Antigone Questions
Please type your answers on this worksheet using complete sentences & proper grammar,
punctuation, capitalization, and citation.
Prologue
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5.
What information does Antigone give to Ismene at the beginning of this scene?
What has just happened in the sisters’ family?
What does Antigone plan to do? Why?
Does Ismene plan to join her? Why or why not?
What story does the chorus tell in the Parados?
Scene 1
1. Who has Creon assembled at the beginning of the scene? Why does he say he has
passed the new law?
2. How does the sentry act when he comes before Creon? What does this suggest about
Creon’s personality or reputation?
3. What news does the sentry bring? Who does Creon think is responsible?
4. What is the dramatic irony in this scene?
Scene 2
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Who does the sentry bring before Creon? How has the culprit been caught?
What is Antigone’s attitude toward death?
Whom else does Creon want to question?
What has he decided to do with the sisters?
Scene 3
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Who has come to speak with Creon?
What does Creon say is the greatest evil that society faces? (Hint: lines 33-44)
What does Haemon ask Creon to do?
What is Creon’s response?
Haemon says in line 119: “Then she must die. But her death will cause another.” What
does Haemon mean? What does Creon think he means?
6. How has Haemon’s tone/attitude toward Creon changed from the beginning to the end
of scene 3?
7. How will Antigone be killed?
Scene 4
1. What is the chorus’s attitude toward Antigone? How is this different from earlier in the
play?
2. In lines 37-44, what feelings does Antigone express about her father?
3. What is happening at the end of scene 4?
Scene 5
1. According to Teiresias, what is the “new calamity” that Creon has brought to Thebes?
(lines 25-31)
2. In lines 48-61, what does Creon accuse Teiresias of wanting from him?
3. What does Teiresias predict for Creon in lines 70-87? What crime has Creon committed
to deserve this?
4. What does the Choragus tell Creon that he must do to prevent this?
5. What is Paean?
Exodos
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4.
What two people does the messenger say have died? How have they died?
By the time Creon returns, who else has died?
What is Creon’s attitude at the end of the play?
Judging by the final speeches of the play, what do you think is Creon’s fatal flaw?
Medea Questions
1. Is there ever a just reason for murder?
2. In what ways does a play like Medea help the cause of women? How might it hurt it?
3. Compare the plight of women Euripides day to today's society. Similarities?
Differences?
4. Directors often set Greek tragedies in another place and time other than Ancient
Greece. If you were directing, where and when would you choose? Why?
5. What would the play be like if it had been written from the perspective of a different
protagonist? Jason? Creon? The Nurse?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ON SOPHOCLES'S OEDIPUS REX
1. What are your first ImpressiOns of<Jed1pus as a person and ruler?
2. Oedipus's kingdom, Thebes, is beset by the plague and agricultural
decline-"crises". What does this presage for the characters during the
remainder of the play, do you think?
3. What did Oedipus hope to gain by sending his wife's brother, Creon, to
pray to the oracle at Delphi?
4. What can only be termed "magical thinking" permits Oedipus to connect the
murder of Laius, former ruler of Thebes, with the state of the kingdom at the
outset of the play. On what religious or moral premise must such a connection
be based?
5. As readers or playgoers, we would not question the sincerity of Oedipus's
extended speech if we didn't already suspect that someone other than a coldblooded murderer is responsible for the death ofLaius and the state of
Thebes. What makes us think there is some other reason for these events
(even if we already know that Oedipus himself performed the crime)?
6. Why does Tiresius initially refrain from divulging the truth to Oedipus and
assembled others?
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7. What is Oedipus's response to Tiresius's refusal, and then later, to his
accusations?
8. Tiresius replies that he is beholden to no one but Apollo-the "higher
authority" that the Greeks thought was God. This allows him to speak the
painful truth to Oedipus. What caused Tiresius to change his mind and speak
the truth, do you think?
9. Now that you have seen Oedipus react directly to adversity, is your opinion
of him ' different? Would you characterize Oedipus as evil, or merely
human, in his angry reaction to Tiresius's speeches?
10. With whom does the "I" ofthe Chorus identify as it vows to keep an open
mind about
Oedipus until there is "certain proof' of his guilt?
11. Creon tells Oedipus that he has "lost his sense of balance" and is "sullen
in yielding and brutal in rage". Is Oedipus's anger measured, or does it seem
paranoid, to you?
12. What effect does the Chorus's repeated vows of faith for his "good
helmsmanship" have on your perceptions of Oedipus? Would you feel the
same way if there were no Chorus speeches?
13. Why did the lone surviving slave ofLaius's party plead with Jocasta to
leave Thebes when he saw Oedipus on the throne, do you think? Does this
explain why Oedipus war1ts him back?
14. Oedipus calls himself an "abomination" for killing his
father and marrying his mother. If he was aware of neither,
why does he call himself evil? Explain.
15. The death ofPolybus raises the question in everyone's
mind but those who know the truth-"Is Oedipus's biological
father Laius or Polybus?" What does it say about
Oedipus and his feelings of guilt (or lack) that he clings to the
illusion that Polybus was really his biological father?
16. "Many a man before you, in his dreams, has shared his
mother's bed." Explain the significance of this statement of
Jocasta's in relation to the significance of this play down
through the ages.
17. Oedipus's outrage concerning his mother's act of sending
her baby away to its death belies the fact that the ancients must
have done this often; such stories (such as the story of Moses-Exodus 2: 1-6) are present in the Bible. For extra credit, do
research in a
library or the Internet on ancient practices of abortion and childmurder and present it in a short talk to the class.
18. "How could the furrows your father plowed bear
you?" asks the chorus. Of what literary device is this
sentence an example?
19. In a short paragraph, recount the events that lead up to the self-blinding' of
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Oedipus.
20. Does it seem fair for Oedipus to call himself"the worst of men"? Why or
why not?
21. What function might such sentiments serve the ancients
who watch the play in the audience?
22. What basis is there for Oedipus's fears that his daughters will not easily find
spouses?
23. "Count no man happy till (Oedipus) dies," says the Chorus to the audience.
Why?
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