Antigone
Summer Reading Exam

Section I: Reading

Briefly answer each of the questions and show that you read the play.

1. Why does Antigone want to bury Polynices herself?

2. How does Antigone react to her sister when Ismene tries to convince her not to bury their brother?

3. What is Creon’s rationale for giving Eteocles a hero’s burial and Polynices no burial at all?

4. How does Haimon treat his father at first? How does that change?

5. How does Antigone die?

6. How does Haimon die?

7. Why does Creon think everyone (the sentry, the messenger, Haimon, Antigone, Ismene and Teirsias) is lying to him?

8. Does Creon change in the end? If so, how?

Section II: Analysis

When you argue your opinion or interpret the novel, be sure to use specific examples from the text.

1. Why do you think this play is titled Antigone and not Creon?

2. Compare and contrast Antigone and Creon.

3. What is the function of Ismene and Haimon?

4. List some of the central themes in this play.

Section III: Quotation Reflection
Read through all of the quotations in this section before you begin reflection. For each quotation: explain the context (who is speaking and where in the play) and then reflect on it. (Analyze why the quotation is significant and what it reveals.)

1. “In flood time you can see how some trees bend,

And because they bend, even their twigs are safe,

While stubborn trees are torn up, roots and all.”

2. “My own blind heart has brought me

From darkness to final darkness. Here you see

The father murdering, the murdered son—

And all my civic wisdom!”

3. “If that is what you think,

I should not want you, even if you asked to come.

You have made your choice, you can be what you want to be.

But I will bury him; and if I must die,

I say that this crime is holy”