Antigone

Sophocles

Background Info.• The “seven against Thebes”:

– mythical war between Eteocles and Polynices – both were given rule of Thebes after E. ruled would not

let P. rule-banished him– P. came back later battled each other and both died

• 4 children of Oed. : Polynices, Eteocles, Antigone, Ismene

• “haemon” means “blood” in Greek: – name of Antigone’s husband, – theme of blood relative, – Creon’s belief that personal be submerged under the

state-leads to blood

Prologue• Antigone, Ismene• Reveals

– death of both brothers– Both daughter’s sadness concerning father– Antigone’s plot to bury Polynices– Ismene’s rational thought and A. stubborn

righteousness– Ismene makes it known that she will not join

A. in her disobedienceFocus: How has Sophocles characterized each of

these sisters as foils? To what purpose?

Parados

• Invocation to Zeus

• Explanation of the “Seven at Thebes”

• Explains that Creon is now in power due to Oed. fate

Episode 1• Creon, Senator, Sentinel• C. explains that he now takes power ever since the

“mutual fratricide”(8)• Discover C. ruling policy and how much respect he has

for the land and it’s citizens• Explains his decree that Polynices should not be buried

due to his banishment by Eteocles, and P. subsequent dishonoring of the land

• Senator agrees with C.• Sentinel makes C. aware that someone ahs buried P. And

that he was made to come and tell the bad news • C. reacts in anger when Senator says it is supernatural:

“Truce to your speech, before I choke with rage…”(11)• C. states that offender must be put to death

Stasium 1

• Chorus explain that C. is “Wrestling his country’s laws to his own will” (15)

• Chorus laments A.’s fate and makes the audience aware that she has been captured

Episode 2: Sentinel, Creon, Antigone, Ismene, Senator• Sentinel explains how they caught A. after a hurricane,

“shrieking” as she sees the body uncovered• A. stands stubborn and “den[ies] it not”(17)• A. retorts that it was not Zeus’s decree, only C. and the state,

and therefore she feels justified by the “…unwritten code of Heaven”(19)

• C. asks her if she felt the same honor for her other dead bro. who was slain by P.

• A. states that all are honorable in the underworld as it should be, “…The dead clay makes no protest” (20)

• C. is angered at woman trying to disobey him and orders her death: “…if you must love, [love] the dead! No woman…shall order me” (20)

• Focus: conflict behind burial, “blood” and “state”• I. implicates herself; A. angry; both are taken by C.

Stasium 2

• Chorus laments that before the war, all was peaceful

• Explains that A. is like Oed. with her “wild words” (23)

• Laments the fact that Haemon, A. husband, must see his wife perish

Response Questions• 1. Defend Antigone’s argument for her brothers

burial. Do you believe she is justified?• 2. Explain Ismene’s reaction to Antigone. Do you

believe that she had reason to react this way?• 3. How does Creon’s initial response remind you of

Oed.?• 4. How does Antigone defend her position to

Creon? Was she justified?• 5. How does Creon respond? What does he call to to

justify his reasoning?• 6. Did anything surprise you about Ismene’s

insistence upon being implicated with Antigone? Why do you believe she does this?

Episode 3• Creon, Haemon, Sen., Antigone• C. asks son if he is “disposed –In everything to back [his]

father’s quarrel” (25)• C. tells H. never to “fling away [his] wits” for liking of a

woman (25)• C. calls to anarchy as the cause for A. death; no woman

can worsen me• Town feels for A.; H. warns his father to see both sides

—”Let thy wrath go!”(27)• Argue over how to rule land: begin to fight using the

stereotype of a “woman” as weak and powerless• Out of anger, C. wishes H. to watch A. die• H. leaves angry; A. banished to a cave: buried alive

Stasium 3• Antigone speaking in lyrical poetics to the

chorus and lamenting her fate

• Chorus answers that she is praised for her valor

• Discussion of being buried alive

• Chor. states that she is bound by fate: “The cause is some ancestral load, which thou art bearing” (32).

Episode 4-end• A. argues w/ C. about the right to bury her bro.

imploring, “…what celestial right/ Did I transgress?” (34)—monologue speaking to her dead brother

• A. believes that Heaven and the gods are on her side• Tiresias (“sees”) and reveals to C. that gods are

angered due to his dishonoring of Poly.—will not accept sacrifices; C. needs to know “…that to err from the right path is common to mankind”, but he must not stand “obstinate”(38)

• C. angered and calls T. prophecies false: T. reveals that H. will die

• Senator convinces him to set A. free—they go to do so

Cont. • Mess. Tells Eurydice about H. going to see A. ,

and finding her hanging, kills himself• Eurydice leaves before he finishes his speech• Mess. hopes that she will not cry in public, but

“…to her handmaids in the house…for a private pain”(46)

• C. laments his mistake! (48); asks to be banished—Eurydice has killed herself

• Chorus’ last words and main theme: wisdom and reverence to gods is primary