Show:
Whosaidit
Plot
Characters
Greek background of the play
Techniques
100
Who is the character that said "I who am less than nothing"?
Creon
100
Who is the character (only those who have appeared onstage) that dies first in the whole play? Who dies afterwards?
Antigone, Haemon
100
Who is the foil character of Antigone?
Ismene
100
What is a stasimon?
A choral ode sung between scenes.
100
Identify the technique used in the prologue of the play, where Antigone and Ismene have single-line exchanges of dialogues.
Stichomythia
200
Who is the character that said, "Know you well that you will not live through many more racing journeys of the sun before you give one born of your loins as a corpse in exchange for corpses!"
Teiresias
200
What is the relationship between Antigone and Haemon?
They are about to be married.
200
Name one of Ismene's personalities.
Conventional, pragmatic, submissive, realistic, calm and rational as compared to Antigone...
200
Name the two Greek terms which represent the opposing values upheld by Antigone and Creon.
Antigone: philos Creon: polis
200
What is the technique used when Antigone refers to Niobe in the first kommos?
Classical allusion
300
Which character said, "I will marry Acheron"?
Antigone
300
Name Creon's three agons with other characters, according to chronological order.
Creon VS Antigone, Haemon, and then Teiresias
300
What is Creon's tragic flaw? Why?
His hubris/arrogance. This causes him to ignore all the people who have warned him of his improper decisions, finally angering the gods and causing his tragic downfall.
300
Suggest a reason for the frequent reference to Greek gods in this play, especially the glorifying language used when referring to them.
It shows how the Greeks respected the gods, and believed that nobody should anger them.
300
What is the effect of Creon being the only one singing in the second kommos?
It suggests that no-one can enter his grief, and allows us to focus on his own lamentation and coming to terms with his own guilt.
400
Which character said, "I am no stranger to misfortune"?
Eurydice
400
Arrange the following according to chronological order: a. Creon argues with Teiresias b. Eurydice speaks to the messenger c. Antigone dies d. Haemon dies e. Creon goes with his servants to bury Polyneices' body, attempting to placate the gods
a, e, c, d, b
400
Who is Antigone's foil character? Explain the function of him/her.
Ismene. Her realistic and submissive character, as shown in the prologue, contrasts with the headstrong and impulsive personality of Antigone. This serves to emphsize such traits of Antigone, and create a more vivid image of this character at the start of the play.
400
Name the part of the stage where the chorus would stand most of the time in the play.
The orchestra
400
What is the effect of the use of sentence fragments in Creon's kommos in the exodos?
The unorganised sentence structure mirrors how Creon's mind is also breaking down and in disorder.
500
Name the character, along with the lines he/she said, which creates proleptic irony with Haemon's spitting onto Creon after Antigone died.
Creon says "Spit her (Antigone) out like an enemy, let this girl marry someone in Hades" in lines 615-616. Ironically, later on in the play, he becomes the one who is spat on by his own son.
500
Who is the character (Including the ones who have only been mentioned and not appeared onstage, but excluding mythical characters) that dies earliest in the whole story?
Labdacus
500
Creon uses the imagery of "yokes" and describes citizens "tossing their heads" in lines 266-269. What does this tell us about him?
By describing the citizens of Thebes in a dehumanising way, we can see how Creon expects a master-servant relationship with them, and almost treats them like slaves. This reveals the tyrannical and autocratic side of Creon.
500
Suggest two reasons for not showing, but merely telling the audience of Haemon's death.
a. The Greek audience did not believe in violence and disliked the idea of having actors pretend to die on stage. b. It would be really unconvincing to fake a death on stage thousands of years ago, since there weren't many props. c. This could bring the focus of the play on Creon's responsibility and lamentations, rather than the deaths of Antigone and Haemon.
500
What is the technique used when Antigone says "I will marry Acheron"? What is its effect?
Paradox. While marriage gives the idea of a joyful beginning, Acheron is a clear reference to death. By making use of this paradoxical imagery, it suggests how unnatural Creon's decision of killing Antigone and depriving her of the joy of marriage, which every young woman like her deserves, is. (Other reasonable answers accepted)