Antigone
What motivates a character to take action even if it’s against the law or traditions?
Directions: Read the prologue and scene 1, then complete the character analysis chart.
What action does this character want to take
place?
Antigone wants to bury her
brother because he died in battle.
Antigone
Back then not being burying was
really bad and disrespectful, their
brother killed his own people in a
war so King Creon forbade him to
be buried. However, Antigone still
wants to bury him
Ismene wants her brother to stay
unburied and wants her and her
family to follow my King Creon's
rule.
Ismene
What does this suggest about the qualities of
this character?
Antigone wanting to bury her
brother shows that she is brave
and will do what she thinks is
right. She has a good
conciousness
Her not wanting her brother
buried shows she is more loyal
to her government than to her
family. She will listen to what
others say than to what her own
family says, even if her family is
right, it shows she is cowardly
and pretty much the opisote of
Antigone
Think about a moment from the prologue that really explains why Antigone or Ismene feels the way they do. Choose
ONLY ONE of the prompts below to answer.

Choose a moment that you think is significant to Antigone’s argument for the action that she would
like to take and explain why that moment is significant. Why is Antigone’s argument different from
Ismene’s?
(Did other one)
Antigone

Choose a moment that you think is significant to Ismene’s argument for the action that she would
like to take and explain why that moment is significant. Why is Ismene’s argument different from
Antigone’s?

Ismene has a very long dialogue sequence where she tries to

convince Antigone to now bury her brother simply because the
Ismene

law forbids it. She says things like "The law is strong, we must
give in to the law" and "To forgive me, but I am helpless; I must
yield". Those dialogue pieces show how cowardly she is. It is
significant becaue this is when she really establishes her view
on the arguement. Her arguement is completely different than
Antigone's because Antigone wants to do the right thing and
bury her brother, but Ismene wants to do the wrong thing and
not bury him