Do Now
• What sorts of burial rites are common in the
Western world? Are you familiar with any other
death rites?
Antigone
Sophocles
Antigone
• Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and
Jocasta.
• Chorus – Theban elders/senators
• Teiresias
• Blind prophet
Antigone
• Creon
• King of Thebes after the deaths of Oedipus’s sons
• Eurydice
• Creon’s wife
• Pronounced: Ur-rid’-a-see
• Haemon
• Creon’s son
• Betrothed to Antigone
• Pronounced: He’-mon
Antigone
• Oedipus’s other children:
• Ismene
• Pronounced: Is-me’-ne
• Eteocles
• Refused to give up his post as King of Thebes to his
brother Polyneices
• Creon says he should receive an honorable burial.
• Pronounced: Eh-tee’-acleez
• Polyneices
• Marches on Thebes with the help of the city of Argos
• Creon states that his body should be cast out
unburied.
• Pronounced: Pol-lee-nice-eez’
Themes
• Guilt
• Honor and tradition
• The Greeks had very specific rules about burials.
• The role of a leader
Freytag’s Pyramid
• Gustav Freytag’s analysis of Greek and
Shakespearean drama
Freytag’s Pyramid
Classwork
• Complete classwork worksheet.
Homework
• Read Antigone, Pages 80-94 (paperback) or
Pages 91-106 (hardback), and answer the
corresponding questions.
Do Now
• What sorts of “debts” do people rack up?
Which debts do you think are important to pay
back?
Antigone Part 1,
Pages 80-94 or Pages 91-106
• About what are Antigone and Ismene disagreeing?
What tone do you imagine each taking?
• What are your impressions of Creon? What words
or phrases would you use to describe him? Does
he remind you of any other literary or movie
characters?
• Why was it so important to Antigone to bury
Polyneices? Do you think she would have done
the same for her other brother?
Antigone Part 1,
Pages 80-94 or Pages 91-106
• Why does Creon compare Ismene to a viper on Page
93(paperback)/104 (hardback)? How does she lie?
Why? Why does Antigone contradict her? In what tone
do you imagine Antigone telling Ismene on Page 94
(paperback)/105 (hardback), “Do not share my death”?
• Does Creon fear his son’s reaction to his plan for
Antigone? Does he feel guilty that he has condemned
the woman who was to be his daughter-in-law?
• What does Creon mean when he instructs the servants
to take the women inside so they cannot “range at
large; even the bold seek to fly when they see Death
now closing on their life”?
Classwork
• Complete classwork worksheet.
Homework
• Read Antigone, Pages 95-110 (paperback) or
Pages 106-123 (hardback), and answer the
corresponding questions.
Do Now
• What sort of things make us feel ashamed or
guilty? Does it do any good to feel guilty about
your behavior? Can you feel shame for
someone else’s actions?
Antigone Part 2,
Pages 95-110 or Pages 106-123
• How does Haemon react when he hears the news of his father’s
order? Does his attitude toward his father change from the
beginning of their discussion to the end?
• How does Creon try to convince his son that Antigone is not
worth all this trouble? Is there anything he could have said that
would have convinced Haemon to go against Antigone? Do you
think Creon is more concerned about the state of his own
reputation? What does he seem to value?
• On Page 103 (paperback)/Page 115 (hardback), what omen did
Teiresias observe? What does he now advise Creon to do? How
do you think Teiresias is feeling toward Creon? Does he want to
help him?
• What is the tone of the Chorus after Creon goes to free Antigone?
What sort of celebration are they describing?
Antigone Part 2,
Pages 95-110 or Pages 106-123
• What news does the Messenger bring? How does this change the mood
that was set in the previous scene?
• Would Antigone have killed herself if she had known of her brother’s
monument? Why do you think she killed herself? Do you think she spoke
to Haemon before she died?
• Why do you suppose Eurydice did not communicate with her husband
before killing herself? What was she feeling? Why do you think she killed
herself? Could she have influenced her husband to save Antigone if she
had spoken before? Should she have realized something was wrong, and
tried to talk to Haemon about his problem with his father?
• Why do you suppose Creon does not kill himself? What will happen to
him now? Are Sophocles’s sympathies more with Creon – or with
Antigone? Who do you think is worse off?
Classwork
• Complete classwork worksheet.
Homework
• Study for Antigone quiz.