Kathleen Rowan

Antigone Portfolio
Mr. Wildoner
September 2nd, 2009
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Table of Contents:
Favorite Scene .
3
Alternative Ending .
5
Antigone Opinion Essay .
7
Favorite Quotes .
8
Antigone Scrapbook .
11
Creon Scrapbook .
13

All people are subject to their own opinions. Such opinions may be regar
ded to a certain actress, song, or movie. Opinions are one of many things that m
ake humans so unique. Naturally, as a human I also hold my own opinions. One suc
h example of my opinion would be my personal favorite scene in the play Antigone
by Sophocles.
Personally, I believe that the best scene in Antigone would be between l
ines 1192-1283. The scene is the complete climax of the play. In this part of th
e play, the barer of bad news does not hesitate to continue giving misfortunate
information. In the beginning of the lines given, the messenger tells Creon s wife
, Eurydice, that her son has killed himself out of love for Antigone. Upon heari
ng the news, Eurydice is quick to storm out, and in her place Creon returns with
Haemon. After discussing what tragedy has happened with the chorus, the messeng
er returns with worse news than before- that Eurydice has killed herself out of
depression due to the death of her son. With such dreadful news building up, it
is evident that their family is having misfortune.
 There are many ways in this scene could be someone s favorite. The most di
rect reason I feel a person, especially myself, would like it, is because of the
extreme drama occurring. As stated before, it is pronounced in this scene that
Haemon has killed, which would break any parents heart. Whenever I read a book, I
constantly try to relate different aspects of it to my own life. This scenario
made me wonder, with a very melancholy attitude, what my parents would do if I d
id such a thing, a ruled out that it would be too sad for everyone to deal with!
On top of such a mess, Haemon s mother kills herself out of sadness. Going back t
o my Antigone daydream, there would be no way that my father would ever be able
to handle my mother and I both dying and Creon did!
It is clear that, as a teenage girl, there is no way I could resist declaring su
ch a dramatic part in the play my favorite scene!

Haemon and Eurydice have already died. Creon is informed of happened, an

d goes to his room to think about things. As he makes his way down the corridors
, he ponders about what to do with the whole situation. He wonders if he should
do as everyone else and kill himself out of sadness. On the other hand, he could
also do the mature thing and step down from office to due too much tragedy. Cre
on opens to great doors to find something he could have never imagined; somethin
g that would change his life.
Standing in front of him in slim health was Polynieces, the main source
to the entire family s recent misfortune. Creon ask him what anyone in his positio
n would have ask- What are you doing here? I thought you were dead? Polynieces w
ent on to explain that he was never really dead. He was injured badly during the
war, but before his brother stabbed him he had knocked him unconscious. Though
there was some major blood lose, he managed to stay alive because of Antigone, a
nd later gained consciousness. Thinking on his feet, he found one of his fellow
soldiers in the same field and him, so he put it in his place incase they came b
ack to look for him. Making his way back into town, he had heard of what happene
d to his sister.
There was a major part of the story Polynieces left out. Out of anger, P
olynieces ran to his sister s tomb. He saw his sister and her husband-to-be both l
ifeless, so he quickly came to the conclusion it was his uncle s doing. A plot of
revenge rose into Polynieces mind, and soon he was on his way to Creon s house with
a murder on his mind.
Sword in hand, Polynieces was ready to take Creon s life. The fight was a
short one, and Creon stopped putting up a fight. He was no longer able to run aw
ay from this inevitable fate. Falling to his knees, Polynieces gave him an honor
able killing and beheaded him from behind.
 Knowing what would happen if he stayed, Polynieces ran from his crime, f
ound his only living sister, Ismene, and fled the town to live the rest of their
lives in peace.

As typical human beings, it is inevitable that we will be faced with dif

ficult decisions. They may be daily decisions that will only affect us in the ne
ar future, or they may be extremely difficult decisions that could change our li
ves forever. In Antigone, Antigone is faced with the rash decision to burry her
brother, which the king has outlawed. She knows that eventually, they will fine
her and give her the ultimate punishment, but she does it regardless out of extr
eme love for her brother. Her sister was very much against the whole idea, but A
ntigone wanted to do what was best for Polynieces. If the ancient Greek religion
was correct, that also meant that Antigone was allowing him to be able to prope
rly go into the afterlife of their religion. Given the circumstances, I believe
that Antigone did the right thing when she chose to burry her Polynieces.
I admire Antigone for her decision to go against the man and burry her bro
ther. There are only a handful of people in the current age that are willing to
stand up in front of others in order to do something they believe is right. If o
ne of my brothers were to be in a similar situation, I know for a fact how it wo
uld end. I would want to do what ever I could to help them, but I would be too n
ervous of what my outcome would be so I would not do anything. In conclusion, I
would continue living my life with regret of not doing the right thing. A life w
ith many regrets is not a life at all. Therefore, I strongly believe that Antigo
ne s decision was a noble one, and had she not have done it, her character would n
ot nearly be as enviable as she was.

Favorite Quotes
Lines 223- 226. Sir, I am here. I can t say I am out of breath. I have not exactly
been running on light feet. I halted many times along the road so I could think, a
nd I almost turned around and marched right back. -Messenger
Saying this to Creon, the quote symbolizes confidence in one s decisions.
In this case, the messenger is contemplating whether or not to tell Creon about
the tragedy, but in Antigone s case, she takes full punishment for her choice to b
urry her brother.
Lines 332-334. Many wonders, many terrors, but none more wonderful than the human
race or more dangerous. - Creon
To me, this quote shows a sense of irony in the play. Creon is complaini
ng of whatever man did such a crime as to burry the enemy. Later, Creon falls i
nto the category of causing one of the many terrors of the human race.
Line 443. Of course not. I did it. I won t deny anything. - Antigone
I enjoy this quote because it goes along with my opinion that burying he
r brother was the right thing to do. It characterizes Antigone as a woman who kn
ows what she wants to do, while at the same time being responsible enough to tak
e full responsibility.
Line 448. Why would I care to live when you are gone? - Ismene
This quote follows the rest of the family s motives when they find out a l
oved one had died. They believe that is someone near them has died, their life s
erves no purpose therefore they, as well, should die.
Lines 613- 614. Madness stalks mortals who are great, leaves no escape from disas
ter. -Chorus
This quote is one that summarizes the major lesson in the play. Such a f
amily with the upper hand among everyone else would never be able to live so per
fectly. It was a matter of time before this was the center reason around which t
he family in charge fell.
Line 683. Father, the gods give good sense to every human being. - Haemon
Again, this is another quote I find rather ironic. He says that gods giv
e everyone good sense, but contradicts himself when he ignores this sense and ki
lls himself because of Antigone.
Line 776. So the city will not be cursed for homicide. -Creon
Creon is only making himself seem like an idiot as he says this line. He
, unknowingly, is already causing the city, and more importantly him entire fami
ly, a curse of homicide.
Lines 895- 896. I am the last of them that will go under, and my death- it is the
worst by far- so much before my time - Antigone
This line is yet another unintentional contradiction. Antigone is saying
that her death is the last of this family s yet to come, and it will be the worst
because she is so young. Little does she know two other member of her extended
family are planning to kill themselves, as well, out of misery.
Line 1050. How powerful good judgment it, compared to good wealth. Tiresias
Many a time in the play does Creon accuse people of putting wealth befor
e doing what is just. Little does he know he has had misjudgment for quite some
time, and soon he will be repaid for it.
Line 1278- 1280. You have so many troubles, master, troubles in hand- you carry t
hem yourself. And troubles at home- you ll see them for yourself, soon enough, whe
n you arrive. - Messenger
This quote is one that sums most of the action the play up. All conflict
s that occur have been troubles against Creon, yet at the same time, most of the
m have been self-inflicted by his decisions.

Antigone
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Creon
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