GRADE 10 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON – Teacher Copy
Learning Objectives
Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 – 10/12/12
The goal of this exemplar lesson is to conclude a close analysis of Sophocles’ drama, Antigone. Through repeated readings of targeted sections and the
effective use of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led), students recognize complex relationships and dramatic themes in this
classical drama. Varying the length and purpose for writing (paraphrasing, objective summarization, literary analysis of evolving themes, use of graphic
organizers) provides time for evidentiary writing tasks that support deeper understanding of text. Teachers may need to further scaffold activities to
address individual students’ needs depending on the intent of the lesson and specific learners’ needs.
Rationale: This lesson focuses on Scenes 4 and 5 of Antigone and guides students through activities that center on the extent to which Creon and
Antigone control their own fates. Are they victims of the whims of the gods, or are their actions the result of their own free will? The lesson culminates
in a response to literature focused on the nature of Creon's and Antigone’s tragic flaw, explaining his or her values and justifying his or her actions.
Text Title(s): Antigone - Sophocles
McDougal Littell Literature, pp. 966 - 1009
Genre/Text Structure: Classical Drama – Greek Tragedy
Targeted Text Selection – SCENE 4 and SCENE 5
Pages 994 – 1006
Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
RL.9–10; W.9-10; SL.9-10
http://www.corestandards.org
Lesson Sequence
PERFORMANCE TASK/CULMINATING INDEPENDENT WRITING ASSESSMENT:
How does the character of Creon from Sophocles’ Antigone—a “man of simplicity and banal happiness”—reflect conflicting motivations of
political and social order through his decision to sentence Antigone to death in the classical tragedy? Articulate how Creon’s commitment to
acts he finds loathsome and Antigone's insistence on facing the power of the state both advance the plot of this tragedy and develop
themes.
Write a response to literature in which you analyze the nature of Creon's and Antigone’s tragic flaw. Identify errors in judgment or
weaknesses in character and indicate how this flaw brings about death and affects all of Theban society. Who better fits the definition of a
tragic hero, Antigone or Creon? Support your statements with examples and quotations from the play.
Activity 1:
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
To what extent do Creon and Antigone control their own fates?
Are Creon and Antigone the victims of the whims of the gods, or are their actions the result of their own free will?
In what ways are Creon and Antigone similar? Different?
In what ways is Antigone a threat to Creon?
What is the major theme of the play?
1. The students will independently read Scene 4 and Scene 5 of Antigone on pages 994 - 1006. The sections of the play may be aloud or played on
audio in its entirety. Rereading on day one is embedded in the text-dependent questions.
2. Using collaborative conferences (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) students should discuss and respond in writing to the initial meaning they
have made from reading this section of the play.
3. Close analytical reading will be conducted on 4 targeted sections (lines 11 - 44 in Scene 4, Ode 4 in Scene 4, lines 48 – 69 in Scene 5, and lines 120 –
142 of Exodos).
Activities 2, 3 and 4:
1. Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding questions about the targeted sections (lines 11-44 in Scene 4, lines 48–
69 in Scene 5, and lines 120–142 of Exodos). The targeted text should be in front of the
students as they engage in their discussions.
2. Returning to the text for close analysis of Ode 4, the teacher asks students a small set of
guiding questions.
3. Continue to use the open mind graphic from week 6 and the cluster diagram from week 7 to
analyze the moral conflict faced by each of the characters in the play.
4. Tell students that they should draft a clear statement of this conflict and include it in the
introduction to their response for the culminating writing task.
5.
The statement should describe the situation, the dilemma, possible courses of action, and explain the character’s actions .
2012-2013
1
GRADE 10 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON
Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 – 10/12/12
Activity 5:
1. Use the Carol Booth Olson’s writing activity at www.classzone.com as a culminating assessment.
Writing Situation
In his tragedy Antigone, Sophocles portrays a variety of characters who are convinced they are living their lives the best way they can in the
world as they see it. Virtually every character reaches a point where his or her sense of morality conflicts with that of another character.
Writing Directions
Write a response to literature in which you analyze the nature of Creon's and Antigone’s tragic flaw. Identify errors in judgment or
weaknesses in character and indicate how this flaw brings about the causes of death and affects all of Theban society. Who better fits the
definition of a tragic hero, Antigone or Creon? Support your statements with examples and quotations from the play.
Targeted Text Selection - SCENE 4 and SCENE 5
Vocabulary
Teacher Activities and Techniques
underlined words: insufficient
Pages 994 - 1006
Text-Dependent Questions
contextual clues
BOLD words: Tier Two words
11
15
20
25
30
35
40
1
5
10
Lines 11 – 44 p. 994
Chorus. Yet not unpraised, not without a kind of honor,
You walk at last into the underworld;
Untouched by sickness, broken by no sword.
What woman has ever found your way to death?
Antigone. How often I have heard the story of Niobe,
Tantalus’ wretched daughter, how the stone
Clung fast about her, ivy-close: and they say
The rain falls endlessly
And sifting soft snow; her tears are never done.
I feel the loneliness of her death in mine.
Chorus. But she was born of heaven, and you
Are woman, woman-born. If her death is yours,
A mortal woman’s, is this not for you
Glory in our world and in the world beyond?
Antigone. You laugh at me. Ah, friends, friends,
Can you not wait until I am dead? O Thebes,
O men many-charioted, in love with Fortune,
Dear springs of Dirce, sacred Theban grove,
Be witnesses for me, denied all pity,
Unjustly judged! and think a word of love
For her whose path turns
Under dark earth, where there are no more tears.
Chorus. You have passed beyond human daring and
come at last
Into a place of stone where Justice sits.
I cannot tell
What shape of your father’s guilt appears in this.
Antigone. You have touched it at last: that bridal bed
Unspeakable, horror of son and mother mingling:
Their crime, infection of all our family!
O Oedipus, father and brother!
Your marriage strikes from the grave to murder mine.
I have been a stranger here in my own land:
All my life
The blasphemy of my birth has followed me.
Ode 4 p. 997
Chorus. All Danae’s beauty was locked away
In a brazen cell where the sunlight could not come:
A small room, still as any grave, enclosed her.
Yet she was a princess too,
And Zeus in a rain of gold poured love upon her.
O child, child,
No power in wealth or war
Or tough sea-blackened ships
Can prevail against untiring Destiny!
And Dryas’ son also, that furious king,
Bore the god’s prisoning anger for his pride:
2012-2013
GUIDING QUESTION: To what extent do Creon and Antigone
control their own fates?
lines 15 – 20
Niobe: queen of
Thebes whose
children were killed
by the gods because
she had boasted
that she was
greater than a
goddess. After their
deaths, she was
turned to stone but
continued to shed
tears.
line 40, Oedipus
(Q1) Who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist in the
play?
Possible answer. Antigone is the protagonist because the play
opens with her, she has the most tragic fate, and she is the title
character. Creon is the antagonist because he is clearly
Antigone’s enemy and he has many negative qualities.
(Q2) How does the chorus view Antigone’s punishment for her
act of conscience and loyalty?
Possible answer. The chorus says that her punishment comes
with praises and honor (lines 11-12), though they suggest fate
may have played a part (lines 35-36).
(Q3) How does Antigone show qualities of a tragic hero?
Possible answer. Antigone faces death with courage, still
insisting on the justness of her actions. Like a tragic hero, she is
dignified, with a tragic flaw—“the blasphemy of *her+birth” (line
44).
line 44 blasphemy
of my birth:
Antigone is referring
to her father’s
marriage to his own
mother, an
incestuous
relationship that
resulted in her birth.
This type of
relationship was
considered a sin
against the gods.
lines 1-5 Danae:
The princess Danae
was imprisoned by her
father because it had
been predicted that
her son would one day
kill him. After Zeus
visited Danae in the
form of a shower of
gold, she gave birth to
his son Perseus, who
die eventually kills his
grandfather.
(Q4) What is Antigone’s highest loyalty?
Possible answer. Antigone’s highest loyalty is to the principles of
conscience and the laws of the gods, not to the laws made by
people.
(Q5) What insights into Antigone’s situation do you get from
the myths that this ode alludes to?
Possible answer. Each myth alluded to in the ode involves
someone imprisoned like Antigone, either by the will of the gods
or though the gods’ failure to interfere. The first myth suggests
that locking someone up cannot circumvent destiny. The second
2
GRADE 10 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON
15
20
25
30
Sealed up by Dionysus in deaf stone,
His madness died among echoes.
So at the last he learned what dreadful power
His tongue had mocked:
For he had profaned the revels
And fired the wrath of the nine
Implacable sisters that love the sound of the flute.
And old men tell a half-remembered tale
Of horror done where a dark ledge splits the sea
And a double surf beats on the grey shores:
How a king’s new woman, sick
With hatred for the queen he had imprisoned,
Ripped out his two sons’ eyes with her bloody hands
While grinning Ares watched the shuttle plunge
Four times: four blind wounds crying for revenge,
Crying, tears and blood mingled. Piteously born,
Those sons whose mother was of heavenly birth!
Her father was the god of the north wind,
And she was cradled by gales;
She raced with young colts on the glittering hills
And walked untrammeled in the open light:
But in her marriage deathless Fate found means
To build a tomb like yours for all her joy.
lines 48 – 69 in Scene 5 p. 1000
48 No man can defile the gods. Do what you will;
Go into business, make money, speculate
50 In India gold or that synthetic gold from Sardis,
Get rich otherwise than by my consent to bury him.
Teiresias, it is a sorry thing when a wise man
Sells his wisdom, lets out his words for hire!
Teiresias. Ah Creon! Is there no man left in the world—
55 Creon. To do what? Come, let’s have the aphorism!
Teiresias. No man who knows that wisdom outweighs
any wealth?
Creon. As surely as bribes are baser than any baseness.
Teiresias. You are sick, Creon! You are deathly sick!
Creon. As you say: it is not my place to challenge a
prophet.
55 Teiresias. Yet you have said my prophecy is for sale.
Creon. The generation of prophets has always loved
gold.
Teiresias. The generation of kings has always loved
brass.
Creon. You forget yourself! You are speaking to your
king.
Teiresias. I know it. You are a king because of me.
60 Creon. You have a certain skill; but you have sold out.
Teiresias. King, you will drive me to words that—
Creon. Say them, say them!
Only remember: I will not pay you for them.
Teiresias. No, you will find them too costly.
Creon. No doubt. Speak:
Whatever you say, you will not change my will.
lines 120 – 142 Scene 5- Exodos p. 1006
120 Messenger. Her curse is upon you for the deaths of
both.
Creon. It is right that it should be. I alone am guilty.
I know it, and I say it. Lead me in,
Quickly, friends.
2012-2013
Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 – 10/12/12
lines 10-18 Dryas:
King Lycurgus, son of
Dryas, was driven mad
and eaten by horses
for objecting to the
workshop of Dionysus.
The nine implacable
sisters are the Muses,
the goddesses who
presided over
literature, the arts,
and the sciences.
Once offended, they
were impossible to
appease.
myth suggests that terrible punishment awaits those who offend
the gods. The third myth suggests that sometimes the gods
allow innocent people to suffer unjust imprisonment and brutal
crimes.
(Q6) What is the major theme of the play?
Possible answer. A person’s future is determined by fate, not by
his or her own efforts. People cannot predict or control the
future because it is in the hands of a higher authority.
lines 19-34 king:
These lines refer to the
myth of King Phineus,
who imprisoned his
first wife, the daughter
of the north wind, and
allowed his new wife
to blind his songs from
his first marriage.
(Q7) What does Creon’s exchange with Teiresias reveal about
Creon’s view of himself and others?
line 48 defile: to
make dirty, unclean,
or impure.
Possible answer. Creon insults and threatens Teiresias and
finally says, “you will not change my will” (line 69), revealing
once again his belief that he is right and that he knows the will
of the gods. The fulfillment of Teiresias’ prophecy is
foreshadowed through Creon’s death, Haemon’s death, or
worse.
(Q8) How and why does Creon’s attitude toward Teiresias
change during the scene?
Possible answer. Creon becomes hostile and angry, leveling
charges of corruption against the prophet (lines 49 – 53)
because Teiresias has told Creon what he does not want to hear;
that he should bury Polyneices .
(Q9) Why does Creon level charges of corruption against an
acknowledged wise man?
Possible answer. This is Creon’s normal response when he hears
unwelcome news or information. He seems to be paranoid and
impulsive.
(Q10) To what extent does Creon assume responsibility as a
tragic hero?
Possible answer. Answers may vary. Some may say Creon’s
realization of his guilt makes him a tragic hero. Others may
suggest that he has not displayed enough greatness and nobility
to be considered heroic.
3
GRADE 10 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON
Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 – 10/12/12
I have neither life nor substance. Lead me in. g
125 Choragus. You are right, if there can be right in so
much wrong.
The briefest way is best in a world of sorrow.
Creon. Let it come;
Let death come quickly and be kind to me.
I would not ever see the sun again.
130 Choragus. All that will come when it will; but we,
meanwhile,
Have much to do. Leave the future to itself.
Creon. All my heart was in that prayer!
Choragus. Then do not pray any more: the sky is deaf.
Creon. Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish.
135 I have killed my son and my wife.
I look for comfort; my comfort lies here dead.
Whatever my hands have touched has come to
nothing.
Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust.
(As Creon is being led into the house, the Choragus
advances and
speaks directly to the audience.)
Choragus. There is no happiness where there is no
wisdom;
140 No wisdom but in submission to the gods.
Big words are always punished,
And proud men in old age learn to be wise.
Cross Genre Connections OR Across Non-Text
Sources:
(Q11) What theme does the choragus express in the final words
of the play?
Possible answer. The choragus expresses the theme that the
gods punish arrogant pride until the guilty person recognizes and
regrets his presumption.
Media –Media Smart DVD:
Compare Film and Written Versions
Locate and analyze similarities between Antigone and the movie Whale Rider. Look for
characters, symbols, and events in the play and movie that have similarities. Use the
chart below to record the parallels you can find.
Find at least 10 items.
OR
Compare “Antigone” (Sophocles) to Czeslaw Milosz’s poem “Antigone” in terms of
attitudes toward the sufferings of the past.
What picture of Antigone is created in this poem?
Whose attitude toward life do you think is more positive, Antigone’s or
Ismene’s? Whose is more realistic?
What points about the hardships and horrors experienced by Hungarians
during the 1940s does Milosz make in the poem?
Why do you think Milosz used the ancient legend about Antigone in a poem
dedicated to Hungarian workers, students, and soldiers in 1949?
Formative Assessment/Rubrics, if applicable
Class discussion(s) on text-dependent comprehension questions OR writing responses
(graphic organizers, reader response journals, or prewriting activities) serve as
formative assessments.
Summative Assessment/Culminating Independent Writing
Task
Carol Booth Olson lesson plan found at www.classzone.com
Writing Situation
In his tragedy Antigone, Sophocles portrays a variety of characters who are convinced
they are living their lives the best way they can in the world as they see it. Virtually
every character reaches a point where his or her sense of morality conflicts with that of
another character.
Writing Directions
Write a response to literature about one of the characters explaining his or her moral
conflict, possible courses of action, and motivations. Include quotations and other
details from the play to support the character’s statements.
2012-2013
4
GRADE 10 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON
Extension Activities/Further Resources
Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 – 10/12/12
Technology:
www.discoveryeducation.com – (see links embedded in pacing guide)
www.classzone.com
Cross Genre Connections OR Across Text or Non-Text Sources:
http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/sophocles-antigone-ancient-greek-theatre-liveantiquity#sect-activities
Content Knowledge
Graphic Organizers at www.classzone.com
English Language Learner (ELL) Resources and Strategies
Use the following Discovery Education media links to build content background on
Greek Mythology.
http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=07D2B954D3D2-424B-AF57-85BDB62948FA
http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=5850C3878DFE-4FBD-80E2-07EB4C5DAF8F
Outdated Forms/Archaic Language
Vocabulary Idioms/Figurative language/Sayings
Writing Task
2012-2013
Mention that some words in this translation of Antigone are no longer used in modern
English. Write the expressions on the board and ask students to provide their
definitions. Then have students reread the lines, substituting the definitions for the
words or phrases:
especial province (line 41), “special target”
a sorry thing (line 52), “a terrible or unfortunate thing”
let’s out his words for hire (line 53), “sells himself or his work”
my mind misgives (line 106), “I am not thinking clearly.”
Assist students in understanding the following allusions to Greek mythology and
examples of personification of Death. Ask them to paraphrase and write these
expressions.
“…Now sleepy Death (personification)
Summons me down to Acheron, that cold shore…” (allusion, line 9)
“…How often I have heard the story of Niobe,
Tantalus’ wretched daughter, how the stone
Clung fast about her, ivy-close: and they say
The rain falls endlessly
And sifting soft snow; her tears are never done.
I feel the loneliness of her death in mine...” (allusion, lines 15–20)
“…O men many-charioted, in love with Fortune…”(personification, line 27)
“…Into a place of stone where Justice sits...” (personification, line 34)
One theme from the play ‘Antigone’ that has relevance today is: ‘Excessive pride can
lead to one’s downfall.’ Write a paragraph where you consider why this theme still
holds interest for modern audiences.
5
GRADE 10 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON
Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 – 10/12/12
Student Copy
Text Title(s): Antigone - Sophocles
McDougal Littell Literature, pp. 966 - 1009
Genre/Text Structure: Classical Drama – Greek Tragedy
Targeted Text Selection – SCENE 4 and SCENE 5
Pages 994 – 1006
[RL.9–10; W.9-10; SL.9-10]
Targeted Text Selection - SCENE 4 and SCENE 5
Vocabulary
Pages 994 - 1006
lines 11 – 44 p. 994
11 Chorus. Yet not unpraised, not without a kind of honor,
You walk at last into the underworld;
Untouched by sickness, broken by no sword.
What woman has ever found your way to death?
15 Antigone. How often I have heard the story of Niobe,
Tantalus’ wretched daughter, how the stone
Clung fast about her, ivy-close: and they say
The rain falls endlessly
And sifting soft snow; her tears are never done.
20 I feel the loneliness of her death in mine.
Chorus. But she was born of heaven, and you
Are woman, woman-born. If her death is yours,
A mortal woman’s, is this not for you
Glory in our world and in the world beyond?
25 Antigone. You laugh at me. Ah, friends, friends,
Can you not wait until I am dead? O Thebes,
O men many-charioted, in love with Fortune,
Dear springs of Dirce, sacred Theban grove,
Be witnesses for me, denied all pity,
30 Unjustly judged! and think a word of love
For her whose path turns
Under dark earth, where there are no more tears.
Chorus. You have passed beyond human daring and
come at last
Into a place of stone where Justice sits.
35 I cannot tell
What shape of your father’s guilt appears in this.
Antigone. You have touched it at last: that bridal bed
Unspeakable, horror of son and mother mingling:
Their crime, infection of all our family!
40 O Oedipus, father and brother!
Your marriage strikes from the grave to murder mine.
I have been a stranger here in my own land:
All my life
The blasphemy of my birth has followed me.
Ode 4 p 997
1 Chorus. All Danae’s beauty was locked away
In a brazen cell where the sunlight could not come:
A small room, still as any grave, enclosed her.
Yet she was a princess too,
5 And Zeus in a rain of gold poured love upon her.
O child, child,
No power in wealth or war
Or tough sea-blackened ships
Can prevail against untiring Destiny!
10 And Dryas’ son also, that furious king,
Bore the god’s prisoning anger for his pride:
Sealed up by Dionysus in deaf stone,
His madness died among echoes.
So at the last he learned what dreadful power
2012-2013
allusions lines 1520 – Niobe, line 28,
Dirce, line 40,
Oedipus
Teacher and Student-Generated
Text-Dependent Questions
GUIDING QUESTION: To what extent do Creon and Antigone
control their own fates?
(Q1) Who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist in the
play?
lines 15 – 20,
Niobe:
(Q2) How does the chorus view Antigone’s punishment for her
act of conscience and loyalty?
line 28, Dirce:
(Q3) How does Antigone show qualities of a tragic hero?
line 40, Oedipus
line 44 blasphemy
of my birth:
lines 1-5 Danae:
(Q4) What is Antigone’s highest loyalty?
lines 10-18 Dryas:
(Q5) What insights into Antigone’s situation do you get from
the myths that this ode alludes to?
(Q6) What is the major theme of the play?
6
GRADE 10 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON
15 His tongue had mocked:
For he had profaned the revels
And fired the wrath of the nine
Implacable sisters that love the sound of the flute.
And old men tell a half-remembered tale
20 Of horror done where a dark ledge splits the sea
And a double surf beats on the grey shores:
How a king’s new woman, sick
With hatred for the queen he had imprisoned,
Ripped out his two sons’ eyes with her bloody hands
25 While grinning Ares watched the shuttle plunge
Four times: four blind wounds crying for revenge,
Crying, tears and blood mingled. Piteously born,
Those sons whose mother was of heavenly birth!
Her father was the god of the north wind,
30 And she was cradled by gales;
She raced with young colts on the glittering hills
And walked untrammeled in the open light:
But in her marriage deathless Fate found means
To build a tomb like yours for all her joy.
lines 48 – 69 in Scene 5 p. 1000
48 No man can defile the gods. Do what you will;
Go into business, make money, speculate
50 In India gold or that synthetic gold from Sardis,
Get rich otherwise than by my consent to bury him.
Teiresias, it is a sorry thing when a wise man
Sells his wisdom, lets out his words for hire!
Teiresias. Ah Creon! Is there no man left in the world—
55 Creon. To do what? Come, let’s have the aphorism!
Teiresias. No man who knows that wisdom outweighs
any wealth?
Creon. As surely as bribes are baser than any baseness.
Teiresias. You are sick, Creon! You are deathly sick!
Creon. As you say: it is not my place to challenge a
prophet.
60 Teiresias. Yet you have said my prophecy is for sale.
Creon. The generation of prophets has always loved
gold.
Teiresias. The generation of kings has always loved
brass.
Creon. You forget yourself! You are speaking to your
king.
Teiresias. I know it. You are a king because of me.
65 Creon. You have a certain skill; but you have sold out.
Teiresias. King, you will drive me to words that—
Creon. Say them, say them!
Only remember: I will not pay you for them.
Teiresias. No, you will find them too costly.
Creon. No doubt. Speak:
Whatever you say, you will not change my will.
Lines 120 – 142 Scene 5- Exodos p. 1006
Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 – 10/12/12
lines 18 nine
Implacable sisters:
lines 19-34 king:
(Q7) What does Creon’s exchange with Teiresias reveal about
Creon’s view of himself and others?
line 48 defile:
(Q8) How and why does Creon’s attitude toward Teiresias
change during the scene?
(Q9) Why does Creon level charges of corruption against an
acknowledged wise man?
(Q10) To what extent does Creon assume responsibility as a
tragic hero?
120 Messenger. Her curse is upon you for the deaths of
both.
Creon. It is right that it should be. I alone am guilty.
I know it, and I say it. Lead me in,
Quickly, friends.
I have neither life nor substance. Lead me in. g
125 Choragus. You are right, if there can be right in so
much wrong.
2012-2013
7
GRADE 10 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON
Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 – 10/12/12
The briefest way is best in a world of sorrow.
Creon. Let it come;
Let death come quickly and be kind to me.
I would not ever see the sun again.
130 Choragus. All that will come when it will; but we,
meanwhile,
Have much to do. Leave the future to itself.
Creon. All my heart was in that prayer!
Choragus. Then do not pray any more: the sky is deaf.
Creon. Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish.
135 I have killed my son and my wife.
I look for comfort; my comfort lies here dead.
Whatever my hands have touched has come to
nothing.
Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust.
(As Creon is being led into the house, the Choragus
advances and
speaks directly to the audience.)
Choragus. There is no happiness where there is no
wisdom;
140 No wisdom but in submission to the gods.
Big words are always punished,
And proud men in old age learn to be wise.
(Q11) What theme does the choragus express in the final words
of the play?
Media –Media Smart DVD:
Compare Film and Written Versions
Locate and analyze similarities between Antigone and the movie Whale Rider. Look for
characters, symbols, and events in the play and movie that have similarities. Use the
chart below to record the parallels you can find. Find at least 10 items.
OR
Compare “Antigone” (Sophocles) to Czeslaw Milosz’s poem “Antigone” in terms of
attitudes toward the sufferings of the past.
What picture of Antigone is created in this poem?
Whose attitude toward life do you think is more positive, Antigone’s or
Ismene’s? Whose is more realistic?
What points about the hardships and horrors experienced by Hungarians
during the 1940s does Milosz make in the poem?
Why do you think Milosz used the ancient legend about Antigone in a poem
dedicated to Hungarian workers, students, and soldiers in 1949?
PERFORMANCE TASK: CULMINATING INDEPENDENT WRITING ASSESSMENT
Writing Situation
In his tragedy Antigone, Sophocles portrays a variety of characters who are convinced they are living their lives the best way they can in the world as
they see it. Virtually every character reaches a point where his or her sense of morality conflicts with that of another character.
Writing Directions
Write a response to literature about one of the characters explaining his or her moral conflict, possible courses of action, and motivations. Include
quotations and other details from the play to support the character’s statements.
For further information regarding this document contact the Division of Language Arts/Reading, Secondary District Instructional Supervisors,
Dr. Erin Cuartas, Ms. Laurie Kaplan or Dr. Sharon Scruggs-Williams, 305-995-3122; for ELL questions, contact the Division of Bilingual Education and World
Languages District Supervisor, Ms. Caridad Perez, 305-995-1962.
2012-2013
8
GRADE 10 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON
Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 – 10/12/12
Antigone and Whale Rider Activity
Directions: After viewing the film Whale Rider, find similarities between Antigone and the movie. Look for characters, symbols, and events in the play and movie that have
similarities themes, motifs, and symbolism. Use the chart below to record at least 10 parallels you can find.
Antigone
Whale Rider
1. Vengeance
1. Vengeance
Antigone defies the king to do what she
believes is right.
Kahu defies her grandfather to
learn about her culture.
2. Leadership
2. Leadership
3. Fate/Prophesy
3. Fate/Prophesy
4. Family
4. Family
5. Respect for the Dead
5. Respect for the Dead
6. Pride
6. Pride
7. Gender
7. Gender
8. Filial Piety
8. Filial Piety
9. Curses
9. Curses
2012-2013
9
GRADE 10 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON
10. Divine Law
Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 – 10/12/12
10. Divine Law
Antigone - Czeslaw Milosz
In the following poem by Czeslaw Milosz, Antigone and Ismene from Sophocles’ play reappear in Hungary in 1949. Hungary was one
of the countries that suffered terribly during and after World War II. In March 1944, Hitler seized Hungary, shipping more than
500,000 Hungarian Jews to concentration camps. Later that same year, Stalin’s troops invaded the country. By 1949, a political
takeover occurred in which communists fashioned a new constitution patterned on that of the Soviet Union.
This fragment, written in 1949, is in remembrance of the Hungarian workers, students, and soldiers.
ANTIGONE:
1 Accepting everything in this way, as one accepts
Summer after spring, winter after fall,
Accepting man’s lot in the same way
As one accepts the seasons, without thought?
5 As long as I live, I will cry out: no
Do you hear, Ismene? I cry out: no.
And I do not want any of your consolations,
Not flower of the spring night, nor the nightingale,
Sun nor clouds, nor pleasant rivers.
10 Nothing. May it persist unappeased
This, which remains and this, which will remain
Is the one thing worthy of memory: our hurt.
The rusted ruins, Ismene,
Know everything. With its black wing the raven
15 Death separated us from those years
When we thought that our country
Was like other countries, our people
The same as other people.
Fate’s curse demands a victim.
20 The victim returns fate’s curse.
When this happens, it is not the time
To preserve one’s own insignificant life
And it is not the time to weep for oneself.
There is time for nothing. May devastation
25 Engulf the entire pitiless world,
May those who laugh at our sorrow
Turn their own cities into ashes.
Creon’s law! And Creon’s command!
What is Creon, when the world is disappearing?
ISMENE:
30 Yes, but our parents are dead
And our brothers are dead. And their revolution
2012-2013
And within this is a rhythm, believe me, a compelling
rhythm,
Sorrow mingled with rapture—as though Persephone
45 Were newly returned to the world.
ANTIGONE:
Fools believe that when they sacrifice
Memories of the past, they will live contentedly.
And fools believe: the death of one city
Is not a sentencing for other cities.
ISMENE:
50 Do not make light of the difficulty, Antigone,
With which we force our lips and hearts
Into silence. For this kind of triumph
Is also a triumph and gives hope.
ANTIGONE:
I do not need your hope.
55 For I saw the remains of Polynices
There, on the threshold of the crumbling cathedral.
This skull, small as a child’s,
With a strand of light hair. A handful of bones
Wrapped in crumbling, dark cloth
60 And the stench of a corpse. This then is our brother,
Whose heart beat like ours,
Who was happy and sang songs
And knew fear before death, because in him the same
voices
Called that call within us.
65 And he conquered the voices summoning him
To life’s bright, remote expanses,
And he went willingly to the sacrifice,
Faithful to his word and oath.
10
GRADE 10 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON
Will not return. Why reach out to the past?
The old man with a cane cannot find his way
Vainly seeking slain sons in the deaf city
35 Old women, quiet mourners,
Pace in the dust with bowed heads.
But already the greenery of dark places
Wormwood, thistle, is forcing its way through the
smoldering ruins,
The butterfly, like a paper wafer in the inferno,
40 Flies among sheared stony chasms,
Tattered children again are going to school,
Lovers again are entwining hands,
Are lavish in praise of villains.
And so he departs, exiled from legend
Into the oblivion of eternity—traitor or hero?
ISMENE:
85 Words can enflame the hurt.
One who remains silent does not suffer less, perhaps
more.
ANTIGONE:
Not only words, Ismene, not only words.
Creon will not build his kingdom
On our graves. He will not establish his order
90 With the power of the sword.
Great is the power of the dead. No one is safe.
Even though he surrounds himself
Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 – 10/12/12
Twenty years old, beautiful and high-spirited,
70 How many plans, unspoken thoughts
By strength of will he offered up for destruction.
And this was the man who, by Creon’s command
Was proclaimed a traitor. For him
Some dark corner in a barren place outside the city
75 And in an empty helmet a moaning wind.
But for others, for the glory of villains,
Monuments will be erected
Young girls will place wreaths on their grave
The luster of torches illumines their names.
80 Here nothing, here darkness. With frightened hand
Writers, compelled by fear
With a crowd of spies and a million guards,
The dead will reach him. They await the hours.
95 They are ironic, laughingly striding
Around the lunatic, who does not believe in them.
And when he adds up his accounts
Suddenly the mistake is obvious.
A little mistake, but multiplied,
100 Enough! And this mistake grows in magnitude,
Villages and cities are consumed by the fire of iniquity.
Blood! Blood! With crimson ink, he strives
To eradicate the mistake. Too late. It is finished.
Hapless Creon in this way intends to rule
105 As though we were a barbaric country.
As though here every stone did not remember
Tears of sorrow and tears of hope.
Compare “Antigone” (Sophocles) to Czeslaw Milosz’s poem “Antigone” in terms of attitudes toward the sufferings of the past.
What picture of Antigone is created in this poem?
Whose attitude toward life do you think is more positive, Antigone’s or Ismene’s? Whose is more realistic?
What points about the hardships and horrors experienced by Hungarians during the 1940s does Milosz make in the poem?
Why do you think Milosz used the ancient legend about Antigone in a poem dedicated to Hungarian workers, students, and
soldiers in 1949?
2012-2013
11