Sophocles (496-406 B.C.E.) was one of classical Greece's three greatest playwrights.
He was a friend of Pericles and Herodotus and served in political and military roles in Athens.
In 468 B.C.E., Sophocles gained fame by winning a tragic drama prize, defeating Aeschylus.
Out of over 100 plays he wrote, only seven complete plays survive, including:
Antigone
Oedipus Rex
Oedipus at Colonus
Electra
Philoctetes
Trachinian Women
Sophocles innovated Greek drama by:
Adding a third actor
Reducing the chorus's role
Focusing on character development
Historical Context of Antigone
Antigone was performed around 441 B.C.E.
This was just before Athens' campaign against a revolt in Samos, where Sophocles was a general.
The play explores themes relevant to that era:
Appropriate use of state power
Justifiable rebellion
Citizens' duties to obey laws
Popular tradition suggests that Antigone's popularity led to Sophocles' election as a general.
Related Literary Works and Playwrights
Sophocles' Theban plays (Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus) cover different parts of the same legend with shared characters.
Sophocles' career overlapped with those of other tragic playwrights like Aeschylus and Euripides.
Aeschylus' famous works include:
Seven Against Thebes
Agamemnon
The Libation Bearers
The Eumenides
Euripides' influential plays are:
Medea
Electra
The Bacchae
Key Facts About Antigone
Full Title: Antigone
Date Written: Circa 442 B.C.E.
Location Written: Athens, Greece
Literary Period: Classical
Genre: Tragic drama
Setting: The royal house of Thebes
Climax: The Suicides of Antigone and Haemon
Antagonist: Creon
Antigone During World War II
Jean Anouilh's 1944 version in Nazi-occupied Paris:
Antigone represented French Resistance fighters.
Creon symbolized the occupying forces.
Bertolt Brecht's 1948 German version:
More explicit references to the Nazis.
The play opens in a Berlin air-raid shelter.
Plot Summary of Brecht's Version
The invading army of Argos has been driven from Thebes.
Oedipus's sons, Eteocles and Polynices, died fighting on opposing sides.
Creon, their uncle, becomes king and decrees:
Polynices, who fought against Thebes, will not receive burial rites.
His body will be left to rot as a warning to traitors.
Anyone attempting to bury Polynices will be put to death.
Antigone and Ismene grieve for their brothers, but Antigone is defiant.
Antigone believes burial traditions are unwritten laws of the gods, superior to any human decree.
She vows to bury Polynices properly.
Ismene pleads with Antigone not to defy the city's laws, fearing further tragedy.
Antigone refuses to yield.
Antigone is caught performing funeral rites for Polynices.
Creon is furious; Antigone is brought before him.
She declares she won't break divine laws for Creon's unjust law.
Creon orders her death for disobeying the city's laws.
Ismene begs Creon to spare Antigone's life.
Antigone is engaged to Creon's son, Haemon, and they are in love.
Creon remains committed to the rule of law, unyielding.
Haemon asks Creon to reconsider; Theban citizens sympathize with Antigone but fear Creon.
Creon grows angry at his son's advice.
Haemon argues he's trying to prevent injustice.
Creon accuses Haemon of siding with a traitorous woman over his father.
Haemon warns that Antigone's death will lead to another death and leaves, vowing Creon will never see him again.
Antigone laments her impending death and what she's losing by defying Creon's law.
Guards lead her to be sealed alive in a tomb.
Tiresias, the blind prophet, warns Creon against killing Antigone and leaving Polynices unburied.
Creon accuses Tiresias of false prophecy and bribery.
Tiresias warns that the gods will take Creon's child as punishment for Antigone's death.
Creon, shaken, eventually relents and rushes to free Antigone.
A messenger arrives, announcing Haemon's suicide.
Eurydice, Haemon's mother, asks for details.
The messenger reports that Haemon found Antigone hanged; Haemon then lunged at Creon with his sword and killed himself.
Eurydice leaves silently.
Creon returns, grieving and carrying Haemon's body, blaming himself.
The messenger announces Eurydice's suicide, cursing Creon for their son's murder.
Creon is left a broken man.
Major Characters in Antigone
Antigone:
Daughter/half-sister of Oedipus, sister of Ismene, niece of Creon, fiancée of Haemon.
Defies Creon's decree against burying her brother Polynices, believing in a higher divine law.
Bold, resolute, willing to die for her beliefs.
Ismene:
Sister of Antigone.
Initially pleads with Antigone not to defy the law.
Later tries to share the guilt and asks Creon for mercy.
Creon:
Brother-in-law of Oedipus.
King after Oedipus's sons die.
Believes in state authority and the rule of law above all else; sees bending the rules as leading to anarchy.
His inflexibility leads to the deaths of Antigone, Haemon, and Eurydice.
Tiresias:
Blind prophet/seer.
Warns Creon against his decisions regarding Antigone and Polynices.
Prophesies Creon will be punished by the gods with the death of his child.
The Chorus:
Represents elder citizens of Thebes.
Reacts to the play's events, offering interpretations and advice.
Minor Characters in Antigone
Haemon:
Son of Creon, fiancé of Antigone.
Advises his father to be compassionate and heed the people's will.
Kills himself after finding Antigone dead.
Eurydice:
Wife of Creon, mother of Haemon.
Blames Creon for Haemon's suicide and kills herself, cursing Creon.
A Sentry:
Reports Polynices's illegal burial and catches Antigone.
A Messenger:
Narrates the suicides of Antigone, Haemon, and Eurydice.
Themes in Antigone
Blindness vs. Sight:
Tiresias warns Creon, but Creon is too proud and stubborn to listen, demonstrating a lack of insight.
Creon's eventual realization comes too late.
Natural Law:
Antigone appeals to natural law (divine or moral standards) over man-made laws.
She prioritizes the gods' commands and family duty over the city's laws.
The play suggests state laws shouldn't contradict natural laws.
Citizenship vs. Family Loyalty:
The play explores conflicting loyalties to the state versus family, a significant debate in 5th-century Athens.
Creon prioritizes the state, viewing Polynices as a traitor who forfeited his rights.
Antigone prioritizes family and divine law over civic duty.
Civil Disobedience:
Creon believes laws must be obeyed, regardless of their perceived justice.
Antigone believes in disobeying unjust laws based on moral grounds and divine customs.
Her burial of Polynices exemplifies civil disobedience.
Fate vs. Free Will:
The Greeks believed in prophecy and oracles.
Oedipus fulfilled a prophecy despite attempts to avoid it.
Tiresias offers Creon a warning and a chance to redeem himself, implying Creon has free will but chooses to remain stubborn.
Symbols in Antigone
Antigone's Tomb:
Creon's decision to seal Antigone alive in a tomb symbolizes his perversion of the natural order.
He leaves a dead body unburied while entombing a live person, violating social, religious, and natural laws.
Quotes and Analysis
Antigone (Lines 88-90): "I have longer to please the dead than please the living here: in the kingdom down below I 'll lie forever."
Theme: Morality, Afterlife, Duty to the Gods
Analysis: Death is eternal while life is temporary.
Antigone (Lines 112-113): "I will suffer nothing as great as death without glory."
Theme: Courage, Honor
Analysis: Antigone's willingness to die reflects Ancient Greek's beliefs in the importance of honor.
The Chorus (Lines 396-405): "And speech and thought, quick as the wind and the mood and mind for law that rules the city— all these he has taught himself and shelter from the arrows of the frost when there's rough lodging under the cold clear sky and the shafts of lashing rain— ready, resourceful man! Never without resources never an impasse as he marches on the future— only Death, from Death alone he will find no rescue but from desperate plagues ha has plotted his escapes."
Theme: Power, Mortality
Analysis: It is the limits of humanity's power when facing death, Antigone accepts death.
The Chorus (Lines 525-527): "Like father like daughter, passionate, wild… she hasn't learned to bend before adversity."
Theme: Inherited Traits, Fate
Analysis: Antigone's strong will and tragic fate are linked to her father, Oedipus."
The Chorus (Lines 656-666): "Blest, they are truly blest who all their lives have never tasted devastation. For others, once the gods have rocked a house to its foundations the ruin will never cease, cresting on and on from one generation on throughout the race— like a great mounting tide driven on by savage northern gales, surging over the dead black depths roiling up from the bottom dark heaves of sand and the headlands, taking the storm's onslaught full-force, roar, and the low moaning echoes on and on"
Theme: Suffering, Divine Power
Analysis: The suffering of Oedipus's family is continuous and a demonstration of the power of gods.
Creon ( Lines 728-730): "Spit her out, like a mortal enemy—let the girl go. Let her find a husband down among the dead."
Theme: Power, Mortality, View of love
Analysis: Cruel statement that conveys Creon's dismissive attitude toward Antigone's claims about power of death and the afterlife.
Creon (Lines 751-752): "Anarchy!— show me a greater crime in all the earth!"
Theme: Order vs. Chaos
Analysis: This demonstrates Creon's belief that strict order must be followed in order to main fairness and justice.
Haemon (Lines 791-794): "Whoever thinks that he alone possesses intelligence, the gift of eloquence, he and no one else, and character too…such men, I tell you, spread them open—you will find them empty."
Theme: Wisdom, Humility
Analysis: Haemon warns against hubris.
Creon (Line 823): "Am I to rule this land for others—or myself?"
Theme: Leadership, Tyranny
Analysis: It is an example of Creon's selfishness and disregard for democracy.
Haemon (Line 826): "What a splendid king you'd make of a desert island—you and you alone."
Theme: Isolation, Criticism of Tyranny
Analysis: It is a sardonic comment that criticizes Creon for his selfish and tyrannical rule.
The Chorus (Line 894): "Love, you mock us for your sport."
Theme: Power of Love
Analysis: This reminds of the audience that people, even while they may be convinced and obsessed by their own power, are in fact controlled by larger forces such as death, the gods, and in this case, love.
Antigone (Line 908): "I go to wed the lord of the dark waters."
Theme: Death, Fate
Analysis: She will be marrying Hades.
The Chorus (Lines 943-946): "You went too far, the last limits of daring— smashing against the high throne of Justice! Your life's in ruins, child—I wonder… do you pay for your father's terrible ordeal?"
Theme: Justice, Family Curse
Analysis: Her suffering is due of being a family curse.
Creon (Lines 970-971): "If a man could wail his own dirge before he dies, he'd never finish."
Theme: Lack of Sympathy
Analysis: Creon has absolute lack of sympathy for Antigone.
Antigone (Lines 1019-1021): "But if these men are wrong, let them suffer nothing worse than they mete out to me— these masters of injustice!"
Theme: A Plea for Justice
Symbol : Masters of injustice
Analysis: Strong sense of fairness, while still feeling confident that she is no the side of justice.
The Chorus (Lines 1022-1023): "Still the same rough winds, the wild passion raging through the girl."
Theme: The Chorus
Symbol: The Wild, Wild Passion
Analysis: Free spirit.
Tiresias (Lines 1099-1100): "Then reflect, my son: you are poised, once more, on the razor-edge of fate."
Theme: Pivotal Point
Analysis: Creon is at a pivotal juncture.
Tiresias (Lines 1206-1209): "These arrows for your heart! Since you've raked me I loose them like an archer in my anger, arrows deadly true. You'll never escape their burning, searing force."
Theme: Fate vs. Free Will
Analysis: Creon has sealed his own terrible, tragic fate.
Creon (Lines 1445-1446): "Take me away, quickly, out of sight. I don't even exist—I 'm no one. Nothing."
Theme: Suffering
Analysis: At this point, Creon is mad with grief and longs to die, and in this passage asks to be taken away, saying that he is nothing."
The Chorus (Lines 1468-1470): "The mighty words of the proud are paid in full with mighty blows of fate, and at long last those blows will teach us wisdom."
Theme: The Moral
Analysis: Creon was consumed by hubris - a too-great confidence in his own knowledge and power – and because of this was punished in order to restore the natural order."
Summary and Analysis: Scene Breakdown
Lines 1-416:
Thebes has defeated Argos; Oedipus's sons, Polynices and Eteocles, are dead.
Creon, now king, decrees Eteocles will be honored, but Polynices will be left unburied.
Antigone, outraged, wants to bury Polynices; Ismene is afraid.
Antigone argues for divine law over Creon's law and leaves.
The Chorus praises the gods, and Creon asserts his leadership.
A sentry reports someone has given Polynices burial rites.
Creon accuses the sentry of bribery and threatens him.
The Chorus chants about humanity.
Lines 417-704:
The sentry brings Antigone, who admits burying Polynices.
Antigone says she obeyed the gods, not Creon.
Creon condemns Antigone and Ismene.
Antigone says Theban citizens agree with her.
Ismene tries to share Antigone's guilt, but Antigone refuses.
Creon breaks off Antigone's marriage with Haemon.
The Chorus chants about the fate of Oedipus's house.
Lines 705-1090:
Creon lectures Haemon on obedience.
Haemon says the people sympathize with Antigone and advises Creon to reconsider.
Creon accuses Haemon of disloyalty.
Haemon threatens that Antigone's death will cause another death and leaves.
Creon spares Ismene but decides to entomb Antigone alive.
The Chorus chants about the power of love.
Antigone laments her fate and says she would not have done what she did for a husband or a brother.
Antigone calls out the gods. Creon orders the guards to take Antigone away.
The Chorus chants about mythological figures who were entombed alive.
Lines 1091-1470:
Tiresias warns Creon to bury Polynices and free Antigone.
Creon accuses Tiresias of bribery.
Tiresias prophesies the death of Creon's child.
Creon, shaken, asks the Chorus for advice and rushes to free Antigone.
A messenger arrives, reporting Haemon's suicide.
Eurydice kills herself, cursing Creon.
Creon enters with Haemon's body and blames himself.