Grade 9: Antigone
First read the notes below, then answer the questions that follow.
In December, we will read a play called Oedipus the King by a writer named Sophocles, who wrote over 120 plays in the fifth century BCE in ancient Greece. Despite the antiquity of his plays, they raise questions that remain relevant in our society, and they continue to have great emotional impact on audiences around the world.
Sophocles wrote a “sequel” to Oedipus the King, a play called Antigone, some ten years before he wrote Oedipus the King, but the action in Antigone takes place after the end of Oedipus the King. Oedipus was a good and just king of Thebes for many years. Tragically, after a plague that wasted the land and the people, the old king had to relinquish his throne in disgrace; he discovered that an ancient prophecy—that he would kill his father and marry his mother—had come true despite all his efforts to avoid it. He blinded himself in grief and rage, and left Thebes as an exile. He took Antigone, his faithful, loving daughter, begging with him on the highways of Ancient Greece.
The Old king left behind two sons named Eteocles and Polynices, and another daughter named Ismene. (Their mother, Queen Jocasta, killed herself when the truth about Oedipus’s fate became known.) Some years later, with Oedipus’s blessing, the sons agreed to share their father’s throne. But the house of Oedipus was doomed to more tragedy. The sons eventually killed each other in a jealous battle for the throne, leaving Creon, their uncle (Jocasta’s brother) in power.
It is at this point that the play Antigone opens. The plot is simple. Creon has ordered that the body of Eteocles (the son he favored in the battle for the throne) shall be buried with full honors while the corpse of Polynices (whom he opposed as a traitor) is to be left to be mangled by the vultures and the dogs—as an example to the people of what happens to a man who betrays and attacks his own city. Antigone, revolted by this godless and inhuman order, tries to bury her brother. She is caught. As is often the case with martyrs to a moral cause or principle, her revolt makes an impression only after her own death. Antigone’s protest and martyrdom have the effect of a revelation on the Thebans—but too late to save her.
All of this might occur in any country where a dictator sets him/herself above both religion and the people—or where a citizen sets him/herself against the power and authority of the state in pursuit of a private interest. Jean Anouilh wrote and produced his treatment of the story in a modern version of Antigone in Paris in 1943. Under the stress of the German Occupation of France during World War II, Anouilh’s Antigone was able to symbolize for all the French people the country of France itself—France rejecting the German “new Order” with its promise of prosperity and “happiness,” provided the French people surrendered their spiritual independence. After reading the play Antigone (by Sophocles), please answer these questions:
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In December, we will read a play called Oedipus the King by a writer named Sophocles, who wrote over 120 plays in the fifth century BCE in ancient Greece. Despite the antiquity of his plays, they raise questions that remain relevant in our society, and they continue to have great emotional impact on audiences around the world.
Sophocles wrote a “sequel” to Oedipus the King, a play called Antigone, some ten years before he wrote Oedipus the King, but the action in Antigone takes place after the end of Oedipus the King. Oedipus was a good and just king of Thebes for many years. Tragically, after a plague that wasted the land and the people, the old king had to relinquish his throne in disgrace; he discovered that an ancient prophecy—that he would kill his father and marry his mother—had come true despite all his efforts to avoid it. He blinded himself in grief and rage, and left Thebes as an exile. He took Antigone, his faithful, loving daughter, begging with him on the highways of Ancient Greece.
The Old king left behind two sons named Eteocles and Polynices, and another daughter named Ismene. (Their mother, Queen Jocasta, killed herself when the truth about Oedipus’s fate became known.) Some years later, with Oedipus’s blessing, the sons agreed to share their father’s throne. But the house of Oedipus was doomed to more tragedy. The sons eventually killed each other in a jealous battle for the throne, leaving Creon, their uncle (Jocasta’s brother) in power.
It is at this point that the play Antigone opens. The plot is simple. Creon has ordered that the body of Eteocles (the son he favored in the battle for the throne) shall be buried with full honors while the corpse of Polynices (whom he opposed as a traitor) is to be left to be mangled by the vultures and the dogs—as an example to the people of what happens to a man who betrays and attacks his own city. Antigone, revolted by this godless and inhuman order, tries to bury her brother. She is caught. As is often the case with martyrs to a moral cause or principle, her revolt makes an impression only after her own death. Antigone’s protest and martyrdom have the effect of a revelation on the Thebans—but too late to save her.
All of this might occur in any country where a dictator sets him/herself above both religion and the people—or where a citizen sets him/herself against the power and authority of the state in pursuit of a private interest. Jean Anouilh wrote and produced his treatment of the story in a modern version of Antigone in Paris in 1943. Under the stress of the German Occupation of France during World War II, Anouilh’s Antigone was able to symbolize for all the French people the country of France itself—France rejecting the German “new Order” with its promise of prosperity and “happiness,” provided the French people surrendered their spiritual independence. After reading the play Antigone (by Sophocles), please answer these questions:
- What is your first impression of Antigone? How does she differ from her sister, Ismene? What is most important to each sister?
- If you were faced with Antigone’s problem (her quarrel with Creon over the burial of her brother’s body), what would you do about it? Do you think Antigone does the right thing?
- Why does Antigone take her protest so far? Is the principle she fights for worth all the trouble it gets her into? (Polynices’s punishment was indeed terrible, for without at least token funeral rites, his spirit would not be able to enter the afterworld.)
- What is Creon’s view of the situation? Is he a bad ruler? Can you see his point of view? (Remember that, as Creon sees it, Eteocles was favored by the people and faithfully defended Thebes against Polynices, who left the city, then came back and attacked his own people to recapture the throne.)
- What is Haemon’s position in all this? Do you admire him? Is he as strong as Antigone? Does his mother, Eurydice, have any influence on Creon?
- Is Antigone wise or foolish in ignoring the “politics” of Creon’s refusal to change his mind? Can she realistically expect Creon to back down?
- Are the suggestions of the Chorus wise or foolish? If you were to write a play today, who in our society might be part of the Chorus?
- “Some of the worst disasters in history have been caused by people putting small truths in the way of large truths.” How might this statement apply to this play?
- “Each age is entitled to its own Antigone.” Would you agree? Is the play Antigone as relevant now as it was in 540 BCE? Why or why not?
