Transcript Introduction to Antigone

WarmUp
• Read pages 1064-65 in the textbook
• Take notes as you need—you will be responsible for this
information
• Turn in HW (Agree/Disagree statements) to the music stand
INTRODUCTION TO
ANTIGONE
Greek Drama


Greek drama was performed at annual
festivals in honor of Dionysos – the god of
wine and fertility
Greek tragedies like Antigone often revolved
around well-known myths and heroic
legends
•Greek
plays were
performed in
outdoor
amphitheaters

Actors wore masks
that reflected the
personalities of their
characters
The Author: Sophocles


Sophocles was one of the
most famous and
respected and of all Greek
playwrights
wrote Antigone as a part of
a trilogy of plays that
centered around the legend
of Oedipus
Structure Terms
• Prologue: (story)
• Parados: (song)
• Episodes: (story)
• Odes: (song)
• Paean: (song)
• Exodus: (story)
Prologue
• Going to be set around
central moral issue and
set up basic conflict
• Sets forth the subject
and provides the
mythological background
necessary for
understanding the events
of the play.
• Our prologue stars our
protagonist Antigone
and her sister Ismene
Parados
• 1st Ode sung by the
chorus
• Named for the corridors
at the front of the stage
of a Greek theater
Episodes
• When the main events take place
• Divided from the next episode by
odes.
Ode
• a choral section of the play.
• The language of these sections is elevated, more “poetic”; often
supplementary information or the mood of the play’s internal
audience is revealed
• A choral ode that often reflects on the dialogue and events of the
preceding episode.
Paean
•
Hymn in praise of god – in this case
Dionysus, in whose honor the Greeks
performed the plays
Exodus
•
The final, or exit, scene
Literary Terms to Look For
• Foil – a character who serves as a contrast to another character
• Allusion – Reference to a statement, person, place, event or thing
that is known from something else
More Literary Terms
• Verbal Irony – when a
speaker says one thing, but
means the opposite
• Dramatic Irony – when the
reader or the audience
knows something
important that a character
does not know.
Antigone: Premise & Characters
• Setting:
the city of Thebes, the
morning after a war, way back in B.C.
• Conflict of story:
Individual rights VS. State
• Moral or Divine Law VS. Human Law
•
Antigone: Premise & Characters
• Antigone – protagonist, daughter of Oedipus
• Creon – King of Thebes and Antigone’s uncle
• Ismene – Antigone’s sister
• Haemon – Creon’s
son and Antigone’s fiancé
• Etocles and Polynices (Antigone’s brothers)
Antigone: Premise & Characters
Chorus
•
•
“the elders of the city Thebes” whose age
and opinion would have been respected
Part of cast who chant parados, odes and
paean.
Choragos
•
Leader of the chorus
•
Often times interacts with characters one
on one
OEDIPUS THE KING
Before Antigone…
The Story of Oedipus

The famous psychological
term “Oedipus Complex”
was coined because of this
story
How did it all start?
Tiresias reveals the truth,
but Oedipus doesn’t
believe him
King Oedipus and Queen
Jocasta told of “bad
blood” in their city.
The attack…
The Oracle at Delphi
Major Characters in Antigone
• Antigone
• Creon
• Ismene
• Haemon
• Etocles
• Polynices
What to consider while reading…
• Was Antigone justified in her actions?
What is more important –
following the government’s laws, or those of one’s heart?

Who is the tragic hero of this play? A tragic
hero is a person who, either through choice or
circumstance, is caught in a series of events
that lead to disaster. Unfortunately, it is
his/her own error in judgment (tragic flaw) that
leads to his/her demise.