Answer to Question #299199 in English for Kelsey Jand

Question

Antigone Scene Analysis

Directions: For each day of reading, please complete the following analysis of scenes and odes in complete sentences.

Scene #/Name: Scene 1

1. Function & Purpose Where on the plot diagram does this scene fall and what does it contribute to the plot?
2. Summary of Events in complete sentences
3. Important Quote correctly cited (scene#.line#s) and 2 sentence analysis of how it helps us to analyze a character or theme 

Answer 1

Antigone Plot Summary

Oedipus was banished from Thebes, when the prophecy of patricide and incest was proven true. Oedipus left Thebes a blind and broken man. Creon took over the throne because Oedipus’ two sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, were too young to become rulers. As time passed, and the two sons aged, Eteocles claimed the throne for himself, exiling his older brother Polyneices. Polyneices then gathered a giant army and attacked Eteocles for the throne. Neither of the two sons won because they both ended up killing each other in battle.

As guards brush the dirt off the body, she reveals herself willingly. Creon is enraged and imprisons both Antigone and Ismene, who he believes to be an accomplice. Creon’s son, Haemon, pleads with his father to release Antigone, his bride-to-be. Creon ridicules Haemon for his ridiculous thoughts of freeing Antigone. Haemon then runs off, crushed that his father would treat his so badly. Creon then states that Ismene’s innocence is clear and that only Antigone should be punished, so he takes Antigone to a cave outside the city and buries her alive. Teiresias, the blind prophet then warns Creon that the gods are unhappy for the lack of proper burial and that his son’s death shall be the punishment. Creon mocks Teiresias, but the chorus reminds Creon that the prophet has never been wrong. Now worried for his son’s life, Creon performs the proper burial rituals for Polyneices’ body. Creon then rushes to free Antigone, but it is too late, she is dead, and Haemon has killed himself for her. A broken man, Creon returns to the kingdom only to learn that his wife, Eurydice, has killed herself after learning about her son’s death. Creon is then lead away by the chorus, lamenting in his own self misery.