Allusions In Antigone

Aristotle lived in Ancient Greece from 384-322 BCE and created a Theory of Tragedy which stated that a tragedy must have six parts to determine its quality: plot, characters, diction, thought, spectacle, and melody. Aristotle’s Theory of Tragedy is the reason that Greek tragedies lasted around 4-5 hours each. Sophocles was a Greek tragedian and the playwright of the famous tragedy, Antigone, which astounded the audience due to the dominant woman tragic hero of Antigone. He incorporated the Chorus, a group of elders, into this tragedy as all Greek plays did. The Chorus was used to provide wisdom, advice, and morals directly to the characters, and also provide background information to the audience. In Antigone, the Chorus uses the literary device of allusion to introduce a different atmosphere and tone into the play. The allusions referenced by the Chorus provide the
The Chorus states the myth of Lycurgus as this: “the hot-tempered son of Dryas, the Edonian king, / in fury mocked Dionysus, / who then held him in restraint” (Sophocles 1012-1015). The Chorus refers to a version of the myth in which Lycurgus, son of Dryas, is imprisoned for provoking Dionysus, and is kept in prison until he is sane. As Greek myths tend to have many different versions of the same stories, there is another version that states that Lycurgus is imprisoned for killing his son after being provoked by Dionysus. This story is more connected to the previous allusion of Danae’s myth; Dionysus imprisoned both Lycurgus and Danae for opposing him. This evokes sympathy because the two characters (depending on the version of the story that is read) were innocent yet imprisoned anyway. The allusion towards Lycurgus’s imprisonment is similar to Danae’s imprisonment and results in sympathy and pity for