about the play

This page has notes about the history and themes of the text.

The original version of Antigone was written by Sophocles in 442 B.C.E

View the entire text of the play from the MIT website.

Antigone is a play about duty and conscience. Could you lay down your life for an idea? Is there anything you believe in to that extent? To what do you owe the greatest obligation, your country or your family.

Can you imagine any situation that might force you to choose one over the other?

If it is an easy decision then think about it from the other perspective.

As with a number of tragedies it is the pride and lack of compromise that drives the characters in Antigone to their doom.

Is there always room for compromise in your life?

On what issues would you never compromise your feelings or thoughts?

Do you think this is an attractive or challenging part of your personality?

Does it make you more likeable?

Do close friends know what your driving principles are?

Or doyou keep them well hidden from view?

In the play itself Antigone becomes a "Bride of Death" (or "Bride of Hades"). To understand the importance of this metaphor, you might benefit from reading the Hymn to Demeter, which tells the story of Demeter and Persephone. Strangely, the maternal imagery continues with Antigone as well, as she tries to compare herself with Niobe (915).

After reading about Niobe, consider what Antigone does and does not share with that mythical figure..

The Plot: from http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/antigone.htm
King Creon decrees that Polynices the traitor is not to be buried, but his sister Antigone defies the order. She is caught, and sentenced by Creon to be buried alive - even though she is betrothed to his son Haemon. After the blind prophet Tiresias proves that the gods are on Antigone's side, Creon changes his mind - but too late. He goes first to bury Polynices, but Antigone has already hanged herself.

When Creon arrives at the tomb, Haemon attacks him and then kills himself. When the news of their death is reported, Creon's wife Eurydice takes her own life. Creon is alone.

The play opens in semi-darkness (the sun has not yet risen). Last night the sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polyneices killed each other - one defending, one leading the attack on the city of Thebes. Their sisters Antigone and Ismene are discovered oustside the palace, where Antigone tells Ismene the news that only Eteocles is to be buried properly. Polyneices is to be left out on the battlefield as food for the crows and dogs. Their uncle Creon (new ruler since the death of Eteocles) has decreed that anyone caught burying him will be put to death. Antigone says she will bury him anyway - Ismene refuses to help her sister, because she feels that it's not fitting for a girl to defy authority.

In the original play Antigone's character would have been portraid by a male actor wearing a simple mask and in a simple costume. There are no instructions to help the modern director howto cast the part. How would you have cast the part? Is Antigone a rebel/anarchist? Should she be dressed to reflect this? Ismene reflects how Greek girl should traditionally be. She supports authority and order. She believes men are stronger Quote: "Weak women such as we cannot strive with men; rather were it seemly to bow to those that are stronger than ourselves." Should she be dressed as a conformist? With a uniform? As a housewife? She is silent and never speaks out against authority. Does she have any beliefs of her own? She should be as Pericles' blueprint for the ideal Athenian woman (in Thucydides 2. 46): "the greatest glory for a woman is not to be discussed by men at all - whether they are criticising her or admiring her." Antigone is a rebel. Ismene is 'normal'. Haemon is much the same as Ismene, a the perfect Greek young man obsessed with his duty to family and state.

Is what Antigone does stupid? Could she have made a compromise or found another way?

Who was Sophocles? Born around 496 and died in 406 BC. Although we know he live to the ripe old age of 90 he may have died by choking on an unripe grape, or maybe while reading Antigone aloud when his voice froze in mid-sentence and he dropped dead? He wrote 123 plays, the majority of which won dramatic competitions.Quote "he always took life as it came."Aristophanes. General, priest and author!

Brothers buried:See the BBC News Story
Saddam Hussein's sons were buried on 2nd August 2003. A few members of their tribal group attended along side a few Saddam Hussein loyalists, despite a high level of security by American forces. Do the events in Antigone partially reflect those in the Iraqi conflict? Who/where is the tyrant in Iraq? If the future holds a civil war with Hussein loyalists locked in conflict with the army of a new American backed government, what significance will the deaths and burial of Saddam's sons have. Will their burial place become a shrine to some? How might events have unfolded if they had been captured or if they had been killed and their bodies remained unidentified (the fate intended by Creon for Polynices)? Parading the dead: