All in the Family
Why did Creon believe that Polynices was a traitor?
He attacked his own city
"I will take her down some wild, desolate path never trod by men, and wall her up alive in a rocky vault, and set out short rations..."
Creon
When he is a baby, why is Oedipus sent away from his home?
His parents learn of a prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother.
What was the original penalty for burying Polynices's body?
Public execution by stoning
"Oh no, my sister, don't reject me, please, let me die beside you, consecrating the dead together."
Ismene
As a young man, why does Oedipus leave Corinth and travel back towards Thebes?
He believes that the king and queen of Corinth are his real parents.
Why does Creon believe that locking Antigone in a cave will "absolve the State of her death"?
He doesn't have a direct hand in killing her, instead choosing to imprison and starve her to death; no blood is on his hands.
Eteocles fought for Thebes, Polynices mustered the city-state of Argos to fight for him.
"The god of death who puts us all to bed takes me down to the banks of Acheron alive – denied my part in the wedding-songs, no wedding-song in the dusk has crowned my marriage – I go to wed the lord of the dark waters."
Antigone
What does Oedipus do when Jocasta hangs herself?
Gouges his eyes out with her jewelry.
Creon was Polynices's _____________
Uncle
How is Antigone caught burying Polynices?
The guards dig up his body and hide to see who will come to re-bury it.
"But it's for me to catch the murmurs in the dark, the way the city mourns for this young girl. 'No woman,' they say, ' ever deserved death less and such a brutal death for such a glorious action.'"
Haimon
How does Oedipus defeat the Sphinx?
He answers its riddle.
What were Creon's decrees about each brother's body? You must identify each brother correctly.
Eteocles: buried/honored as a hero for fighting for Thebes
Polynices: body left to rot
"The chariot of the sun will not race through so many circuits more, before you have surrounded one born of your own loins, your own flesh and blood, a corpse for corpses given in return, since you have thrust to the world below a child sprung for the world above, ruthlessly lodged a living soul within the grave..."
Tiresias