What is the dramatic purpose of the prologue

We will be using the online text here.

1- What is the dramatic purpose of the prologue?

2- What problems does Antigone report to her sister Ismene, and what does Antigone intend to do?

3- What is Ismene’s reaction to Antigone’s plan?

4- What is Ismene’s view of the relationship between men and women?

5- What are the main differences between Antigone and Ismene in terms of personality? Ismene is a foil to Antigone.

6- Why does Antigone say, “If that is whay you think, I should not want you, even if you wanted to come”?

7- How is the way the people see Creon when he first appears in the play similar to the way people used to see Oedipus?

8- In his long speech, Creon outlines his guiding philosophy. What human institution does Creon believe to be most important in life?

9- How do Creon’s beliefs compare with Antigone’s?

10- What is the Chorus’s initial reaction toward Creon’s decree?

11- Why is the Sentry afraid to tell Creon that Polyneices has been buried? Are his fears justified?

12- What view of Creon does the Sentry present to the audience?

13- When Antigone is captured and brought before Creon, whtat is the attitude of the Chorus and the Sentry with regard to her situation?

14- How does Antigone defend her defianace of the edict? How does she view the relationship between laws made by man and those created by the gods?

15- Is Creon’s decision to arrest Ismene necesseary? Is it just vindictive?

16- Why does Ismene now try to share responsiblity with Antigone and why doesn’t Antigone let her?

17- According to Creon’s son Haimon, what is the reaction of the common people to Creon’s death sentence for Antigone?

18- What advice does Haemon give Creon? Is it good advice, or is Haemon blinded by his love for Antigone?

19- What is the point that Haemon is trying to make through the analogies fo the tree and the ship?

20- What threat does Haemon make?

21- The blind prophet Teiresias appears again. What omens does Teiresias report and what do these omens mean?

22- What is Creon’s initial reaction to Teiresias’s report? Of what does he accuse Teiresias?

23- Why does Chreon finally change his mind about Teiresias?

24- What course of action does the Chorus recomend to Creon, and how does Creon react to this advice?

25- What moral lesson does the Chorus see in the fate of Creon at the close of the play?