What does your family tree look like?

1. What does your family tree look like? • Draw your family tree. • Include as many relatives as you know. • Color code relationships.

2. Antigone’s family tree • Laius married Jocasta= child Oedipus • Jocasta married Oedipus= 4 children • Antigone • Ismene • Polyneices • Eteocles. • Jocasta brother is Creon • Considering Antigone’s family background, what type of person do you think she might be? Support your answer with examples.

3. Where do you stand? • Loyalty or obligation to family • Obedience to civil law • Observance of religious law • Protection of personal dignity • Protection of community or nation • Choose one and explain your selection.

4. Greek Drama • Presented by the State at annual religious festivals. • Presented for the moral and ethical improvement of the spectators. • Appealed to the ethos, logos, and pathos of the audience. • Ethos: appeal to the sense of moral obligation. • Logos: appealing to a person’s sense of reason. • Pathos: appealing to the heart or the person’s emotions.

5. Antigone by SophoclesInteresting facts • Actors were all male- masks were worn for female parts. • Scenes of dramas were outdoors. Indoor scenes were reported by messenger. • No violence on stage. • The action took place in one day. • No curtains or intermissions.

6. Tragedy • Tragedy: purpose to invoke emotions of the spectators. • Explores the question of the ways of God to man. • Serves to purify emotions • Shows how man is brought to disaster by a single flaw in his character. • Causes a reflection of life.

7. Tragic Hero • Tragic Hero: Man or Woman capable of great suffering. • Believes in freedom of choice. • Usually prideful • Deep sense of commitment • Identify a character from your favorite movie or story you would consider to be a tragic hero. What are their characteristics and why do you consider them to be a tragic hero?

8. Rank the following in order of importance. • Loyalty or obligation to family • Obedience to civil law • Observance of religious law • Protection of personal dignity • Protection of community or nation Explain why you ranked them in that particular order.

9. POP Quiz • What is Athena’s Roman name? • Zeus controls the fate of _____________? • To “suspend your disbelief” means to ___________________ according to the text. • Dramatic Irony happens when the _____________ know more about ____________ than the __________________

10. Prologue and Parodos • The Greeks believed that the spirit of a dead person could enter Hades only after the body had been purified and buried. • Until the proper rites were performed, the person hovered at the gate of Hades, neither alive or completely dead. • What are some modern day rituals and beliefs relating to the dead?

11. Prologue and Parodos • Women in ancient Greece had to depend on male relatives for support. • Girls married when they were thirteen or fourteen, and their husbands often were more than twice their age. • Women in wealthy households were secluded, had no legal rights, and did not inherit property. • If a woman’s husband died, a man in her family, her guardian, would try to find her another husband.

12. Structure of TragedyImportant Terms • Prologue: gives the background information to understand the events of the play • Parodos: the song sung by the chorus as it makes it entrance. • Episodes/Scenes: the main action of the play • Odes: songs (and often dance) that reflect on the events of the episodes, and weave the plot into a whole. • Paean: a prayer of thanksgiving to Dionysos in whose honor the Greek plays were performed. • Exodos: sung by the chorus as it makes its final exit, which usually offers words of wisdom related to the actions and outcome of the play.

13. Function of the Chorus • Set the mood. • Interpret events. • Relieve tension. • Summarize meaning of action. • Talk to and give advice to the characters. • Give background information.

14. Prologue and Parodos • How are Antigone and Ismene characterized? List characteristics for each and reasons for your decision. • Which sister has the stronger argument? List reasons for both sides on a t-chart. Which sister would you side with? Why? • How does the Parodos differ in tone and content from the Prologue? Create a t-chart to identify similarities and difference in content.

15. What would you do? • In what type of situation would you disobey a rule or law to help a friend? • Describe the situation and explain your reasoning for the disobedience.

16. Scene One • What does Creon reveal about his character in his opening speech? List three characteristics and evidence to support your claim. • What does Creon list as important principles for a ruler? • When the Choragus asks Creon “King, can it be that the gods have done this?” Why does this anger Creon? • In Ode 1, what opinion does the Chorus express about the importance of law in society?

17. Conflict • Conflict: a struggle or clash between opposing characters, forces or emotions. • External conflict- character struggles against an outside force- another character, society, force of nature. • Internal conflict- a character struggles between opposing personal needs, desired, or emotions within himself or herself. • Provide an example from the drama for each type of conflict.

18. Scene 2 • How does Antigone defend her actions? Why does she welcome death? • Why does Ismene change her mind about her brother’s burial? Do you think Antigone is justified in her refusal of Ismene’s support? Explain your answer. • Antigone tells Creon “All these men here would praise me/ Were their lips not frozen shut with fear of you.”Is this a true statement? • According to Ode 2, what human fault does the Chorus say is responsible for the “curse of heaven”? Which character(s) is/are guilty of this fault?

19. Scene 2 • Antigone has various motivations for her defiance of Creon’s decree. What do you think are her guiding principles? • Write a paragraph explaining the reasons for Antigone’s defiance. Cite passages from the play to support your interpretation.

20. Scene 3 • Figurative language is language that describes one thing in terms of another. • For Example: Lovitt is boiling mad! • The worksheet Antigone, Scene 3 and Ode 3 contains several statements from the play. In each statement circle the figurative word or phrase and then explain its meaning.

21. Scene 3 • What is Haemon’s argument for not killing Antigone? Does he have a strong argument? Why? Or Why not? • Creon changes his mind about Antigone’s punishment. What are his reasons for this change? • What are the Choragus’s thoughts concerning the actions in Scene 3?

22. Scene 4 • Ode 4 tells of 4 different stories from the past. These stories serve as an example of events that have happened in the story of Antigone. • Identify the story in each stanza and write the story in your own words. • Compare each story to the events within the story of Antigone. How is each story an example for the events in Antigone.

23. Trial of Antigone • Create a chart that separates Defense for Antigone and Prosecution against Antigone. • List your evidence: Actions, thoughts, speech or other evidence provided by the characters. • Create an opening statement (75 words minimum) for each side: This argument statement (paragraph) outlines your basic thoughts for the prosecution and defense of Antigone. Include your evidence within your paragraph.

24. Scene 4 • Antigone rebukes the Chorus for laughing at her and denying her “all pity”. Is she right in her treatment of the Chorus? Explain your answer. • What are your feelings for Antigone in this scene? Do you find her more or less sympathetic as a character? • Is the purpose of Ode 4 to glorify Antigone’s fate or to condemn her pride? Explain your answer.

25. Scene 5 • Why is it ironic that Teiresias is blind? What added meaning does this irony give to his prophecy? • Who do you think is to blame for the play’s tragic ending? Explain your answer.

26. Scene 5 • Theme is the authors message to the reader. • Theme can be stated directly but most often is implied by the reader. • The worksheet Antigone Scene 5, Paean, and Exodus requires you to answer questions concerning events within the play. Consider the events and create a “theme statement” about human nature.