In the ancient greek tragedy, antigone, the main character antigone arrives in thebes to prevent a prophecy that predicts her brothers will kill each other in battle. she arrives to find that she is too late; her brothers are already dead and her uncle, king creon, has forbidden the burial of her brother polyneices, having decided that he was a traitor. antigone defies her uncle’s orders and buries her brother anyway. in fury, creon throws her in jail, but is soon convinced by others to release her. creon goes to the jail to give antigone her freedom, but finds that she is dead, having killed herself in despair.

which is the rising action of antigone?

antigone's decision to defy creon's orders and bury her brother
creon's decision to pardon antigone and release her from jail
creon's discovery that antigone has hanged herself in her jail cell
the battle between the two brothers which resulted in their deaths

1. in creon’s first words to the chorus, what are the “storms” that threatened to destroy the ship of state?   polynices’ invation of the city with foreign armies was the “storms” eteocles and polynices decided to switch the crown every year, but after eteocles’ first year decided not to share it with polynices. polynices joined forces with foreign armies to invade the city and tried to take the crown from his brother, where he and eteocles killed each other   2. examine creon’s opening speech. what are his concerns? how does he feel about the city and its citizens? what are his motivations for banning the burial of polyneices? what would drive creon to place the concerns of the collective citizens over those of his family?   in creon’s opening speech, his concerns are to count on his citizens to rule. in addition, he wanted to give a clear message by not giving a proper burial to polyneices, if creon gave a proper burial to polyneices his people would think that he was an allied to the foreign forces that invaded the city and threatened the peace of his people.   creon placed the concerns of the collective citizens because he has no use for those who put individual concerns over the needs of his people 3. pay attention to creon’s speech at the beginning of the scene. what does creon think someone’s first loyalty should be and what comes second? do you think he is correct under some conditions? do you think he is wrong in some conditions? explain those conditions. creon thinks someone’s first loyalty should be with the concerns of the collective citizens and second comes our individual wants. i think he is correct because true loyalty takes place in the benefits of many not of a few.   4. what news is the sentry reluctant to deliver?   the sentry is reluctant to say that polyneices had a burial. 5. who does the chorus suggest might have done this?   the chorus suggests that the gods have done that 6. what is creon’s reaction and who does creon think is responsible? creon reacted abruptly and thinks it was a man who bribed his guard to bury polyneices