Term
| What does Antigone imply by the phrase "He has no right to keep me from my own."? |
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Definition
| Creon does not have legitimate authority to rule. (By saying that Creon has no right to do anything that affects what is hers, Antigone denies that the government has authority, or that anyone has to obey Creon, since all laws affect things that belong to the people in the community.) |
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Term
| True or False: Ismene tells Antigone that Polyneices, not Eteocles, was the true hero of the city. |
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Definition
| False. (Neither sister mentions the political distinction between brothers. To them political things were just not important.) |
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Term
| True or False: Antigone says that Creon has authority over public matters, but not over purely private matters. |
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Definition
| False. (Antigone's statement that Creon "has no right to keep me from my own" implies that he could have NO authority to tell anyone to do anything.) |
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Term
| What does Ismene tell Antigone at the beginning of the play? |
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Definition
| One need not ask whether Creon is right in deciding whether to obey him. (Ismene is driven solely by a fear of Creon's power). |
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Term
| True or False: Even is Creon is driven by private interest, he would seek the public good. |
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Definition
| True. (As his address to the Chorus shows, Creon seems to believe that to keep his power as king, he must act for the public good.) |
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Term
| As presented in Antigone, Creon's ability to make people obey depends primarily on what? |
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Definition
| The people's fear of death. (It seems to be the case that the only reason people obey the king is out of a fear of punishment, not because they believe it would be wrong.) |
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Term
| True or False: The chorus suggests that the gods tried to bury Polyneices' body. |
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Definition
| True. (The chorus cannot imagine that any human being would risk death by disobeying the king's edict.) |
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Term
| How did the particular sentry who tells Creon of the attempt to bury Polyneices' body end up being the one to do it? |
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Definition
| The sentry was selected to come in a game of chance. (This is important because it shows that none of the soldiers was driven by a respect for the government's authority. They were motivated by a fear of power.) |
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Term
| True or False: In Antigone, only the soldiers show respect for the king's authority. |
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Definition
| False. (Even the soldiers are driven by private interest -fear of power- rather than respect for authority. This is shown by the fact that none of them wanted to come tell Creon that his edict had been violated.) |
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Term
| True or False: Ismene disagrees with Antigone's claim that Creon has no authority to rule. |
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Definition
| False. (Ismene does not dispute Antigone's claim that the king has no authority, but says that the issue is unimportant because he has the power to punish them.) |
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Term
| True or False: When the chorus first appears in the play they are talking about the battle which occurred the day before. |
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Definition
| True. (The chorus is excited about the victory in battle on the previous day. This calls the readers attention to the fact that Antigone and Ismene don't even mention it.) |
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Term
| True or False: Antigone says that treason is not wrong. |
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Definition
| True. (Antigone says clearly that treason may not be wrong. This implies that political things are simply unimportant.) |
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Term
| When Creon tells Antigone's attention to the fact that Polyneices was traitor while Eteocles was a hero, how does Antigone respond? |
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Definition
| She contends that one cannot say that being a traitor to a city is necessarily bad. (This shows how thoroughly unimportant the political community is to Antigone.) |
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Term
| Why does the chorus believe that no one would bury Polyneices' body? |
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Definition
| It would mean certain death to anyone who does it. (The chorus believes that no one would disobey because they would fear the consequences.) |
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Term
| Under what circumstances, according to Creon, would people risk death? |
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Definition
| To gain money or power. (This may indicate what Creon's motives are - especially a desire for power. |
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Term
| True or False: Antigone believes that Creon would have the authority to order her not to bury the body of her child or husband. |
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Definition
| False. (Antigone said said she would obey if the king had ordered her not to bury the body of a child or husband, but NOT because Creon would have the authority to do so. She would not disobey in those cases because of fear of power. |
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Term
| Why is Creon so afraid of Antigone's disobedience? |
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Definition
| If Antigone does not obey the proclamation, others might be encouraged to challenge Creon's authority. (Disobedience of the law is destructive of the law.) |
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Term
| True or False: Haemon tells his father that he ought to let Antigone go since the people want him to and the people are wise. |
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Definition
| False. (Haemon is appealing to his father's private interest. He is not claiming that the people are right, but that the people are powerful, and that the king should worry about that power.) |
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Term
| True or False: Tiresias is the first person in the play to disagree with Creon's claim that it is in the public good for Polyneices' body to remain unburied. |
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Definition
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