Antigone – Scene Notes

Prologue

Topics or Questions / Notes
Who is Antigone?
Who is Ismene?
What does Antigone want to do?
  • Why?
What does Ismene want to do?
  • Why?
/ She is the sister of Polyneices and Eteocles, the sister of Ismene, and the youngest daughter of Oedipus.
She is the older sister of Antigone.
She wants to bury her brother, Polyneices.
So, that his spirit is at peace. And, she wants to honor her family because it’s the right thing to do.
She wants to follow the King’s law.
She doesn’t want to die and she doesn’t want her sister killed.

Conclusion – What was the Prologue about? (3 sentences)

Scene 1

Topics or Questions / Notes
Who is Creon?
What was Creon’s edict?
  • Why?
Who is the Sentry?
What was he supposed to be doing?
What did he see?
How does he speak?
How did the King react to the Sentry’s news? / He is the King of Thebes and the uncle of Antigone.
No one is allowed to bury Polyneices.
Polyneices fought against his own country, so he’s considered a traitor.
He’s a guard from Thebes.
His duty was to keep watch over Polyneices to make sure no one buried him.
He saw that the body was buried, but he didn’t see who did it.
He babbles or does not speak directly to the point.
He was angry, accuses the guard of taking bribes, and threatened to kill the guard if he doesn’t find who buried Polyneices.

Conclusion: What was Scene 1 about? (3 sentence summary)

Scene 2

Topics or Questions / Notes
What did the Sentry discover?
What did Antigone say when she was brought to Creon?
What is Creon’s reaction to Antigone?
Why does Creon accuse Ismene?
What does Ismene do?
What does Antigone do? / He discovered that Antigone had buried Polyneices.
She said that she didn’t care about dying because she feels her crime was holy; she’s following the law of the gods.
He’s shocked and angry. He’s insulted that a woman broke his law.
He thinks Ismene was plotting against him with Antigone.
Ismene says she’s guilty, even though she didn’t help bury her brother, because she wants to die with Antigone.
Antigone denies her sister and says she cannot die with her or share the honor of her death.

Conclusion: What was Scene 2 about? (3 sentence summary)

Scene 3

Topics or Questions / Notes
How does Creon want Haemon to treat him?
What does Haemon suggest to his father?
Does Creon listen to his son?
What is Creon’s final decision about Antigone?
What does Haemon say he will do if Antigone dies? / He wants Haemon to respect him and be obedient.
He believes that his father should listen to the people of Thebes. The people do not think Antigone deserves to die.
He says his son is just a young fool and he refuses to be ‘schooled’ by his son.
She is going to die and that is final.
He says that he will take his own life.

Conclusion: What was Scene 3 about? (3 sentence summary)

Scene 4

Topics or Questions / Notes
Is the Chorus (townspeople) sympathetic to Antigone?
How does Antigone feel about her death?
Why is Antigone compared to Niobe?
What was Antigone’s final statement to Thebes? / Yes,they compared her death to a former Queen and said that she will die with honor.
She accepts it and she’s proud.
They both died enclosed in stone—Niobe was a living statue and Antigone is being entombed in a stone cave.
She is dying because she refused to break the laws of heaven..

Conclusion: What was Scene 4 about? (3 sentence summary)

Scene 5

Topics or Questions / Notes
Who is Teiresias?
What did Teiresias tell Creon?
Does Creon believe him?
What is the curse Teiresias reveals?
After the curse, what does Creon do? / A blind prophet who can “see” the future through omens from the gods.
He says the gods are angry because of what Creon has done and he should bury the dead.
No, Creon thinks he’s been bribed to tell him lies.
Creon refused to bury the dead and entombed a living person, so for each that he has wronged, he will pay back the gods from his own family.
He’s scared and he hurries to bury the body of Polyneices and free Antigone.

Conclusion: What was Scene 5 about? (3 sentence summary)

Exodos

Topics or Questions / Notes
What news does the Messenger bring?
What does Eurydice do when she hears the news?
What does Creon do at the end? / He reports that Antigone hung herself and in his anger and grief Haemon stabbed himself.
When she learns that her last son is dead and it’s her husband’s fault, she stabs herself and curses Creon’s name as she dies.
He understands why it’s all his fault. He should have tried to release Antigone first and then bury Polyneices. His son and wife have died because he disobeyed the gods’ law, and his pride is broken by his grief.

Conclusion: What was the Exodos about? (3 sentence summary)