Antigone Study Guide
Antigone Study Guide 1) Antigone – Daughter of Oedipus, very forward, she goes out to bury her brother even though it was breaking the law of King Creon and gets caught for it and killed, also betrothed to Haemon. Ismene – Another daughter of Oedipus, timid, doesn’t want to disobey Creon. Ismene gets up to speak her mind for her sister when Antigone is faced with the crime of moving their brother body. King Creon – Brother of Jocasta (whom committed suicide. ) Was a captain/general of army and the next ruler of Thebes, very righteous, wants to be obeyed by everyone or results in death for them.
Haemon – Son of Creon, betrothed to Antigone, and has a romantic relationship with her. Haemon get very angry when he finds out about the loss of his bride and then kills himself and dies holding her dead body. Tiresias – A seer, comes to Creon and tells him that he needs to release Antigone or more people will die and he will be in a very sorrowful position, Creon doesn’t head his words in enough time and ends up in despair. Eurydice – Wife of Creon; kills herself with a sharp dagger to the heart when she finds out about the death of her son Haemon.
A Sentinel – Just informs Creon of happenings around Thebes; and helps him to find Antigone when they are looking for the law breaker. 2) The dramatic effect to show how all of the rest of their family have horribly perished by murder or their own hands, kind of foreshadowing what will happen to these last two children. Ismene’s view of the difference between men and women is that women are born women they aren’t meant to rule they are to be below men, and to be obedient. 3) She will lay with him for as long as needed no matter what. “The powers of earth will not be as good as the powers of the Gods. She willingly to do anything for her dead brother to bury him, “do holy things criminally,” is an oxymoron because holy is meant be good and righteous but doing it criminally which is a ‘conflict of values’ between good, holy and bad, criminal. 4) There is a law set by Creon not to bury or touch the body of Antigone’s dead brother, but Antigone wants to bury him no matter at what cost. People today want things that are illegal for them to do, for example, when a divorced parent kidnaps their own child from the custodial parent, law says it’s not their child but they do anything for their child they love. ) The Chorus is a group of Thesbian Senators; the use of emotion pulled the reader into the writing and the amazing flow with writing rhyming and tempo made it easy to get more absorbed in the passage, feeling how people listening to this play would feel. 6) He is apologetic for all the trouble people had while they were ruled by Oedipus, uses the comparison to a ship and stormy seas again, tells them they can get a secure footing now. He says that death awaits anyone that goes against him or touches that body. Their beliefs are similar because they are both out for love of something and are not letting anyone get in their way. ) The 1 Senator, suggested, “This must be something more than natural,” as to say that it could be something out of the ordinary and abstract. We see that the body is sprinkled with a dust given a ritual then buried, and that disappearing bodies was just crazy. 8) He is describing sin and temptation when he says that it ruins cities, removes/runs men out from their families and homes, leads them on the wrong path, and sets humans on not righteous actions the gods want but just what a human wants and their instincts. 9) He acts a little amazed, then asks her if she will admit to it or not.
He questions her without much other conversation and with the answers Antigone gives, Creon gets more angry seeing that she sees him as not high enough rank, and that she will only listen to laws made by the gods, and Creon does not want to be ordered around by a women. 10) I feel that Antigone choice was a foolish religious zealotry. There were laws set by her ruler and she disobeyed them because she felt like only laws created by gods truly mattered, and that disobeying a ruler would have no effect or punishment for her with anyone but Creon. 1) Ismene wants to die with her sister, she does not want to watch her sister die then have to live without her. Even though she was timid and didn’t actually breath the law and touch the body or be involved in its transportation. She tells Creon she was involved and become defiant and stiff wanting what she wants. 12) They tell how the history of family continues down the whole line and one mistake will ruin their heirs forever. They also say how much wrong Antigone’s family has created and all after them of their children will be damned as well. The sickle murderous, of the rulers of the dead, and the wild words beyond control, and the frenzy of her own soul, again mow down the shoot. ” Explains of what all her family had done and that it needs to end. 13) Haemon goes from simply agreeing with his father to questioning Ceron’s right to do this to his betrothed. Then the two start to quarrel over Creon believing Haemon is following a women rather than him, when he is really just bringing up logical questions.
Haemon is just trying to prove that it wasn’t trying to go against Creon’s law when she took her brother, but was just looking out for him because she loved her brother. 14) He changes it so that the blood of her death cannot be traced back to anyone, when she dies alone in a cave with some food provisions. Also to symbolizes that the dead should not be disturbed to be buried like she attempted to do with her brother, and to prove that she is, “A lost labour to revere the dead. ” 15) We see a sad side of Antigone, were she says it will be her last time seeing light and she never had a wedding or a wedding song.
The chorus kind of says, ‘be happy, don’t be sad, you did not go to the grave with a plague, or stabbed with a sword, you’re going to the grave alive! ’ 16) When Creon sees Tiresias, Tiresias asks him if he will follow what he says, Creon says he always does, but Tiresias start to scare Creon when he starts to speak. That adds to the dramatic effect, wanting to know what Tiresias will say. He says that it was right to bury the body and that no one should be punished for it. Also that if she isn’t released there will be more deaths then just Antigone’s. 7) Initially Creon is surprised and does not want to do what Tiresias is suggesting. It follows his character and his not wanted to be wrong and his want for power. Creon learns that the laws of the gods are more important than his own, even though he doesn’t want to accept it. 18) Creon went to check for the voice of his son Haemon in the cave before opening the cave, to release Antigone. Doing so caused the deaths of, Haemon, Polynices, and Antigone. If Creon had saved Antigone first it would have most likely saved Haemon when he saw his betrothed.
Doing what Creon did proves how much his pride comes before anyone else. 19) Antigone – Hung herself with linen rope in the grave where she was left to die. Haemon – Stabbed himself through the chest with a sword after seeing Antigone’s dead body and holding her in his arms. Eurydice – Dead at the altar of Creon’s house, slain dead with a sharp edged dagger to her hear with her own hands. Polynices – Found dead at the top of a hill, on the hillside with wild dogs all around him taking their shares. 20) Creon learns that by condemning others he condemned his family and they ll tragically saw their fate because he couldn’t let Antigone burry her brother, that many more people close to Creon died. 21) Antigone is a ‘Tragic Figure’ because she dies in the story and makes the audience feel bad for her because she was punished severely for trying to do right by her brother and bury him. While King Creon is the true ‘Tragic Hero’ because he sees his wrong after pride and power set him off course and down the wrong path, and after he saw the light, it was too late to fix what had already begun, and many more people died when no one had to suffer or die at all.
