Question

Key ideas and Details: Reread lines 1111-1138. What indications do you have that teiresias is truly a prophet? What do you think the signs he has interpreted mean? Annotate any clues that point to his being a true prophet.

Answer 1

In the play Antigone, Teiresias is a blind mind who nevertheless has great insight towards the future. He is a prophet, and he gives us several signs of his power even before he tells us his prophecy.

One of the reasons why we know that he is indeed a prophet is from the interpretations that he makes of signs. The signs tell him that the gods do not approve of Creon's behaviour. He tells us that he has seen the "carrion meat" of birds and dogs, "torn from the flesh of Oedipus' poor son." The gods do not  seem to take the offerings from the Thebans. Moreover, the bird's throats are full with the blood of Polyneices.

All of these signs show that the world is not operating as it should be. We learn that the gods do no approve of Creon's decision to not bury Polyneices. We also learn that the gods believe that Creon has violated the law of the living and the dead. Because of this, Teiresias states, the gods decide that someone from Creon's family will be taken too.