1. This play is very much about conflicts of values. Evaluate the values of Antigone and Creon respectively in each of the following areas:

• divine and human law
• the relative importance of family and the state
• the propriety of helping friends and hurting enemies

2. What is the role of Ismene in this play? What do her interactions with Antigone and Creon reveal about each of the main characters?

3. What is the role of the Chorus? Who are they? How do they respond the the crisis at hand? to Antigone? to Creon? to Haemon? Evaluate each of their songs. How is each song relevant to the events of the play?

4. What kind of attitude does the Guard have toward the events that he witnesses?

5. What does Haemon contribute to the play? How valid are the arguments he makes to his father about Antigone?

6. Compare Antigone with her father, Oedipus, as he is presented in Oedipus at Colonus. What do the two have in common?

7. Consider the staging of this play. What would be the effect of the visually impressive moments such as Antigone's two entrances, Euridice's sudden exit, and Creon's arrival with Haemon's corpse?

8. What role does Teiresias play in this play?

9. One of the central themes of this play is "learning too late." Explain how this theme applies to Creon.

10. Who would you consider the "tragic hero" of this play, Antigone or Creon?

Outline of play

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