Antigone - The play's tragic heroine.
Ismene - Ismene is the good girl of the family. She is reasonable and understands her place, bowing to Creon's edict and attempting to dissuade Antigone from her act of rebellion. As in Sophocles' play, she is Antigone's foil. Ultimately she will recant and beg Antigone to allow her to join her in death. Though Antigone refuses, Ismene's conversion indicates how her resistance is contagious.
<>Haemon - Antigone's young fiancé and son to Creon. Haemon appears twice in the play. In the first, he is rejected by Antigone; in the second, he begs his father for Antigone's life. Creon's refusal ruins his exalted view of his father. He too refuses the happiness that Creon offers him and follows Antigone to a tragic demise.
Nurse - A traditional figure in Greek drama, the Nurse is an addition to the Antigone legend. She introduces an everyday, maternal element into the play that heightens the strangeness of the tragic world. Fussy, affectionate, and reassuring, she suffers no drama or tragedy but exists in the day-to-day tasks of caring for the two sisters. Her comforting presence returns Antigone to her girlhood. In her arms, Antigone superstitiously invests the Nurse with the power to ward off evil and keep her safe.
Chorus - The Chorus frames the play with a prologue and epilogue, introducing the action and characters under the sign of fatality. In presenting the tragedy, the Chorus instructs the audience on proper spectatorship, reappearing at the tragedy's pivotal moments to comment on the action or the nature of tragedy itself. Along with playing narrator, the Chorus also attempts to intercede throughout the play, whether on the behalf of the Theban people or the horrified spectators.
Eurydice - Creon's kind, knitting wife whose only function, as the Chorus declares, is to knit in her room until it is her time to die.
Below is this week's vocabulary. You will have a quiz on Friday. It will consist of putting in the correct word based upon context.
Creon - Antigone's uncle. Creon is powerfully built, but a weary and wrinkled man suffering the burdens of rule. He tells Antigone, his only interest is in political and social order. Creon is bound to ideas of good sense, simplicity, and the banal happiness of everyday life.
Vocabulary 1 for Antigone...QUIZ FRIDAY
1. piety - (noun) religious devotion; reverence to god
2. ingenuity -(noun)- the quality of being clever or inventive
3. to edify- (verb) to instruct or benefit morally
4. to bequeath (verb) to hand down or pass on
5. woe - (noun)- grievous distress or trouble
6. ignoble- (adjective)-of low character or rank
7. haughty-(adjective)- disdainfully proud, snobbish
8. tempestuous - (adjective)- violent, stormy
9. to lament -(verb)-to feel sorrow or regret
10. to beguile-(verb)- to influence by trickery or flattery
11 reverence -(noun)- a feeling or attitude of deep respect
12. portent -(noun)- an indication or an omen that something significant is about to happen.
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