Antigone Study Guide Prologue- Scene 2
1. Reread lines 26–27. Which of the following best explains Antigone’s motive for saying these words to Ismene? Support your answer choice, citing details from Antigone.
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.
2. Put yourself in Antigone’s position, and think about your motives for burying Polyneices. Make a list of words, phrases, images, and symbols that represent what you are thinking. In Antigone, what is Antigone’s motive for burying Polyneices?
3. Why does Antigone defy Creon’s decree? Support your answer, citing evidence from Antigone.
4. Which one of the following is a conflict in Antigone? Summarize and explain your answer choice.
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
5. Who is the play’s antagonist? Explain your answer, citing evidence from Antigone.
6. What is Creon’s motivation for decreeing that Polyneices should go unburied? Explain your answer, citing evidence from Antigone.
7. Why does Creon insist on executing Antigone? Cite the lines from Antigone that support your answer choice.
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.
8. Which of the following best illustrates the protagonist’s struggle with the antagonist in Antigone? Explain your answer.
a. ANTIGONE: Ismene, I am going to bury him. Will you come? (line 31)
b. SENTRY: How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong! (line 166)
c. CHORAGOS: Like father, like daughter: both headstrong, deaf to reason! / She has never learned to yield. (line 76)
d. ANTIGONE: There is no guilt in reverence for the dead. (line 107)
9. Between which two characters in this play does the major conflict occur? Explain your answer, citing details from Antigone.
10. Of these four characters, Creon, Antigone, Ismene, and the sentry, which one would best be grouped with anarchists? Explain your answer, citing evidence from Antigone.
Essay
1. Write a brief essay explaining why Ismene pleads with Antigone not to defy Creon. Quote and interpret Ismene’s own words from Antigone, adding what you know about human nature as explanation and support for your answer.
2. In Antigone, Antigone declares to Ismene and Creon that she acts out of honor and obedience to the laws of the gods. Are these really her motives? Do her actions and words reveal different motives? In a brief essay, analyze Antigone’s motives and draw conclusions about why she acts as she does. Support your position with evidence from the selection.
3. Like all good dramas, Antigone centers on a conflict between a protagonist and an antagonist. In a brief essay, identify the protagonist and antagonist of this play, and describe the characteristics of each character that add to the conflict. Before you begin writing, complete these diagrams about the characters. Write the characters’ names in the center circles. Fill in the outer ovals with words that describe them.
4. What is Creon’s argument against burying Polyneices? Write a brief essay explaining Creon’s point of view, citing evidence from Antigone as support.
5. As the new head of state, Creon makes his declaration forbidding Polyneices’ burial. Write an analysis of Creon’s speech in Scene 1 of Antigone. Determine what it reveals about Creon’s abilities as a politician and the strengths and flaws of his character.
Scenes 3 through 5
1. Readers can sympathize with Antigone because of her ____. Explain your answer choice, citing details from Antigone.
a. struggle to do what she feels is right
b. prideful refusal to give in to Creon
c. arranged marriage to Haimon
d. royal lineage
2. Haimon believes that authority rests with the ____. Cite the line from Antigone that supports your answer choice.
a. gods
b. king
c. people
d. traditions
3. Why can Antigone be considered a tragic figure? Cite evidence from Antigone to support your position.
4. By identifying with Haimon, readers can best understand ____. Explain your answer choice, citing details from Antigone.
a. Creon’s tragic flaw
b. Antigone’s obstinacy
c. Eurydice’s grief
d. the atmosphere in Thebes following Creon’s decree
5. Reread line 119 of Antigone. What does Haimon mean when he says “her death will cause another”?
6. Complete this cause-and-effect chain based on Creon’s character in Antigone. In the first empty box, write an immediate effect of Creon’s pride. In the second box, write what that effect causes, and so on. Explain why Creon might be considered a tragic character.
7. Which of the following is not a factor in making Creon a tragic character? Support your answer choice, citing details from Antigone.
a. his refusal to listen to Haimon’s argument
b. the fact that he talks to Teiresias
c. his grief over the deaths of Haimon and Eurydice
d. his belated decision to release Antigone
8. What finally makes Creon relent? Cite evidence from Antigone to support your answer.
9. What is the effect of Creon’s change of heart in Scene 5? Support your answer choice, citing evidence from Antigone.
a. He is no longer a tragic character because he can be flexible.
b. He is no longer a sympathetic character because he is weak.
c. His downfall is more pitiable because he repented in vain.
d. He is transformed from the antagonist to the protagonist.
10. In Antigone, what was Creon’s act of blasphemy? Define blasphemy.
ESSAY
1. Identifying with a character gives readers a deeper understanding of a literary work. Which character in Antigone did you identify with most strongly? In an essay, explain how you identified with this character and what you discovered about the character and the play.
2. Write a brief essay supporting this statement: One of the themes of Antigone was expressed by Teiresias when he said, “The only crime is pride.” (line 35)
3. Centuries of critics and readers have debated about who the tragic character is in Antigone—the title character or Creon. Which one do you believe is the tragic character? To organize your thoughts, complete this diagram. Write the name of the character in the center circle and, in the outer circles, give reasons that the character can be considered tragic. Then, write a brief essay supporting your position with reasonable evidence from the play.
4. Does the Choragos agree with Creon’s final statement, “Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust.” Cite evidence from Antigone.
5. Write an essay explaining why Sophocles’ classic tragedy, Antigone, remains relevant to modern life. Support your position with evidence from the play.