Questions on Antigone (Answer Three of Seven) 1. Why does Creon refuse to allow Polyneices to be buried? What does this decision tell us about Creon’s worldview and values? What other evidence supports this interpretation? Does Creon or your view of Creon change over the course of the play? If so, how and where and why? 2. Why does Antigone believe that she not only must bury Polyneices, despite Creon’s order, but also “shout it out” (line 99)? What does this tell us about Antigone’s worldview and values? What other evidence supports this interpretation? What does Antigone mean, for example, when she says, “I shall be / a criminal—but a religious one” (lines 84–85), or when she tells Creon, “I did not believe /your proclamation had such power to enable / one who will someday die to override / God’s ordinances, unwritten and secure” (lines 496–99)? 3. Though Antigone and Creon and the values each represents are obviously in conflict within the play, are the two alike in any way? 4. What roles do other characters play, particularly Ismene, Haemon, Teiresias, and the Chorus? What worldview and values do these characters embody? 5. How, exactly, is the conflict between the worldviews and values of Creon and Antigone resolved over the course of the play? Which side, if either, does the play as a whole endorse? 6. What, if any, significance do you attribute to the Sentry’s initially telling Creon that a man has buried Polyneices (lines 268–71)? To Creon’s saying, “I am no man and she the man / if she can win this and not pay for it” (lines 528–29)? Does evidence in the play suggest that the conflict between Creon and Antigone is related to their genders? 7. At one point, the Chorus suggests that Antigone is doomed, along with the rest of her family, to a tragic fate, saying, “No generation frees another, some god /strikes them down; there is no deliverance” (lines 647–48); at another point, however, the Chorus tells her, “[I]t is your own self-willed temper / that has destroyed you” (lines 920–21). Which, if either, interpretation does the play as a whole endorse?