Antigone, Prologue through Scene 2, by Sophocles
Selection Test
Critical Reading
In the blank, write the letter of the one best answer.
____ 1. Which of these events in Antigone took place first?
a. the assault on Thebes
b. the death of the brothers
c. the decree of Creon
d. the crime of Oedipus
____ 2. Which of the following best explains Antigone’s motive for saying to Ismene, “And
now you can prove what you are:/A true sister, or a traitor to your family”?
a. She is afraid to act alone.
b. She wants to make a strong emotional appeal.
c. She hates her sister.
d. She suspects Ismene is plotting with Creon.
____ 3. Ismene pleads with Antigone not to defy Creon because she
a. fears challenging authority herself.
b. feels that Antigone loved their brother more than she.
c. believes that Creon will punish her for Antigone’s actions.
d. must assert her will over others.
____ 4. Antigone’s motive for burying Polyneices is her ____________ .
a. stubbornness
b. pride
c. loyalty
d. hatred
____ 5. Antigone defies Creon’s decree because she
a. wants to overthrow him.
b. wishes to join her dead brothers.
c. wants to die rather than marry Haimon.
d. believes in obedience to a higher law.
____ 6. Which one of the following is a conflict in the play?
a. conflict between Choragos and the chorus
b. conflict between Creon and Choragos
c. conflict between the laws of man and the laws of the gods
d. conflict between Antigone and Polyneices
____ 7. The play’s antagonist is ____________ .
a. Antigone
b. Ismene
c. Creon
d. Choragos
____ 8. Which of the following best explains Creon’s motivation for decreeing that Polyneices
should go unburied?
a. He believes the gods have commanded it.
b. He has a strong affection for Eteocles.
c. He does not want to honor a traitor.
d. He wants to harm the family of Oedipus.
____ 9. Creon insists on executing Antigone because
a. he wants to make an example of her.
b. he despised her father, Oedipus.
c. he refuses to take orders from a woman.
d. she will not admit her guilt.
____ 10. Which of the following best summarizes Creon’s argument against burying Polyneices?
a. This is Polyneices’ destiny as a son of Oedipus.
b. His punishment is a deterrent.
c. The city cannot afford funerals for its enemies.
d. Religion forbids the burial of enemies of the state.
____ 11. Which of the following best illustrates the protagonist’s struggle with the antagonist?
a. ANTIGONE: Ismene, I am going to bury him. Will you come?
b. SENTRY: How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong!
c. CHORAGOS: Like father, like daughter; both headstrong, deaf to reason! She has
never learned to yield.
d. ANTIGONE: There is no guilt in reverence for the dead.
____ 12. The major conflict exposed in this selection is between
a. Creon and himself.
b. Creon and Antigone.
c. Antigone and Ismene.
d. Antigone and herself.
____ 13. What primary characteristic does Creon reveal in the following words?
This girl is guilty of a double insolence, / Breaking the given laws and boasting of
it. / Who is the man here, / She or I, if this crime goes unpunished?
a. wisdom
b. anger
c. pride
d. fairness
____ 14. The struggle of protagonist against antagonist in Antigone is best described as pitting
a. Antigone’s obedience to a higher law against Creon’s desire for order.
b. Creon’s stubbornness against Antigone’s selfishness.
c. Antigone’s humility against Creon’s arrogance.
d. Creon’s strength against Antigone’s weakness.
Vocabulary and Grammar
____ 15. Antigone wants to protect her brother’s body from ___________ birds.
a. carrion
b. sated
c. anarchist
d. sultry
____ 16. Which character would best be grouped with anarchists?
a. Creon
b. Antigone
c. Ismene
d. sentry
____ 17. What transcends Antigone’s fear of death?
a. Creon’s decree
b. her fear of discovery
c. Ismene’s reluctance to join her
d. her devotion to a higher law
____ 18. What is the objective pronoun in the following sentence?
Antigone felt that burying their brother was the least that she and her sister could
do for him.
a. him
b. her
c. she
d. their
____ 19. Creon tells Antigone that her death gives ________ everything he wants from ________.
a. he, her
b. him, her
c. him, she
d. he, she
____ 20. In the following sentence, what is the function of the pronoun her ?
Ismene wants to die as well, but Antigone does not want to give her the satisfaction.
a. a direct object
b. the object of a preposition
c. an indirect object
d. the object of an infinitive