Monday, December 8, 2008

Antigone Test Answer Key

In the comments section of this post, I have put the answer key for the Antigone test. If you want to retake the test, you should use this to make sure your answers are correct.

1 comment:

Miss Jones said...

1. Who is Antigone’s father?

Antigone’s father is Oedipus.

2. Who are Polynices and Eteocles?
Polynices and Eteocles are the two brothers of Antigone. Both are dead.

3. What command/law has Creon made about Polynices? What is the punishment for breaking Creon’s law?

After Polynices died, Creon commanded that Polynices be treated like a criminal and commanded that Polynices body should be left unburied and be denied funeral rites. By doing this, he is keeping Polynices from reaching the underworld. The punishment for breaking this law is death.

4. What does Antigone want Ismene to do with her? Why does she want to do it?

Antigone wants Ismene to break Creon’s law with her by performing funeral rites for Polynices and by burying his body. She wants to do it because she believes that it is against the gods’ laws to leave him unburied and she doesn’t believe that it was right for Creon to make this law since it is considered a religious duty for families to bury their dead.

5. Why doesn’t Ismene want to help Antigone? List three reasons.

She doesn’t want to help Antigone because she fears the punishment that Creon will give them. She also thinks that it is wrong to break the law. Lastly, she thinks it is wrong for them, as women, to go against the laws that Creon, their king, a man, and the head of their household has made. She thinks they shouldn’t contend with men.
6. Why does Antigone feel justified in disobeying the law that Creon made? Whose laws does she think she is following?
Antigone believes that she can disobey the law that Creon made because she believes that Creon’s law is contradicting the laws of the gods. She says that not burying Polynices would be considered an outrage by the gods.

7. According to the Chorus, why were Polynices and his army defeated?

They were defeated because of Polynices’ pride and foolish daring. They think that he overstepped the bounds by attacking the city of his father.

8. According to Creon, how can you know a man completely?

He says you can know a man completely when you see the way that he rules and handles power. He says that you have to see how he rules, the laws he makes, and how he carries his authority.

9. What does Creon say about safety, friendship, and his country?
Creon says that he could never be friends with a person who puts his country in danger. Creon says that “our country is our safety” so he believes that protection should come from the government, not from family. He says that you can only have friendships when you are enjoying safety in your country.

10. What news does the Sentry bring to Creon? Describe the Sentry’s attitude towards Creon.

The Sentry tells Creon that somebody disobeyed his laws and “buried” the body of Polynices—which actually means that someone performed funeral rites for him. The Sentry is afraid of Creon—he is afraid of how Creon will respond to this news.

11. How does Creon respond when he hears the Chorus Leader’s suggestion that the gods “buried” Polynices’ body? Why does he think this is not possible?
Creon is incredibly angry and he thinks that the Chorus Leader is insane for thinking the gods would “bury” Polynices, since the gods would never celebrate a traitor.


12. According to Creon, who “buried” the body of Polynices? Why did they do it?
Creon thinks that rebellious and angry citizens who don’t like Creon’s style of leadership are the ones who paid someone to do it. He thinks that the person who did it, did it for money— and that the person who paid for it did it out of rebellion. Creon also thinks that the sentry somehow played a part in the burial.

13. How does Creon threaten the sentry? What does this reveal about his style of leadership?
Creon tells the Sentry that if he doesn’t find the man who buried the corpse, he will hang him up on ropes and slowly torture him. Creon is clearly unjust and arrogant in this situation—he doesn’t listen to the things that people are saying to him, and he doesn’t respect his citizens. It is not fair of him to threaten the sentry in this way.

14. What is the theme of this second Choral ode on lines 375-425? (write on page 4 if you need space) This question is worth four points total.

The theme of the second choral ode on lines 375-425 is how man is the most wondrous of all things on the earth—he is amazing because he alone has the ability to tame the seas, the earth, and the animals living there. He alone has the intelligence to make laws and governments and provide shelter for himself from the cold. However—the chorus warns that even though man can conquer so many things, the one thing he cannot conquer is death. The chorus warns that man can quickly bring destruction to himself if he does not find a way to mesh his laws with the laws of the gods.