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Transcript
THE KING’S SCHOOL, CANTERBURY
SCHOLARSHIP ENTRANCE EXAMINATION
March 2014
GREEK
QUESTION PAPER
1 hour 30 minutes
Attempt all the questions on the paper as instructed.
Write your answers in the answer booklet.


 You may not have met all the vocabulary or constructions but
you will be given credit for making a sensible guess. 
 There are 75 marks for language work and 25 marks for
comprehension and your personal response to literature. 
 Spend about 70 minutes on the Greek language section and
about 20 minutes on your response to the Greek literature
passage. 
1|Page
BLANK PAGE
2|Page
PASSAGE FOR SECTION C
The revolt of Mytilene
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ἐν δε τοις των ᾿Αθηναιων συμμαχοις ἦν νησος, Λεσβος ὀνοματι.
ἡ των ἐν τῃ νησῳ πολεων μεγιστη ἦν Μυτιληνη. οἱ δε ἐν τῃ Μυτιληνῃ
ἀρχοντες ἐπεβουλευσαν τοις Ἀθηναιοις και πολεμον παρεσκευασαν.
οἱ οὖν Ἀθηναιοι εἶπον, “ναυτικον πεμψομεν.” και ἐπολιορκησαν τους
Μυτιληναιους.
ὁ δε των Μυτιληναιων δημος εἶπεν,
“οὐκετι ἐθελομεν πειθεσθαι τοις ἀρχουσιν ἀλλα εἰρηνην ποιειν προς τους
Ἀθηναιοις.”
οἱ δε Ἀθηναιοι ἐβουλευσαν πρωτον μεν ἀποκτεινειν τους ἀνδρας και
δουλωσαι τας γυναικας και τους παιδας, ἐπειτα δε αὐτων φειδεσθαι.
VOCABULARY
Λεσβος
Lesbos
ὀνοματι
This word means the same as the Latin, nomine
Μυτιληνη
Mytilene, the biggest city on the island of Lesbos
οἱ ἀρχοντες
the rulers
ἐπιβουλευω, ἐπεβουλευσα + dative I plot against
παρασκευαζω, παρεσκευασα
I prepare
πολιορκεω, ἐπολιορκησα
I besiege
οὐκετι
no longer
πειθεσθαι + dative
to obey
ποιειν
to make
βουλευω, ἐβουλευσα
Work out the meaning of this verb from Greek, βουλη
ὁ ανηρ, του ἀνδρος
Work out the meaning of this word from English, android
δουλωσαι
Work out the meaning of this infinitive from Greek, δουλος
ἡ γυνη, της γυναικος
Work out the meaning of this word from English, gynaecology
ὁ παις, του παιδος
Work out the meaning of this word from English, paediatrician
φειδεσθαι + genitive
to spare
3|Page
PASSAGE FOR SECTION D
As Herodotus says: Anyone may believe these Egyptian tales if he is sufficiently credulous; as for
myself, I keep to the general plan of this book, which is to record the traditions of the various
nations just as I heard them related to me.

Rhampsinitus was a Pharaoh. 
RHAMPSINITUS AND THE THIEVES
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
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Rhampsinitus possessed a vast fortune in silver. In order to keep the treasure safe, he had
a treasury made. The builder he employed had designs upon the contents and ingeniously
contrived to construct the wall in such a way that one of the stone blocks of which it was
composed could easily be removed by two men – or even by one.
The treasure was kept safe for many years but then the builder, on his death-bed, called his two
sons and told them how clever he had been, saying that he had planned the device of the
movable stone entirely for their benefit, so that they might live as rich men. Then he gave them
the precise measurements and instructions for its removal, and told them that, if only they kept
the secret well, they would control the Royal Exchequer as long as they lived.
The father died and the sons lost no time in setting to work; they came by night to the palace, found
the stone in the treasury wall, took it out easily enough and got away with a good haul of silver. The
king, on his next visit to the treasury, was surprised to see that some of the vessels in
which the money was stored were no longer full, but as the locks to the treasure house were
in perfect order, he was at a loss to find the culprit. When the same thing happened again, and
yet again, and he found that each time he visited, the level of the money in the jars had fallen
still further (for the thieves persisted in their depredations), he ordered traps to be made and
set near the money-jars. The thieves came as usual, and one of them made their way into the
chamber; but, as soon as he approached the money-jar he was after, the trap got him.
Realising his plight, he at once called out to his brother to tell him what had happened, and
begged him to come as quickly as he could and cut off his head, so that the recognition of his
dead body should not involve both of them in ruin. The brother, seeing the sense of this
request, acted upon it without delay; then, having fitted the stone back in its place, went
home taking the severed head with him.
On the following morning when the king visited his treasury, imagine his astonishment when he
saw in the trap the headless body of the thief, and no sign of damage to the building, or any
apparent means of entrance or exit! Much perplexed, he finally decided to have the thief’s
body hung up on the wall and a guard posted with orders to arrest and bring before him
anyone they might see thereabouts in tears, or showing signs of mourning.
Now, the young man’s mother was deeply distressed by this treatment of her dead son’s body,
and begged her surviving son to do all he possibly could to think of some way of getting it back, and
even threatened, if he refused to listen to her, to go to the king and denounce him as the thief. The
young man made many excuses, but to no purpose: his mother continued to pester him until he
thought of a way out of the difficulty. He filled some skins with wine and loaded
them onto the donkeys, and he drove them to the place where the soldiers were guarding his
brother’s corpse. Arrived there, he gave a pull on the necks of two or three of the skins to undo
the fastenings. The wine poured out, and he roared and banged his head, as if not knowing
which donkey to deal with first, while the soldiers, seeing the wine streaming all over the road,
seized their cups and pots and ran out to catch it, congratulating themselves on such a piece of
luck. The young man swore at them in pretended rage, which the soldiers did their best to
soothe, until finally he changed his tune, and, appearing to have recovered his temper, drove
the donkeys out of the road and began to rearrange the wine-skins on their backs. Meanwhile,
4|Page
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65
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as he chatted with the soldiers, one of them cracked a joke at his expense and made him laugh,
whereupon he made them a present of a wine-skin, and without more ado they all sat down to
enjoy themselves, and urged their benefactor to join the party and share the drink. The young
man let himself be persuaded, and soon, as cup succeeded cup and the soldiers treated him
with increasing familiarity, he gave them another skin. Such a quantity of wine was too much
for the guards; very drunk and drowsy, they stretched themselves out full length and fell asleep
on the spot. It was now well after dark, and the thief took down his brother’s corpse and, as an
insult, shaved the right cheek of each of the guards. Then he put the body on the donkeys’
backs and returned home, having done successfully what his mother demanded.
The king was very angry when he learnt that the thief’s body had been stolen, and determined at
any cost to catch the man who had been clever enough to bring off such a coup. I find it hard to
believe the priests’ account of the means he employed to catch him – but here it is: he sent his own
daughter to a brothel with orders to admit all comers, and to compel each applicant,
before granting him her favours, to tell her what was the cleverest and wickedest thing that
he had ever done; and if anyone told her the story of the thief, she was to get hold of him and
not allow him to escape.
The girl obeyed her father’s orders, but the thief, when he discovered what the girl was up to, could
not resist the temptation to go one better than the king in ingenuity. He cut the hand and
arm from the body of a man who had just died, and, putting them under his cloak, went to visit the
king’s daughter in the brothel. When she asked him the question which she had asked all the
others, he replied that his wickedest deed was to cut off his brother’s head when he was caught on
a trap in the king’s treasury, and his cleverest was to make the soldiers drunk, so that
he could take down his brother’s body from the wall where it was hanging. The girl immediately
clutched at him; but under cover of the darkness, the thief pushed towards her the hand of the
corpse, which she seized and held tight in the belief that it was his own. Then, leaving it in her
grasp, he made his escape through the door.
The cleverness and audacity of this last exploit filled the king with astonishment and
admiration; soon after the news of it reached him, he went to every town in Egypt with a
promise to the thief, should he give himself up, not only of a free pardon but of a rich reward.
The thief trusted him and presented himself, and Rhampsinitus demonstrated his admiration
for the most intelligent of all mankind by giving him his daughter in marriage. The Egyptians, he
said, were the cleverest nation in the world, but this fellow beat the lot.
Herodotus, Histories II, 121-122
5|Page
THE KING’S SCHOOL, CANTERBURY
SCHOLARSHIP ENTRANCE EXAMINATION
March 2014
GREEK
ANSWER BOOKLET
1 hour 30 minutes
WRITE YOUR NAME IN CAPITAL LETTERS: .................................................
I HAVE BEEN STUDYING GREEK FOR ......... TERMS IN ....... LESSONS OF ...........
MINUTES PER WEEK.
THE LAST THING I DID IN GREEK WAS AN EXERCISE ON
…………………………………….......................................................................................................
(Say which grammar point you covered most recently – e.g. the imperfect tense/ agreement
of adjectives/ 3rd declension nouns like ‘giant’ and ‘old man’, ‘night’ or ‘body’.)
OR A STORY IN GREEK ABOUT .........................................................................
(e.g. The Locrians, The Sun and the Frogs, The Plough.)
1|Page
A. MORPHOLOGY Spend about 10 minutes on this section.
Read the questions carefully and follow the instructions. 
Write your answers to questions 1 and 2 in the spaces provided here. 


Change these plural words into the singular, keeping to the same case.
The first one has been done for you as an example.
PLURAL
SINGULAR
δουλους
δουλον
οἱ
ἀνθρωποι
χωραις
δωρα
τιμων
TOTAL 5 MARKS
2. Change these singular verbs into the plural, keeping to the same person and
tense, and then write down the tense of the verb.
The first one has been done for you as an example.
SINGULAR
ἐλυσας
PLURAL
ἐλυσατε
TENSE
weak aorist
ἐλυες
ἀπεβαλον
ἐδιδαξε(ν)
διδαξεις
εἰσπιπτω
TOTAL 10 MARKS
2|Page
B. SENTENCES
Spend about 20 minutes on this section.
3. Translate the sentences into good English, paying particular attention to
singulars and plurals, and the tenses of the verbs.
 Write your answers to question 3 in the spaces provided here. 

a) ὁ στρατηγος ἐκ του στρατοπεδου προς τον ποταμον βαινει.
...............................................................................................................
b) διωκετε τον κακον δουλον, ὦ φιλοι.
...............................................................................................................
c) την της θεας σοφιαν ἀει ἐθαυμασαν.
...............................................................................................................
d) τῷ του ἀνθρωπου ἱππῷ οὐ πιστευσω.
...............................................................................................................
e) ὁ ἀγγελος σοφους λογους σοφως ἐλεγεν.
...............................................................................................................
TOTAL 20 MARKS
3|Page
C. GRAMMAR AND TRANSLATION Spend about 40 minutes on this section.
Read the passage and look carefully at the vocabulary.
4. Fill in the table as directed here.
From the passage, give the line number and write down an example of:
line number
example in Greek
an imperfect tense verb
a weak aorist verb
a present tense verb
a strong aorist verb
a future tense verb
an infinitive which takes the
accusative case
a genitive sandwich
an adjective
an adverb
a preposition which takes the
dative case
– write out all the words in
the phrase, not just the
preposition
TOTAL 10 MARKS
5. Translate the passage into good English in the space provided here.
Start each sentence on a new line.
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
4|Page
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
TOTAL 30 MARKS
5|Page
E. LITERATURE
Spend about 20 minutes on this section.
a) Read the whole passage first and then, in no more than ten words, give it a
catchy headline title to explain what it is about.
(2)
...............................................................................................................................
b) Lines 1-9: How would you summarise the motives of the treasure-house
builder in building the treasury in this way? Make two different points and
quote from the passage to explain your answer.
(4)
(i)............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................
(ii)...........................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
c) What surprises the king, and what steps does he take to remedy the
situation? (2)
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................
d) Explain in your own words the novel solution to the problem devised by the
brothers. (2)
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
6|Page
e) How did the surviving brother rescue the corpse?
(3)
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
f) What impression of Egyptians do you think Herodotus was trying to give?
Make three different points and explain your answer by referring to the text.
(6)
(i)............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
(ii)...........................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
(iii)..........................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
7|Page
g) Does Herodotus write interesting and plausible stories? Make three
different points and support your answer by referring to the text.
(6)
(i)............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
(ii)...........................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
(iii)..........................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
TOTAL 25 MARKS
END OF EXAMINATION
CHECK YOUR WORK CAREFULLY.
8|Page
THE KING’S SCHOOL, CANTERBURY
SCHOLARSHIP ENTRANCE EXAMINATION
February 2013
GREEK
1 hour 30 minutes
Attempt all the questions on the paper as instructed.
You will answer some questions on the exam paper and some questions on file paper.
Write your name and the question number clearly on each sheet of paper.
You may not have met all the vocabulary or constructions but you will be given credit for
making a sensible guess.
There are 75 marks for language work and 25 marks for comprehension and your personal
critical response to literature.
Spend about seventy minutes on the Greek language section and about twenty minutes
on the Greek literature passages.
1|Page
First of all spend a couple of minutes writing down IN CAPITAL LETTERS
* Your full name and your school and your teacher’s name
* The book you use at school, how long you have been studying Greek, and the most
recent work you have done in Greek language/grammar and English background stories.
My name is .................................................... and my teacher is……………………………………..............
I go to …………………………………………………………………….............................................. School.
The text book I use is called ..............................................................................................................................
I’ve been studying Greek for .............. terms in .............. lessons of .................. minutes a week.
The last thing I did was ......................................................................................................................................
(Write down the number of the chapter, if you can remember it.)
or an exercise on ...................................................................................................................................................
(Say what grammar point you have covered most recently – e.g. the imperfect tense/ third
declension nouns like ‘giant’ and ‘guard’.)
or a story about .....................................................................................................................................................
(e.g. Odysseus and the Cyclops)
2|Page
A. GRAMMAR
Read the questions carefully and follow the instructions.
Write your answers to questions 1 and 2 in the spaces provided.
1. Change these plural words into the singular, keeping to the same case.
The first one has been done for you as an example.
plural
singular
δουλους
δουλον
τα
κωμαις
γιγαντες
βιων
δενδροις
Total = 5 marks
3|Page
2. Change these singular verbs into the plural, keeping to the same person and
tense, and then say what tense it is.
The first one has been done for you as an example.
singular verb
ἐλυσας
plural verb
ἐλυσατε
tense
weak aorist
ἐθελω
ἐλαμβανεις
εἶδε
ἐστι
ἐδιωξα
Total = 10 marks
4|Page
3. Translate the following sentences into good English, paying particular
attention to singulars and plurals and the tenses of the verbs.
Answer in the spaces provided.
a) ἐκέλευσα τὸν δοῦλον δεῖπνον παρέχειν.
___________________________________________________________________________
b) φέρω τὰ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ ὅπλα ἀπο τοῦ στρατοπέδου.
___________________________________________________________________________
c) τὰ ζῷά ἐστιν ἐχθρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις.
___________________________________________________________________________
d) ἄρα εἶδες τὸν ἔμον ἵππον;
___________________________________________________________________________
e) ὁ ἀνθρώπος διὰ τῆς πύλης ἤλθεν.
___________________________________________________________________________
Total = 20 marks
5|Page
4. Translate this passage into good English on a piece of file paper.
Write your translation ON ALTERNATE LINES.
Remember to write YOUR NAME clearly on the file paper.
Daedalus plans a novel way of escaping from Crete,
and warns his son Icarus about the dangers of their journey.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
ὁ δὲ Δαίδαλος τέκτων ἦν. ἐν δὲ τῇ Κρήτῃ πολύν χρόνον ἔμενεν.
ἀλλὰ ὁ Δαίδαλος καὶ ὁ υἱὸς, Ἴκαρος ὀνόματι, νῦν ἠθέλησαν φεύγειν,
διότι οὐκ ἐλεύθεροι ἦσαν. ὁ γὰρ Μίνως, ὁ τῆς νήσου βασιλεύς,
ἠνάγκασεν αὐτοὺς μένειν.
ὁ οὖν Δαίδαλος ἔφη· "ὁ Μίνως τῆς μέν γῆς καὶ τῆς θαλάσσης ἄρχει·
τοῦ δὲ οὐρανοῦ οὐκ ἄρχει.”
ἕπειτα δὲ ὁ Δαίδαλος νέαν τέχνην ηὗρεν.
πτερὰ γὰρ ἐποίησε, κηρῶ συναφθέντα.
ὁ δὲ Ἴκαρος ἐθαύμασε τὰ πτερά, τὸν
10 κίνδυνον οὐ γιγνώσκων.
11
12
13
13
14
15
16
ὁ οὖν Δαίδαλος ἔφη·
"νῦν οἷοι τ'ἐσμεν ὥσπερ ὄρνιθες πέτεσθαι,
ἀλλὰ ἡ ὁδὸς χαλεπὴ ἔστιν. δεῖ σε πιστεύειν
τῷ πατρί. πολλοὶ γὰρ κίνδυνοι εἰσιν. τὸ μὲν
πῦρ τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου καίει, ἐν δὲ τῇ θαλάσσῃ
θάνατος δεινότερος ἐστιν. ἐγὼ ἄξω σε, καὶ
δεῖ σε ἕπεσθαί μοι."
Daedalus and Icarus prepare to escape
VOCABULARY
τέκτων, -ονος, ὁ
Ἴκαρος ὀνόματι
Μίνως –ω, ὁ
ἀναγκάζω, ἠνάγκασα
ἔφη
ἄρχει + genitive case
οὐρανός -οῦ, ὁ
τέχνη -ης, ἡ
πτερόν -οῦ, τό
6|Page
craftsman
called Icarus
Minos (king of the island of Crete)
I force, compel
he said
I rule
sky
skill
Work out the meaning of this word from the dinosaur
name, pterodactyl
ἐποίησε
κηρῶ συναφθέντα
γιγνώσκων
ὥσπερ
ὄρνιθες
πέτεσθαι
δεῖ σε + infinitive
τὸ πῦρ
ἤλιος -ου, ὁ
καίω
δεινότερος
ἕπεσθαί + dative
he made
fastened together with wax
This is a present participle.
like, just like
Work out the meaning of this word from the English
word, ornithology, ornithologist
to fly
it is necessary for you to ..., you must ....
Work out the meaning of this word from English words
such as pyrotechnics, pyromaniac
sun
I burn
This a comparative adjective, from δεινός
to follow
Fill in this table on the exam paper.
From the passage, give the line number and write down one example of:
line number example in Greek
1
an imperfect tense verb
2
a weak aorist verb
3
a present tense verb
4
a strong aorist tense verb
5
a future tense verb
6
an infinitive
7
a genitive sandwich
8
an adjective
9
an adverb
10 a preposition which takes the
dative case (Write out all the
words in the phrase, not just
the preposition)
[30 marks for translation of the passage + 10 marks for grammar]
7|Page
Total = 40 marks
B. LITERATURE
Read PASSAGE A and PASSAGE B carefully.
Answer the questions on a FRESH SHEET OF FILE PAPER.
Remember to write YOUR NAME on this fresh sheet.
You may answer in a word, phrase or short sentence. You may also use bullet
points.
Oedipus, the old king of Thebes, had four children – Antigone and Ismene, Eteocles and Polynices.
Creon is the new king of Thebes.
Antigone
Ismene
5
Antigone
Ismene
Antigone
10
15
20
25
30
Ismene
Antigone
Ismene
Antigone
Ismene
Antigone
Ismene
Antigone
Ismene
8|Page
PASSAGE A
Have you heard this order, this latest order which the King has proclaimed
to the city? Have you heard how our nearest and dearest are being treated
like enemies?
I have heard nothing about those we love, neither good nor evil – not, I
mean, since the death of our brothers, both fallen in a day.
I thought you did not. That’s why I brought you out here, where we shan’t
be heard, to tell you something alone.
What is it, Antigone? Black news, I can see already.
O Ismene, what do you think? Our two dear brothers .... Creon has given
funeral honours to one, and not to the other; nothing but shame and
disgrace. Eteocles has been buried in state, with all the honourable
observances due to the dead. But Polynices, just as unhappily fallen – the
order says that he is not to be buried, not to be mourned; to be left unburied,
unwept, a feast of flesh for keen-eyed carrion birds. The noble Creon! It is
against you and me that he has made this order. Yes, against me! And soon
he will be here himself to make it plain to those who have not heard it, and to
enforce it. This is no idle threat – the punishment for disobedience is death
by stoning. So now you know. And now is the time to show whether or not
you are worthy of your high blood.
My poor Antigone, if this is really true, what more can I do, or undo, to help
you?
Will you help me? Will you do something with me? Will you?
Help you to do what, Antigone? What do you mean?
Would you help me lift the body ... you and me?
You cannot mean ... to bury him? Against the order?
Is he not my brother, and yours, whether you like it or not? I shall never
desert him, never.
How could you dare, when Creon has expressly forbidden it?
He has no right to keep me from my own.
O sister, sister, do you forget how our father perished in shame and misery,
his awful sin self-proved, blinded by his own self- mutilation? And then his
35
40
45
mother, his wife – for she was both – destroyed herself in a noose of her own
making. And now our brothers, both in a single day fallen in an awful
exaction of death for death, blood for blood, each slain by the other’s hand.
Now we two are left; and what will be the end of us, if we break the law and
defy our king? O think, Antigone! we are women; it is not for us to fight
against men; our rulers are stronger than we, and we must obey in this, or in
worse than this. May the dead forgive me, I can do no other but as I am
commanded; to do more is madness.
Antigone No; then I will not ask you for your help. Nor would I thank you for it, if you
gave it. Go your own way; I will bury my brother; and if I die for it, what
happiness! Convicted of reverence – I shall be content to lie beside a brother
whom I love. We have only a little time to please the living, but all eternity to
love the dead. Live, if you will, live, and defy the holiest laws of heaven.
Ismene
I do not defy them; but I cannot act against the State. I am not strong enough.
Antigone Let that be your excuse then. I will go and heap a mound of earth over my
brother.
a) Passage A, lines 1-19: What dreadful news does Antigone relay to her sister?
Make THREE points.
(3)
b) What does Antigone plan to do, and what does she want Ismene to do?
(2)
c) Passage A, lines 30-39: Why is Ismene unwilling? Give TWO reasons for her
unwillingness.
(2)
d) Looking at Passage A as a whole, what impression do you get of the
characters of Antigone and Ismene? Make FOUR points and refer to the text
to support your answer.
(8)
TURN OVER FOR PASSAGE B
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Antigone leaves the stage and goes off to bury her brother. After she has performed the funeral rites,
she is captured by soldiers and brought before King Creon to answer for her actions.
PASSAGE B
Creon
Now tell me, did you know the order forbidding such an act?
Antigone I knew it. It was plain enough.
50 Creon
And yet you dared to contravene it?
Antigone Yes! That order did not come from God. Justice, who dwells with the gods
below, knows no such law. I did not think your proclamations strong enough
to overrule the unwritten laws of God and Heaven, you being only a man.
God’s laws are not of yesterday or today, but everlasting, though where they
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came from, none of us can tell. I cannot be guilty of their transgression before
God, no, not for any man on earth. I knew that I should have to die, of course,
with or without your order. If it be soon, so much the better. Living in daily
torment as I do, who would not be glad to die? This punishment will not be
any pain. Only if I had let my mother’s son lie there unburied, then I could
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not have borne it. This I can bear. Does that seem foolish to you? Or is it you
that are foolish to judge me so?
Creon
Ha! ... This girl’s proud spirit was first in evidence when she broke the law;
and now, to add insult to her injury, she gloats over her deed. But, as I live,
she shall not flout my orders with impunity. My sister’s child – were she even
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nearer – nearest and dearest, she should not escape full punishment – she
and her sister too, her partner, doubtless, in this burying.
SOPHOCLES, Antigone
e) Explain in your own words Antigone’s justification in Passage B for breaking
Creon’s law.
(2)
f) Looking at both passages, do you support Creon for enforcing the law, or
Antigone for breaking it?
Explain the reasoning behind your answer carefully.
(4)
g) In no more than ten lines, describe a modern-day situation where you think
you might break the law because of your beliefs.
(4)
Total 25 marks
END OF EXAMINATION
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