Antigone Unit 6

Make cheat cards!

Antigone. Look at me. Did you bury the body?

Yes, I did. I buried my brother.

Did you know the law?

I knew. Of course, I knew. Everyone knew.

And you deliberately chose to break the law?

It wasn’t a real law, just something you said. God didn’t make it. Only you did, & unjust men make unjust laws. Why should I do what is wrong? Because you say so? Your law is nothing, if it goes against God. What are you anyway? Just a man like any other. There are other laws, you know, that don’t change from week to week, or king to king. Laws that no man made, & none should break. They have no beginning & no end. These are the laws I follow & no man can make me break them.

Do you understand the penalty?

I know I will die, of course I’ll die. So what if you make me die a little sooner? You think death is a threat? Everyone I love is dead, & I burn all the time. Why should I be scared to die? No, what scared me was seeing my brother rot naked in the sun. I saw him. The dogs pulled the skin off his stomach. Of course, I buried him. You think I’m a fool for doing it, fine. Maybe that’s the opinion of a fool.

She dies.

Is there something more you want besides killing me?

Nothing.

What are you waiting for then? Hoping I’ll melt & beg forgiveness? I won’t. I don’t even know how.

We don’t speak the same language, Uncle. I see your lips move, but I don’t know what the sounds mean. And I can’t even breathe without disgusting you. It’s true, it’s always been true. You wince every time you lay eyes on me. You hate me, because you know your precious son loves me. How can he love me? I don’t know. I see what you see: I’m a freak, a monster. I’m too big, too sharp, too clumsy, too spiky, too gnarled. I’m a running sore.

But you know what? Burying my brother was good, & the whole city knows it.

You’re whistling in the dark, Antigone.

No. The city’s on my side.

You should be ashamed to stand against your own people.

How can I be ashamed of loving my brother?

Wasn’t he your brother too?

I loved them both.

Or doesn’t that matter to you?

They were my brothers, & they’re dead. It doesn’t matter how they died.

There’s a difference.

Maybe not, where the dead live.

Dead or alive, my enemy is still my enemy.

Do I scare you, Uncle? Because I’m starting to think I scare you. Me scare you. Look at me, everyone. How big am I? How tall? How scary? Hah! Go ahead, lock me up, wall me in, kill me if you’re going to. But guess what? The damage is already done. I buried my brother, & the word’s already out.

And you know the thing about words, don’t you, Uncle? How they move like pollen through the city. If the door is shut, they come in through the window, & if the window’s shut, they find a crack in the wall. Light places & dark places, hard places & easy places, it’s all the same to them, & there’s no law on Earth that can keep them out.

And for what? To bury a murderer—

Polyneices was my brother. I loved him, & I buried him. It’s not so hard to understand.

I did it. Yes. Ask my sister if I did.

Liar. I begged for help & she refused me. This has nothing to do with you.

Let me share your punishment, little one.

No. Polyneices knows who loves him, & who just talked.

You can’t face death alone.

I’m not alone. Listen. The whole family’s cheering me on from the dead land.

Little sister, my only one, I can’t bear to lose you.

You’ll bear it.

How? How?

Close your eyes. Think of the sun between your shoulder blades pouring heat like butter down your back. And the birds singing after three days of rain. And walking out barefoot at midnight to see the old moon cradled in the arms of the new…

Yes, & even at midnight, how the heat of the road rises through the soles of my feet.

You see? You choose life. You’ll always choose life, but I, I choose death. My bags are packed, & I’m on the road.

Turn back, little one. Stay with me.

Too late for turning. Polyneices is meeting me soon. He’ll take my hand, & we’ll walk together into the Earth until we come to a river that blazes with fire but doesn’t burn. Eteocles is waitng on the ferry, & on the far bank, Daddy is waving & Mama is calling us home.

Don’t speak of her. She doesn’t exist.

(Quietly) She doesn’t exist…