ANTIGONE UNIT 2014

1. ANTIGONE UNIT 2014 • Sophomore textbooks – in class only (NO CHECK-OUTS!) • Pages will be scanned for teacher page for HWK use if needed

2. Welcome Back! Complete the following warm-up on a blank piece of paper. Be prepared to discuss your response. “The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” -Albert Einstein Without stopping, write what you think this quote means. How does it apply to your life now? You must keep writing for five full minutes.

3. Before we get into the depressing back story of Antigone, enjoy this comic:

4. Background • See Handout: Antigone Family Tree • Read page 1018-1019 • Active Reading – annotate on a sheet of paper as you read (see ACTIVE READING on page 1019). • Read Prologue and Parados • Respond to questions on BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS for HWK. Write responses on a separate sheet of paper.

5. BackgroundPrologue 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 nor completely dead. • 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.

6. Prologue and Parodos ROLES: • Narrator • Antigone • Ismene • Choragus • Everyone without a role: CHORUS

7. Scene 1 and Ode 1 Background Notes: • The original audience for Antigone might have read between the lines in Creon's first speech to the Chorus. They might have seen some political commentary. Athens was a democracy, but there were memories of its previous rulers, who worked hard to preserve their family identities-and their family welfare. Even in the democracy, aristocratic families were known to promote their own interests. Thus, it would have been important for the audience to hear Creon distancing himself from Polyneices, a rebellious family member, and decrying nepotism.

8. Scene 1 and Ode 1 Warm-Up: • Write what you know about Greek mythology. Which gods/goddesses have you heard of or studied?

9. Scene 1 and Ode 1 ROLES: Narrator Choragus Creon Sentry Ode 1: Chorus HWK: Respond to questions on handout.

10. Scene 2 and Ode 2 Background Notes: • The curse that afflicts the royal family is a theme that runs throughout the play. In Ode 2, the Chorus identifies Antigone's suffering as a consequence of the sin and downfall of Oedipus, her father. • Notice that the language of Ode 2 is more metaphorical and alliterative than that of the dialogue. The ode also contains several historical and mythological allusions, whereas the dialogue is more plainly spoken.

11. Scene 2 and Ode 2 Warm-Up: • What curses have you heard of before?

12. Scene 2 and Ode 2 ROLES: • Narrator • Choragus • Sentry • Creon • Antigone • Ismene • Chorus – everyone else! • HWK: Respond to questions on handout.

13. Scene 2 Ode 2 • What do Creon's words suggest about his relationship with Antigone? • Why has Antigone violated Creon's decree? • How do you feel about Creon's accusation of Ismene? • During their argument, what is Creon's main point and what is Antigone's? • What is Creon’s opinion of Ismene? • In this scene, Ismene wants to join Antigone in the death sentence. From what you know of her, what do you think is her motivation? • From what you know of Antigone, why do you think she rejects Ismene and excludes her from the death sentence? • Compare the themes of Ode 1 to the themes of Ode 2.

14. Scene 3 and Ode 3 Background Notes: • Although in Scene 1 Creon claims to represent the State, in Scene 3 he refuses to accept the idea that his subjects support Antigone. "And the City proposes to teach me how to rule?" he demands. Finally, he gives up all pretense of representation and declares, "The State is the king!"

15. Scene 3 and Ode 3 Warm-Up: Respond to both questions. • What does “the state is the king” mean to you? • Explain a time when someone refused to accept a better plan than their own simply because they are too stubborn. What are the outcomes of such flaws?

16. Scene 3 and Ode 3 ROLES: • Narrator • Choragus • Creon • Haemon • Chorus – everyone else! • HWK: Respond to questions on handout.

17. Scene 3 Ode 3 • What is ironic about Creon's advice regarding Antigone? • Look at lines 33-36 and describe the kind of leader that would say these words. • What would you say Creon fears most? • What is Haemon's main argument in lines 51-67? • What is Haemon's tone in the lines 51-67? • Why does the Choragos refuse to take sides in lines 92-94? • What does Haemon mean in line 119? • How has Haemon's attitude changed from the beginning of this scene to the end?

18. Scene 4 and Ode 4 Background Notes: • Antigone holds to a classical Greek view of the afterlife: Although it is a place where there are "no more tears" and where there may be some reunion with those who have gone before, she also sees it as a place without warmth and music, a place of darkness, and a place of "thin ghosts." Indeed, part of Antigone's heroism lies in her willingness to transfer herself to a place of such mixed happiness and gloom.

19. Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece • The ancient Greek conception of the afterlife and the ceremonies associated with burial were already well established by the sixth century B.C. In the Odyssey, Homer describes the Underworld, deep beneath the earth, where Hades, the brother of Zeus and Poseidon, and his wife, Persephone, reigned over countless drifting crowds of shadowy figures—the "shades" of all those who had died. It was not a happy place. Indeed, the ghost of the great hero Achilles told Odysseus that he would rather be a poor serf on earth than lord of all the dead in the Underworld (Odyssey, 11.489–91).

20. Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece • Greeks believed that at the moment of death the psyche, or spirit of the dead, left the body as a little breath or puff of wind. The deceased was then prepared for burial according to the time-honored rituals. Ancient literary sources emphasize the necessity of a proper burial and refer to the omission of burial rites as an insult to human dignity (Iliad, 23.71). Relatives of the deceased, primarily women, conducted the elaborate burial rituals that were customarily of three parts: the prothesis (laying out of the body (54.11.5)), the ekphora (funeral procession), and the interment of the body or cremated remains of the deceased. After being washed and anointed with oil, the body was dressed (75.2.11) and placed on a high bed within the house. During the prothesis, relatives and friends came to mourn and pay their respects. Lamentation of the dead is featured in early Greek art at least as early as the Geometric period, when vases were decorated with scenes portraying the deceased surrounded by mourners. Following the prothesis, the deceased was brought to the cemetery in a procession, the ekphora, which usually took place just before dawn.

21. Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece • Very few objects were actually placed in the grave, but monumental earth mounds, rectangular built tombs, and elaborate marble stelai and statues were often erected to mark the grave and to ensure that the deceased would not be forgotten. Immortality lay in the continued remembrance of the dead by the living. From depictions on white-ground lekythoi, we know that the women of Classical Athens made regular visits to the grave with offerings that included small cakes and libations.

22. Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece • The most lavish funerary monuments were erected in the sixth century B.C. by aristocratic families of Attica in private burial grounds along the roadside on the family estate or near Athens. Relief sculpture, statues (32.11.1), and tall stelai crowned by capitals (11.185a-c,f,g), and finials marked many of these graves. Each funerary monument had an inscribed base with an epitaph, often in verse that memorialized the dead. A relief depicting a generalized image of the deceased sometimes evoked aspects of the person's life, with the addition of a servant, possessions, dog, etc. On early reliefs, it is easy to identify the dead person; however, during the fourth century B.C., more and more family members were added to the scenes and often many names were inscribed (11.100.2), making it difficult to distinguish the deceased from the mourners. Like all ancient marble sculpture, funerary statues and grave stelai were brightly painted, and extensive remains of red, black, blue, and green pigment can still be seen (04.17.1).

23. Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece • Many of the finest Attic grave monuments stood in a cemetery located in the outer Kerameikos, an area on the northwest edge of Athens just outside the gates of the ancient city wall. The cemetery was in use for centuries—monumental Geometric kraters marked grave mounds of the eighth century B.C. (14.130.14), and excavations have uncovered a clear layout of tombs from the Classical period, as well. At the end of the fifth century B.C., Athenian families began to bury their dead in simple stone sarcophagi placed in the ground within grave precincts arranged in man-made terraces buttressed by a high retaining wall that faced the cemetery road. Marble monuments belonging to various members of a family were placed along the edge of the terrace rather than over the graves themselves.

24. Scene 4 and Ode 4 Warm-Up: • Discuss whether you agree or disagree with Antigone’s view of the afterlife.

25. Scene 4 and Ode 4 ROLES: • Choragus • Antigone • Chorus • Creon • HWK: Respond to questions on handout.

26. Scene 4 Ode 4 • In Antigone's first lines of Scene 4, is she showing regret? What is the tone and mood of the beginning of this scene? (Tree Map with quotes) • Whose fate does Antigone compare to her own? (Double Bubble with quotes) • What does Antigone say is the cause of her death? • What does Antigone look forward to in death? • What curse does she put on Creon? • Do you think the "family curse" deserve to be mentioned in this scene? (lines 37-44). Why? • How is alliteration used in line 52? • What is the subject of Ode 4?

27. http://www.ted.com/talks/candy_chang_before_i_die_i_want_to.htmlhttp://www.ted.com/talks/candy_chang_before_i_die_i_want_to.html • http://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_cave_the_4_stories_we_tell_ourselves_about_death

28. Scene 5 and Ode 5 Background Notes: • Most ancient Greek tragedies observed three unities: unity of time (with all action in the play unfolding in one day); unity of place (with all action occurring in one place); and unity of action (with all events an important part of developing or resolving the conflict). • Notice the repetition of a burial in the Exodos. Burials are representative of familial and religious loyalty. This is the basic extended metaphor of Antigone. By the end of the play, Creon will seek his own burial.

38. Scene 5 and Ode 5 Warm-Up: • How important are minor characters in a story? How have minor characters helped you to understand the major players in Antigone so far?

39. Scene 5 and Ode 5 ROLES: • Teiresias • Creon • Choragus • Messenger • Eurydice • HWK: Respond to questions on handout.

40. Scene 5 Ode 5 • What is the irony in line 24 of Scene 5? • From Scene 5 look at lines 56-57 at notice the alliteration used by Teiresias and Creon. Teiresias uses alliteration in his speech. Why does Creon use alliteration in his response? • In lines 70-83, what is Teiresias predicting? • At what point of Scene 5 does Creon change his tone and attitude? When does he give in? • Why does Creon decide to save Antigone? • What is the Exodos? • What words does Creon repeat in lines 103-107 of the Exodos? What does this repetition suggest about Creon's state of mind? • "There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; / No wisdom but in submission to the gods. / Big words are always punished, / And proud men in old age learn to be wise." These are the last words of the play stated directly to the audience. What are your thoughts about these two sentences? Do you agree or disagree? Is this the way life is or is there another point of view?

41. Post-Antigone Writing Assignment It has been said that sometimes our strongest attributes are also weakest. A drama is going to be written about your life! If you were a tragic hero, what would be your tragic flaw? In one narrative paragraph, write what your tragic flaw would be and how it might impact your life. You must use the ten vocabulary words in your response. Underline each word as you use it.