Skip to Main Content

Lesson 2

We will continue to build background knowledge for Antigone and read the beginning of the play (Lines 1–116). We will also learn how to annotate text, acquire new vocabulary, and delineate arguments.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I analyze context to distinguish among denotative, connotative, and figurative meanings of words in Antigone?

  • Can I discuss and write about the explicit or implicit meanings of Lines 1–116 in Antigone?

  • Can I interact with Antigone in meaningful ways, such as notetaking and annotating?

  • Can I analyze how Sophocles develops complex yet believable characters through cultural settings and events in Lines 1–116?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • Antigone, Sophocles (translated by Robert Fagles), Penguin Books, 1984
  • Digital Access
    • “The Battle of the Greek Tragedies,” Melanie Sirof, TedEd, 2015

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss – Listen

We will review and discuss the homework and its tie to the Central Question.

Step 1

Review the following question:

  1. How might the ancient Greeks answer the Central Question: To whom or what do we owe our loyalty?

Discuss your response with the entire class or in small groups as directed by your teacher. You might review the section Discussion Norms from the Academic Discussion Reference Guide.

Step 2

In small groups, review the Theme Reference Guide and any notes or annotations you made while reading the document.

  1. What did you learn about theme that you did not know? Consider misconceptions you may have had or how the guide extended your understanding of theme and thematic ideas.

  2. Think about a movie or book that you have recently watched or read. Discuss what you think the producer or author was trying to say through the movie or book about life or society. How did the story’s conflict lead you to those messages or themes?

Activity 2: Discuss – Draw – Listen – View

We will watch a brief video about oedipus rex to understand background information for Antigone and to build a family tree for the character Antigone.

Step 1

You will view an excerpt from a video that summarizes the events of another play by Sophocles: Oedipus Rex. This video will build understanding of the background for the play Antigone as well as the family of the character Antigone. After you watch, note the answers in your Learning Log to the following questions:

  1. What function do the masks serve in the play?

  2. What happens to Oedipus’s father?

  3. Who is Jocasta?

  4. Who is Tiresias?

  5. Why do the narrators call the play tragic?

View the video "Battle of the Greek Tragedies" from 02:39 to 04:15.

Step 2

To better understand Oedipus Rex’s connection to Antigone, in the Greece & the Theater section of the Fagles translation, read the last paragraph of page 28 starting at "At Thebes the two sons of Oedipus" through "brother killed brother" on page 29.

In collaboration with a partner or in a small group, draw Antigone’s family tree in your Learning Log. Be sure to indicate relationships among family members and note which ones are deceased.

Activity 3: Read – Write

We will be introduced to the vocabulary Resources in order to build a reference document for comprehension of new words.

Your teacher will present you with a list of vocabulary necessary for the reading and comprehension of Antigone. Some of these words will be defined for you by your teacher when necessary; others will not.

For this activity, you will use a Vocabulary Journal, which you will maintain for the entire unit. Some words you might be able to decipher from the text using context clues; for others, you might use morphology to decipher the meaning, or a reference resource to check if your meaning is accurate. For some words, your teacher might present you with definitions.

Record words and definitions in your Vocabulary Journal. For each word, identify the vocabulary strategy (e.g., context, morphology, reference resource) you used to determine its meaning.

Activity 4: Read – Listen

We will begin reading Antigone, the core text in the unit by reading it aloud.

Listen as Lines 1-116 of Antigone are read aloud. This scene involves Antigone and her sister, Ismene. As the lines are read aloud, follow along and imagine the two sisters talking to one another. Keep the following guiding questions in mind as you listen:

  1. How does the play open? What is being described?

  2. What words or phrases stand out to you as you listen and read?

  3. What do the characters’ words and dialogue reveal about them?

  4. What emotions does each character try to convey?

Activity 5: Read – Listen – Write

We will begin using our Vocabulary Journals and learn how to use the Vocabulary in Context Tool.

Ensure the following words or phrases are added to your Vocabulary Journal: decree, rites, proclamation, martial law, traitor, contend, madness, and raise a mound.

Your teacher will model the Vocabulary in Context Tool for you for one of the words above.

The Vocabulary in Context Tool outlines a process for using contextual clues, such as nearby ideas, words, and phrases to help you define and understand unknown words or words that might have multiple meanings. The steps provided in the tool and the questions shared in the tool provide a model process that strong readers follow internally when reading a complex text in or outside of school.

You might use a Vocabulary in Context Tool for words you can decipher from the text; for others, you might use morphology to decipher the meaning, or a reference resource to check if your meaning is accurate. For some words, your teacher might present you with definitions.

Activity 6: View – Listen – Write

We will begin analyzing the core text for the unit through teacher-modeled annotation.

Step 1

Reread Lines 1-116 and follow your teacher’s instructions for how to annotate your physical text of Antigone. You will be expected to annotate as you read Antigone either in class or as homework. Once your teacher has modeled the process for you, consider using the Annotating and Note-Taking Reference Guide to assist you in the annotation process in the future.

Add words to your Vocabulary Journal as a part of the annotation process.

Use the following questions to guide your annotation:

  1. Does Antigone seem to act like a Greek woman is expected to? Use details from the text to explain why or why not.

  2. What other elements of Antigone’s character do you notice?

  3. How does Ismene act as a foil (a character who contrasts with another character) to Antigone? What is Ismene like?

  4. How does Antigone treat Ismene? Why does Antigone act like this?

Step 2

As a class, we will discuss the responses to the guiding questions.

Activity 7: Read – Discuss

As a class, we will read and discuss the task for the Section Diagnostic.

Access the Section 1 Diagnostic Checklist and read the question and task you will be responding to:

Analyze Creon’s argument on the issue of burying Polynices’s body. Write a well-developed response, explaining the following:

  • Creon’s perspective, position, and major claims and the evidence he uses to support them

  • Which thematic ideas are most important to Creon’s argument and why

In your response, be sure to do the following:

  • Support your analysis with relevant evidence from the play, using proper citations.

  • Refer to thematic ideas that relate to Creon’s argument.

  • Use content and academic vocabulary words from your Vocabulary Journal where appropriate.

  • Use appropriate syntax, grammar, and mechanics.

Based on your understanding of the prompt and analysis of Lines 1-116, discuss the prompt with a partner and add to your Learning Log any additional notes you think are relevant.

Activity 8: Discuss – Write

We will reinforce our understanding of concepts and terms related to argumentation through a vocabulary-building exercise.

Review the definitions for the terms issue, perspective, position, supporting claim,and evidence in the Argument Terminology section of the Argument Reference Guide.

Discuss your understanding of each of these terms with a partner, using examples from the article you are examining in this lesson.

In your Vocabulary Journal, paraphrase the definitions for these five concepts and terms. When paraphrasing a piece of writing, you write it in your own words.

Activity 9: Listen – View – Write

We will learn how to use the character argument Note-Taking Tool to examine Antigone’s and Ismene’s arguments.

Step 1

Your teacher will review and model the Character Argument Note-Taking Tool with you. Use the tool to track characters’ arguments throughout the play, focusing on claims, evidence, counterclaims, thematic ideas, as well as their perspectives and positions. This tool will serve as a scaffold for gathering information and evidence for your Culminating Task.

Begin by using this tool to study Lines 1-116. Your teacher will model the tool based on the previously read text in Lines 1-21 using the following guiding question:

  1. What reasons do Antigone and Ismene each give for their actions?

Step 2

Follow along and fill out your Character Argument Note-Taking Tool as your teacher models the tool and discusses thematic ideas from the Theme Reference Guide.

Step 3

For this portion of Antigone, we will use the tool in the following way:

  1. Write down the lines of the scene we are focusing on in the first cell of the first row. In this first entry, it will be Lines 1-116.

  2. In the second cell of the first row of the tool, write down the characters involved in the section you are reading. For this section, they are Antigone and Ismene.

  3. Write down the guiding question:What reasons do Antigone and Ismene give for their actions?

  4. Next, choose which thematic ideas are being explored in Antigone; write that in the last column of the table that follows.

  5. Use the first column of the Character Argument Note-Taking Tool to write down the name of the character making a claim.

  6. Use the second column to write the claims made by each character.

  7. Use the third column to record text evidence for the character’s claim.

  8. In the fourth column, note the counterclaims made by other characters to the character in Column 1.

  9. In the last column, note the thematic idea that the claim addresses (e.g., family, gender, etc.)

  10. Once you have completed the claims and counterclaims, turn to the second page and write down the perspective and position of each character toward the guiding question beneath the heading "Synthesis of Character’s Argument."

Step 4

With a partner, reread Lines 23-59 and continue focusing on the guiding question using the Character Argument Note-Taking Tool.

Activity 10: Write

For homework, we will use the character argument Note-Taking Tool to analyze the arguments of Antigone and Ismene.

For homework, you will continue to use the Character Argument Note-Taking Tool and reread Lines 60-116 using the same guiding question:

  1. What reasons do Antigone and Ismene give for their actions?

Be sure to refer to your notes on ancient Greek culture, text annotations, and your Learning Log when examining Antigone and Ismene’s reasonings.