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because he found that he had killed his father and married his mother
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- Date and Historical Background
- Characters and Setting
- Summary of Antigone
- A Brief Analysis
- Antigone Sources
Although a case can be made for 438 BC, Antigone is generally believed to have been written and performed in or a little before 441 BC, making it the earliest one of Sophocles’ three Theban plays (which include Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus), though the events it depicts place it last in the chronological order. As many of Sophocles’ productio...
Characters
• Antigone, daughter of Oedipus • Ismene, daughter of Oedipus, sister of Antigone • Creon, king of Thebes • Eurydice, Creon’s wife • Haemon: son of Creon and Euridice, Antigone’s husband-to-be • Teiresias, a blind prophet, guided by a Boy • The Guard, a Theban soldier serving Creon • Messengers • Chorusof Theban Elders
Setting
In front of the royal palace in Thebes.
Prologue
As depicted in Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, on the day before the one during which the entire action of Antigone takes places, Eteoclesand Polynices—Oedipus’ two sons—slay each other in a single fight. Their uncle Creon, the new ruler of Thebes, decrees that Eteocles, who has died defending the city, shall be buried with full honors, while Polynices, the traitor who had gathered the Argive army to conquer Thebes, is to be left for the dogs to devour. In the “Prologue” of the play, Antigon...
Parodos
The Chorus, comprised of fifteen Theban elders, enters the stage. They inform the audience that Creon has summoned them to meet him. While they wait for him, in a celebratory ode, they remind us of the events that have taken place during the previous few days, describing the danger from which the city has been saved and expressing their joy at the famous victory.
First Episode
Creon comes forth and acquaints the Theban elders with the nature and the reasons behind his decree: though both of them princes, Eteocles and Polynices must be treated as differently as one would a patriot and a traitor. The Chorus hesitantly agrees. Just at that moment, a guard (one of the men tasked with watching over Polynices’ body) arrives before Creon and announces that an unknown person has somehow already paid burial rites to Polynices by sprinkling dust on his corpse. Enraged, Creon...
Widely considered one of the greatest of all Ancient Greek tragedies, Antigone raises a number of challenging and thought-provoking questions, the answers of which, over time, seem to have evolved in favor of the tragic grandeur and beauty of the eponymous character.
There are many translations of Antigone available online, both in verse and in prose; if you are a fan of the latter, you can read Richard Claverhouse Jebb’s translation for Cambridge University Press here. If, however, you prefer poetry, feel free to delve into Edward Hayes Plumptre’s blank verse adaptation here. See Also: Sophocles, Antigone, Sev...
Best known are his three Theban plays, Antigone, Oedipus Rex, and Oedipus at Colonus. Sophocles's other complete surviving works are Electra , Philoctetes , and Trachinian Women . He is credited with changing Greek drama by adding a third actor, reducing the role of the chorus, and paying greater attention than playwrights before him to character development.
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Introduction – Who wrote Antigone. “Antigone” is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, written around 442 BCE. Although it was written before Sophocles ’ other two Theban plays, chronologically it comes after the stories in “Oedipus the King” and “Oedipus at Colonus”, and it picks up where Aeschylus ‘ play ...
