1. SOPHOCLES’ ANTIGONE Language Arts 3-4 H

2. Essential questions:  Do we have a moral responsibility to break and revolt against unjust laws?  What price should we be willing to pay in order to go against an unfair edict?  Can a leader be indecisive and still maintain control?  What is more important: being right, or being happy?

3. Background: Sophocles  496-406 B.C.  Wealthy Athenian family  Well-educated and well-connected  Politically astute (remember that democracy is a relatively new concept at this time!)  Beat established playwright Aeschylus in a drama competition in 468 B.C. and won either 1 st or 2 nd place in the same competition for 55 competitions over a span of 62 years  Regarded as the greatest ancient Greek playwright

4. Background: Sophocles  Wrote about 123 plays, of which only 7 have survived  Themes include religious apathy, dangers of hubris

5. Aristotelian Tragedy  Aristotle’s definition of tragedy as recorded in the Poetics:  Tragic hero has noble stature & greatness (socially and morally), BUT  Tragic hero is not perfect  Tragic hero’s downfall at least partially his own fault (generally hubris)  Punishment exceeds crime  Fall is not wholly a loss—there is awareness for the hero  Catharsis: purging of pity and fear

6. Dramatic structure of a tragedy  Exposition  Exciting or inciting force  Rising action  Climax  Falling action  Moment of final suspense  Catastrophe

7. Putting the “fun” back in dysfunctional

8. Background: Oedipus  King Laius of Thebes & Queen Jocasta  Oracle says son will murder father & marry mother  Oedipus sent away to be killed... but instead gets adopted as the crown prince of Corinth  Oedipus learns of his fate from the Oracle and flees Corinth to escape it  Kills Laius at a crossroads en route to Thebes  Answers the Sphinx’s riddle, saves Thebans from Sphinx & gets the kingdom... and his mom. They have 4 kids.  Discovers the truth and gouges out eyes (would you?), Jocasta kills herself, and sons get the kingdom. BUT...

9. Background: Oedipus  Eteocles and Polynices are supposed to take turns ruling the kingdom, but Eteocles won’t give up the throne at the end of a year  War ensues; brothers kill each other  Creon, Jocasta’s brother, takes the throne and declares Polynices a traitor... AND NOW...  All Antigone wants to do is to bury Polynices, but Creon won’t let her CONFLICT: DIVINE LAW VS. LAW OF MAN

10. Cultural notes  Burial rites fell to women, who washed, dressed & adorned the body  Only close relatives participated in burial rites  Taken very seriously in Greek culture  But traitors and temple robbers don’t deserve burial in Athens....right?  PROBLEM: Only a properly buried soul can proceed to the Underworld.  VIDEO CLIP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QLcG- Tk9sU&list=PLS2f6ihH9PYb3zt32ASNaYjFXhjULcEm7&ind ex=8

11. To consider:  The role of the citizen  Civil disobedience  Family obligation  Divine law vs. state law

12. Terms to define  Chorus & Choragus  Hubris  Prologue  Parodos  Strophe  Antistrophe  Ode  Paean  Exodos