Antigone - Greek Playwright Sophocle
Emmanuel Roberts
English 112
Spring 2010
Research Paper
Antigone
Introduction Greek playwright Sophocles wrote the last play in the Theban Trilogy, Antigone, around 442n B.C. The Theban Trilogy consists of Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the king); Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone, but the play considered the last of the three was, ironically, written first. Only seven of Sophocles’ one hundred twenty three tragedies have survived to the modern era with the trilogy surviving the ages intact. These three plays are perhaps the most famous of the seven, with Antigone performed most often. Antigone tells the story of the title character, daughter of Oedipus (the former king Theban who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, and who renounced his kingdom upon discovering his action) and her fight to bury her brother Polyneices against the edict of her uncle, Creon, the new king of Thebes. It is a story that pits the law of the gods “unwritten law” against the law of humankind, family ties against civic duty, and man against women. Many playwrights in Ancient Greece used mythological stories to comment on social and political concern of their time. This is what Sophocles may have intended when he wrote Antigone. Based on the legends of Oedipus, Sophocles may have been trying to send a message to the Athenian General, Pericles, about the danger of authoritarian rule
Antigone as a Tragic Hero In Sophocles’ Antigone, the question of who the tragic hero actually is has been the subject of a debate for years. It is unlikely for there to be two tragic characters in a Greek tragedy, and there can be only one in the play Antigone. The king Creon possesses some of the qualities that constitutes tragic character, but does not have all of the necessary traits. Antigone, however, contains all of the aspects that are required for her to be the main character. According to Aristotle’s Poetics there are four major traits, which are required of the tragic
English 112
Spring 2010
Research Paper
Antigone
Introduction Greek playwright Sophocles wrote the last play in the Theban Trilogy, Antigone, around 442n B.C. The Theban Trilogy consists of Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the king); Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone, but the play considered the last of the three was, ironically, written first. Only seven of Sophocles’ one hundred twenty three tragedies have survived to the modern era with the trilogy surviving the ages intact. These three plays are perhaps the most famous of the seven, with Antigone performed most often. Antigone tells the story of the title character, daughter of Oedipus (the former king Theban who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, and who renounced his kingdom upon discovering his action) and her fight to bury her brother Polyneices against the edict of her uncle, Creon, the new king of Thebes. It is a story that pits the law of the gods “unwritten law” against the law of humankind, family ties against civic duty, and man against women. Many playwrights in Ancient Greece used mythological stories to comment on social and political concern of their time. This is what Sophocles may have intended when he wrote Antigone. Based on the legends of Oedipus, Sophocles may have been trying to send a message to the Athenian General, Pericles, about the danger of authoritarian rule
Antigone as a Tragic Hero In Sophocles’ Antigone, the question of who the tragic hero actually is has been the subject of a debate for years. It is unlikely for there to be two tragic characters in a Greek tragedy, and there can be only one in the play Antigone. The king Creon possesses some of the qualities that constitutes tragic character, but does not have all of the necessary traits. Antigone, however, contains all of the aspects that are required for her to be the main character. According to Aristotle’s Poetics there are four major traits, which are required of the tragic
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