English II
Antigone: Stasimon 2 Group Analysis (pp. 156-158)
Directions: Carefully read Stasimon 2 aloud in its entirety from your Antigone
script. There are four sections (strophes) that should be alternated between at
least two (preferably among four) readers. Then, as a group, answer each of the
analysis questions below. (Write on this paper, and make sure that your group
comes to a consensus answer.)
1. Reprinted below is the first sentence that the Chorus speaks in Stasimon 2.
Read the sentence carefully, then circle the first word of the sentence (the
pronoun “they”)—and then circle the noun (in the same sentence) to which
the “they” refers. Draw a connecting line between the two.
They can call themselves lucky, the fortunate few
who live their lives through
never drinking from the bitter cup of pain.
2. What poetic device is utilized in the phrase “fortunate few”?
3. In that first line, the Chorus speaks of “the fortunate few who…never [drink]
from the bitter cup of pain.” Explain the Chorus’ meaning in this use of
imagery. In other words, what does the first line of the stasimon actually
mean?
4. Now read carefully the second sentence of the passage. Circle the
conjunction with which the sentence begins.
But when one unlucky family
incurs the gods’ malignity
from generation to generation
they must swallow the bitter potion,
again, and then again!
5. Since it begins with the conjunction you’ve circled, this second sentence
(stated in #4) obviously changes the Chorus’ train of thought. To understand
the Chorus’ meaning about the “unlucky family,” two words must be
understood. Define those words below, quoting the definitions from the blue
American Heritage Dictionary which may be found on the cart in the front of
my room.
a. incur (transitive verb):
b. malignity (noun):
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6. Now that you understand these two words, write one complete compound
sentence joined by a comma and a conjunction to explain how the family in
the second sentence of Stasimon 2 differs from the family in the first
sentence.
7. What imagery does Sophocles use to provide continuity between these first
two sentences? (Your answer should be one complete sentence in which you
state the image Sophocles is creating and incorporate a quoted phrase from
both the first and second sentences of the stasimon as support.)
8. Now read the entire first strophe below, paying careful attention to the last
six lines (which are one sentence). After you have read the entire strophe,
notice that the last sentence is commentary on the fact that an unlucky
family can incur “the gods’ malignity from generation to generation.” Keeping
in mind your definition of malignity, circle every example of negative diction
in the last sentence (the last six lines) that helps illustrate the ill-will of the
gods being handed down “from generation to generation.”
They can call themselves lucky, the fortunate few
who live their lives through
never drinking from the bitter cup of pain.
But when one unlucky family
incurs the gods’ malignity
from generation to generation
they must swallow the bitter potion,
again, and then again!
Just as rollers crash, and seaspray whips
on an exposed beach, and black clouds lower
and the gale from the north screams through frozen lips,
while the sea casts up from its depths a shower
of pebbles on the shore, and black sand
from the chasms of ocean, darkens the strand.
9. Now examine the first sentence of the second section (the antistrophe) of the
stasimon: “On every descendent of the ancient line of Labdacus, divine and
merciless retribution falls.”
Using the materials in your notebook as a reference, write one complete
sentence to explain who Labdacus was.
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10. According to the second sentence of the antistrophe, who is responsible for
the disasters in the “ancient line” of Labdacus? Circle the answer below.
In the unremembered past
some unforgiving Olympian cast
the weight of his vengeance on the whole race,
so that agony, destruction, disgrace,
destroys son and daughter, and darkens their halls with tragedy.
11. In the last two lines of the antistrophe, the Chorus says that “the young
root [is] bared for the same bloody axe.” Decode this imagery. Who is “the
young root” in our play that is going to be “bared for the same bloody axe”—
and why does the Chorus say “the same bloody axe”? Write one complete
sentence to answer the question. (HINT: The last line of the antistrophe is a
helpful clue.)
12. List characteristics of Zeus that you discover in each of the following lines
of the third section of the stasimon. (You need not write complete sentences.)
Line 1:
Line 2:
Lines 3 through 8:
Lines 12 through 15:
13. How do lines 12 through 15 of the third section of the stasimon relate to
the last sentence of the second section of the stasimon? Write one complete
sentence to answer the question.
14. In the fourth (and final) section of the stasimon, who is obviously the
subject of the imagery used by the Chorus? (See the last three lines of the
stasimon.) What does the Chorus’ words foreshadow about this character?
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