Antigone and Shakespeare
EIH: March-April 2013
HOMEWORK LISTED IS DUE THE NEXT CLASS DAY UNLESS NOTED.
All work must be completed individually.
HW: Read Antigone background
Day 1
HW: Read Antigone p 189-204; Answer Study Guide Questions I-6
Day 2
HW for day 3: Read p 205-224; Answer Study Guide Questions 7-15
Day 3
HW: Finish reading Antigone p 228-245; Answer Study Guide Questions 15-27
Day 4
HW: Brush up Antigone Study Questions for submission
Day 5
HW: Read Background on Shakespeare
Day 6
HW: Finish reading Act I scene I; complete character chart and study questions
Day 7
HW: Read Act I.ii & Act II.i (pp.12-26); complete study questions
Day 8
HW: Read Act II.ii & Act III.i (26-40; complete study questions
Day 9
HW: Read Act III.ii(pp.26--58); complete study questions
Day 10
HW: Read Act IV (pp.59-69); complete study questions
Day 11
HW: Read Act V (pp.70-86); complete study questions
Day 12
HW: Practice passage analysis
Day 13
HW: Study for test; prepare questions for submission
Day 14
TEST! YAY!
HW: TBA
Literary Terms For Drama
Tragedy-
Catharsis-
Chorus-
Choragos-
Parados-
Ode-
Exodos-
Foil-
Protagonist-
Antagonist-
Tragic hero-
LITERARY TERMS for SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA
BLANK VERSE –
COUPLETS –
IMAGERY –
DRAMATIC IRONY –
ASIDE –
SOLILOQUY –
MONOLOGUE –
TONE METAPHOR –
FARCE –
COMEDY –
MALAPROPISM -
PUN -
Study questions for Antigone
Answer all questions in your notebook (or type them); I will check them periodically.
When possible, use quotations within your answers. These questions will help you focus
on the most important events in each of the plays.
See Academic Honesty Policies, in the student handbook and on the freshman course
policy sheet.
Answers to these questions must be in your own words and in direct quotations from the
plays. You are not permitted to share answers. As we go over these in class, make
corrections to your answers (use a different color ink) so that I can see your first
impressions and your final, corrected answers.
Antigone Reading Check Questions 1
1. The action of the play begins immediately with a conflict between Antigone and
Ismene. What is the conflict about?
2. Ismene and Antigone are contrasted in this scene. How would you describe
Antigone? How would you describe Ismene?
3. What have we learned about Creon before he appears on stage? Based on this scene,
how would you describe Creon’s character?
4. What reasons does Creon give for his ruling about the bodies of Polyneices and
Eteocles? How does the Chorus react?
5. Ode one deals with human existence. Restate its main idea in one sentence of your
own.
6. How does the ode comment on the conflict of the play? Specifically, how does the
message in the ode connect to how Antigone’s actions are to be judged?
7. What major event takes place before scene two begins? How do you know/ get a
picture of the action?
8. How does Antigone defend her actions?
9. Does the chorus side with Antigone or Creon? Pick a line that shows the chorus’
attitude.
10. How has Ismene changed? How does Antigone treat her?
11. What fears for Oedipus’ children does Ode 2 express?
12. In Scene 3, Haimon is trying to persuade Creon to relent in his punishment of
Antigone. What methods and arguments does he use to try to change Creon’s mind?
What threat does he deliver to Creon?
13. How does Creon react to Haimon’s arguments? What are Creon’s attitudes toward
youth and women? How do these influence his reaction?
14. What function does the Chorus have in this scene? Who does the Chorus side with?
15. What does Ode 3 say about love?
16. As Antigone faces her death, does she seem changed in any way? Explain.
17. What comfort does the Chorus try to offer Antigone?
18. How will Antigone be killed? Why does this suit Creon better than stoning?
19. At first, Creon refuses to listen to Teiresias. Of what does he accuse Teiresias?
20. Teiresias tells Creon that the only crime is pride. How is Creon guilty of pride?
21. Why does Creon finally give in? What part does the Chorus play in his decision?
22. Violence is not portrayed on the stage, so how does Sophocles let us know what
happens to Antigone, Haimon, and Eurydice?
23. How is Teiresias’ prophecy fulfilled?
24. At the end of the play, how has Creon changed from the beginning of the play?
What does he finally recognize?
Please answer the following questions in three to five sentences each.
25. Once you finish the play, what do you think it says about the individual conscience
in conflict with the authority of the state?
26. What does it say about the conflict between human law and divine law?
27. What does it say about loyalty to family v. loyalty to the state?
Study Questions for A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Answer all questions in your notebook (or type them); I will collect/check them
periodically. When possible, use quotations within your answers. These questions
will help you focus on the most important events and speeches in each scene. Make sure
to answer every aspect of question.
See Academic Honesty Policies in the student handbook and on the course policy sheet.
Answers to these questions must be in your own words and in direct quotations from the
play. You are not permitted to share answers. As we go over these in class, make
corrections to your answers (use a different color ink) so that we can see your first
impressions and your final, corrected answers. You are expected to use our designated
Midsummer Night’s Dream text; parallel translations, Cliff’s/ Spark Notes or any other
versions are not permitted.
When the question asks for “scripting” of lines, take the given lines and put them into
your own words. You do not have to do a word for word translation, but you must
include every aspect of what is being said.
Act One Scene One (1-127)
1. Who is Theseus? Why is he anxious for the rising new moon (lines 1-10)? What
does he tell Philostrate to do in lines 11-15?
2. Script Egeus’s speech lines 23-45. Why is Egeus angry? Why has he come to see
Theseus? Why would Egeus prefer Demetrius over Lysander?
3. Who does Hermia love? What is Hermia wish for in line 56?
4. What alternatives does Theseus offer Hermia (lines 65-78)? In what tone do you
imagine him presenting these alternatives?
Act One Scene One (127-end)
5. Where do Hermia and Lysander and Hermia agree to meet that night (lines 156168)? Why?
6. What is the relationship between Helena and Hermia?
7. Script the first dialogue between Hermia and Helena (lines 180-193). What “play
on words” is Shakespeare using at the beginning of this selection. Explain both
connotations of the word.
8. What is Hermia and Lysander’s plan (lines 203-223)? How will Helena betray
the secret Hermia tells her (lines 226-251)? Why?
Act One Scene Two
1. What is the purpose of the meeting at Peter Quince’s house?
2. Who is Nick Bottom? How does he make trouble at the meeting?
3. How are the characters in Pyramus and Thisbe like the characters of Hermia and
Lysander?
4. Script Quince’s instructions to his cast in lines 97-104. When and where do the
tradesmen plan to rehearse?
Act Two Scene One
1. By what other name is Puck known? What does the fairy tell Puck at the
beginning of the scene? What warning does he give her, in turn?
2. Why is Oberon angry with Titania? Why does he want the boy?
3. Script the lines between 32-57. What is Puck’s main occupation? What are some
of the things that he does to humans?
4. Who do Titania and Oberon blame for recent storms and floods?
5. According to Oberon, how did the pansy get its magical powers? Why does he
have Puck fetch the flower for him?
6. Who races after Demetrius into the woods? Give two ways that he try to stop
her?
7. What is Oberon’s solution to Demetrius and Helena’s disagreement?
Act Two Scene Two
1. What jobs does Titania send her fairies off to do at the beginning of the scene?
2. What spell does Oberon pronounce over the sleeping Titania?
3. Why does Lysander move away from Hermia before they sleep? What mistake
does Puck make while they sleep?
4. Script Hermia’s speech when she wakes up (145-156). Where does Hermia go at
the end of the scene?
Act Three Scene One
1. What are some of the concerns that the actors have concerning their audience?
What are their solutions to the problems?
2. Why does Bottom propose looking in an almanac?
3. What does Puck do to break up the rehearsal?
4. How does Bottom react to when he realizes what has happened to him? How
does Titania react when she sees Bottom? What does she tell her fairies to do?
Act Three Scene Two
1. Oberon is both pleased and angry with Puck at the beginning of scene two.
Explain why. How does he decide to fix Puck’s mistake?
2. What does Hermia think has happened to Lysander? Why does she think so?
3. Script Helena’s first speech to Demetrius after he wakes up (145-161). Explain
the irony in Helena’s reaction to when Demetrius declares his love for her.
4. What do Lysander and Demetrius head off to do in the middle of the scene? What
does Oberon do to prevent it?
Act Four Scenes One and Two
1. How does Oberon get the boy back from Titania? What does he do after he gets
the boy back?
2. How did Theseus, Egeus, and the others happen to find the four lovers? What is
Theseus’s proclamation for everyone?
3. What do the lovers remember about the night’s events?
4. Script Bottom’s speech at the end of scene one (lines 203-222). What is Bottom
going to do with his “dream”?
5. Why are the tradesmen upset at the beginning of Act Four scene two?
6. What news does Bottom provide when he returns? What does Bottom tell the
others to do in preparation for the play?
Act Five
1. Why does Theseus wish to watch Pyramus and Thisby?
2. How does Quince make the prologue unintentionally funny? Provide two other
funny moments in Act Five.
3. How does the audience react when Pyramus and Thisby commit suicide?
4. What options does Bottom offer to Theseus at the end of the play? What does he
choose?
5. Script Puck’s final speech (lines 425-440). What is Puck doing at the end of the
play? For what does he apologize?