragic poets.
Was a friend of the Athenian ruler
Pericles.
Information about the period (literary, historical,
artistic, philosophical, etc.): the play was
introduced around 441 BC following the
Oedipus myth that Sophocles was interested in.
This was situated in the Greek city state of
Athens. Originally associated with religious
festivals like that of Dionysus, the god of wine.
Around this time Sophocles was one of the ten
appointed generals to fight against Samos and
the play relates to the Greek democratic nature
revolving around identifying Creon as a tyrant.
Provide a brief synopsis (include exposition, main conflict(s), climax,
resolution, and major plot points):
Eteocles refused to step down after his year on the throne and his
brother and six other princes were going to force him down, but
all were killed leaving no victor and making Creon king. Creon
refuses to bury Polynice’s body, where Antigone continues to
attempt to bury him. Creon therefore sentences her to death and
she is immured and Creon’s son, which was Antigone’s fiancé
commits suicide once he learns of her fate.
Identify the genre and specify
how this work fits its
characteristics: A Greek tragedy
and it fits the wok due to the plot
behind the play involving many
characters dying and in the end
the two lovers die: one being
Creon’s son.
Literary Analysis Data Sheet
page 2
Identify and explain the use and effect of three
literary techniques:
Metaphor- used in some ways to describe
characters and provide an insight into their past.
Repetition- used throughout the play to display
how everyone will carry out their own desire and
while the other may carry out the opposite act.
Simile- describes characters in a different sense
comparing some to animals and how they may
behave if not given what they want.
Cite and quote one example of each:
Repetition- "He will do what he has to
do, and we will do what we have to do"
(11).
Metaphor- "Wasn't I a miserable little
beast when we were small?" (10).
Simile- "... clawing away like a hyena ..."
(25).
Significant Quotes
Cite and quote three
significant passages:
“My nails are broken,
my fingers are
bleeding, my arms are
covered with the welts
left by the paws of
your guards—but I am
a queen!” (19)
“I intend to give my
brother burial. I'll be
glad to die in the
attempt, – if it's a
crime, then it's a crime
that God commands.”
(7)
“Isn't a man's right to
burial decreed by
divine justice? I don't
consider your
pronouncements so
important that they
can just. Overrule the
unwritten laws of
heaven.”(12)
Explain the significance of each
passage or explain how it relates to
the work as a whole:
The passage details when Antigone
is brought before Creon for trying
to bury the body, this leads up to
the argument that follows and
symbolizes Creon’s desire for
power and control and sees that
all must follow the law.
The second quote is referring to
Antigone’s defiance of Creon’s
wish and vows to bury the man even
if it means her death, which it
does in the end.
The third quote is Antigone
justifying her actions for trying
to bury the body of her brother
and is pretty much saying Creon
has no rule over her and her
actions when they are justified by
the heavens.
Literary Analysis Data Sheet
page 3
Characters
Record information for each significant major character in the work
Name
Role in the story
Antigone
Tragic heroine
Creon
Antigone’s Uncle and
ruling king of the time
Significance or Purpose
Adjectives
She is the one that is willing to
give her life up in order to bury
another person that the ruling power
refuses to bury and leads to her being
shunned in the community and being
executed.
scrawny, sallow,
withdrawn, and boyish
The king left with the burden of the
throne that just wants to keep peace
and order, but when his niece,
Antigone, defies the law and the state
demands she be executed is put in a
position to suffer at putting his own
family up for execution setting up the
tragedy.
Weary, old, stressed,
dedicated, and
practical
Spectators, inhabitants
of Thebes, and also
narrator. Along with
dancers, singers, and
the death messenger
The Chorus frames the play with a
prologue and epilogue, introducing the
action and characters under the sign
of fatality.
Narrator and interceder
Subjects of Creon that
help maintain the law
and his will among the
people when things are
good
Truly spectators from another angle,
but also help Creon carry out his will
and are not affected by the tragedy at
all in any way.
Interpolations,
untrustworthy, and
mindless
Ismene
Antigone’s sister that
follows Creon’s laws
and is Antigone’s foil
Attempts to persuade Antigone of not
committing the actions she commits and
desires to die with Antigone, but is
refused, which changes her completely
Loyal, good girl,
obedient, and
reasonable
Nurse
Provides the maternal
nature that Antigone
needs
Her nature brings Antigone back to her
girlhood and helps her with her
worries like a mother would, so she
could be called Antigone’s mother
figure.
Is put between the two people that
matters most two him, Antigone and
Creon, and in the end he chooses
Antigone and follows her demise.
Truly is a part of the chorus in
general, but announces the death of
characters.
The Page is a figure of young
innocence. He sees all, understands
nothing, and is no help to anyone, but
could become either of the main
characters.
Plays no significant role, but in the
end her suicide leaves Creon dreading
his actions for it left him entirely
alone.
Fussy, affectionate,
caring, and reassuring
The Chorus
The Guards
Haemon
Antigone’s fiancé and
Creon’s son
Messenger
Announcer of death
Page
Creon’s attendant
Eurydice
Creon’s wife
Young, irresponsible,
and unhappy
Pale and solitary and
in some sense menacing
Innocent, unaware, and
ignorant
Kind, helpful, and
maternal in a way
towards Creon
Literary Analysis Data Sheet
Describe the setting(s) and explain
its/their significance:
Kingdom of Thebes, mainly around
Creon’s royal palace and where
the bodies were left to rot. The
significance of the setting is
providing the main cause of the
climax to come in the play and
where the confrontation begins.
page 4
Identify and explain the
theme(s) of the work:
The theme is a tragedy or
tragic and it personifies
that the death of Antigone
and her fiancé are all
inevitable and cannot be
changed or be prevented,
thus for leaving Creon to
suffering in his actions
and mistakes alone for his
wife also committed suicide
further extending the
tragedy.
Identify and explain key
metaphors, symbols, or motifs:
Creon’s Wife is simply put in the
play and her only role in life is to
knit and die. When she dies it
leaves Creon alone in the end and
will be his final lesson symbolizing
the life-thread spun, measured,
and cut by the fates.
The gray world as Antigone puts it
sounds lifeless and cold and dark,
but when she mentions it to the
nurse she doesn’t try to hide the
fact that she has been to the grave
yard leaving to believe that the
gray world is the graveyard void of
life and anything happy.
Write at least three questions or topics for class discussion:
Why would Antigone risk her life to bury her brother and the others that were
slain that Creon refused to bury and proclaimed that they shall rot like the
animals they are?
Why is Creon’s wife included in the play? Does she provide a deeper meaning
into the theme and the actions of the other characters?
Would you consider this play similar to Romeo and Juliet? If so why is it not
as well-known as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet? Could it have been ahead of
its time and frowned upon by the community and people of the time?