Antigone Outline
SOPHOCLES (496-406 B.C.)
Antigone
I. Introduction
Antigone is a Greek dramatic play tragedy by Sophocles. Sophocles was born into a wealthy family (his father was an amour manufacturer) and was highly educated. Sophocles' first artistic triumph was in 468 BC, when he took first prize in the Dionysian theatre competition over the reigning master of Athenian drama, Aeschylus. Sophocles wrote the three Theban plays, a collection that has survived for centuries, and for good reason. One of these plays was Antigone. It follows the struggle of a young woman, Antigone who disobeyed the law of King Creon (who is also her uncle) that no one should bury Polyneices (Antigone’s brother) who Creon believes was a traitor.
II. Author
Sophocles, the son of Sophilus, was a wealthy member of the rural deme (small community) of Colonus Hippius in Attica, which was to become a setting for one of his plays, and he was probably born there. He was born a few years before the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC: the exact year is unclear, although 497/6 is the most likely. Sophocles was born into a wealthy family (his father was an amour manufacturer) and was highly …show more content…
educated. Sophocles' first artistic triumph was in 468 BC, when he took first prize in the Dionysia theatre competition over the reigning master of Athenian drama, Aeschylus. According to Plutarch, the victory came under unusual circumstances. Instead of following the usual custom of choosing judges by lot, the archon asked Cimon and the other strategoi present to decide the victor of the contest. Plutarch further contends that following this loss Aeschylus soon left for Sicily. Although Plutarch says that this was Sophocles' first production, it is now thought that his first production was probably in 470 BC. Triptolemus was probably one of the plays that Sophocles presented at this festival.
In 480 BC Sophocles was chosen to lead the paean (a choral chant to a god), celebrating the Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Salamis.
Early in his career, the politician Cimon might have been one of his patrons, although if he was, there was no ill will borne by Pericles, Cimon's rival, when Cimon was ostracized in 461 BC. In 443/2 he served as one of the Hellenotamiai, or treasurers of Athena, helping to manage the finances of the city during the political ascendancy of Pericles. According to the Vita Sophoclis, in 441 BC he was elected one of ten strategoi, high executive officials that commanded the armed forces, as a junior colleague of Pericles, and he served in the Athenian campaign against Samos; he was supposed to have been elected to this position as the result of his production of
Antigone.
Sophocles died at the age of ninety or ninety-one in the winter of 406/5 BC, having seen within his lifetime both the Greek triumph in the Persian Wars and the bloodletting of the Peloponnesian War. As with many famous men in classical antiquity, his death inspired a number of apocryphal stories. The most famous is the suggestion that he died from the strain of trying to recite a long sentence from his Antigone without pausing to take a breath. Another account suggests he choked while eating grapes at the Anthesteria festival in Athens. A third holds that he died of happiness after winning his final victory at the City Dionysia. A few months later, a comic poet, in a play titled The Muses, wrote this eulogy: "Blessed is Sophocles, who had a long life, was a man both happy and talented, and the writer of many good tragedies; and he ended his life well without suffering any misfortune." According to some accounts, however, his own sons tried to have him declared incompetent near the end of his life; he is said to have refuted their charge in court by reading from his as yet unproduced Oedipus at Colonus. One of his sons, Iophon, and a grandson, also called Sophocles, also became playwrights.
III. Theme of the Story
Fate and free will A central theme of Antigone is the tension between individual action and fate. While free choices, such as Antigone’s decision to defy Creon’s edict, are significant, fate is responsible for many of the most critical and devastating events of the trilogy. By elevating the importance of fate, Sophocles suggests that characters cannot be fully responsible for their actions.
Rules and order Antigone contrasts two types of law and justice: divine or religious law on one hand, and the law of men and states on the other. Because of the centrality of fate and the rule of the gods in the lives of the main characters of the play, religious rites and traditions are elevated to the status of law.
Determination
Determination is a nearly universal character trait amongst the characters of Antigone. Despite the important role of fate in the lives of the characters, Creon, Antigone, Ismene, and Polyneices are all driven, at times stubbornly, to pursue their goals. Determination in the play is linked to hubris and proves less an asset than a flaw to the characters that possess it.
Power
Power both corrupts and metaphorically blinds the characters in Antigone. The clearest example of this is King Creon of Thebes, who is arrogant, unperceptive, and downright mean to people around him.
Women
Antigone explores a contrast between the behavior expected of women and the reality of their role in society. Creon expects men to be the primary actors in society and women to take a secondary and subservient role.
Mortality
Self-injury and suicide are almost universally prevalent among the main characters in the Oedipus trilogy, and particularly in Antigone. Antigone, Haemon, and Eurydice each commit suicide; Polyneices and Eteocles willingly take actions that result in their deaths. Furthermore, self-injury and suicide seem to be the only ways in which characters in Antigone are able to influence their destinies.
IV. Characters
Antigone
Antigone is both the daughter and the sister of Oedipus (since he married his own mother). Now that Oedipus and his brothers are dead, Antigone and Ismene are the last of the Labdacus family. She believes that her brother Polyneices deserves the same treatment as Eteocles.
Polyneices
Was the son of Oedipus and Jocasta, brother of Antigone and Ismene. His wife was Argea. Because of a curse put on them by their father, Oedipus, the sons, Polyneices and Eteocles, did not share the rule peacefully and died as a result by killing each other in a battle for the throne of Thebes.
Eteocles
Was a king of Thebes, the son of Oedipus and Jocasta. However, because of a curse from their father, the two brothers did not share the rule peacefully. Eteocles was succeeded by his uncle, Creon.
Ismene
Antigone's last surviving sibling, Ismene is the foil for her stronger sister. In comparison to Antigone she has almost no agency, primarily because she is utterly terrified of disobeying men in power.
Creon
The ruler of Thebes in the wake of war, Creon cherishes order and loyalty above all else. He cannot bear to be denied any more than he can bear to watch the laws of the state defied. He does not recognize that other forms of justice exist, and in his pride he condemns Antigone, defies the gods, and brings ruin on himself.
Haemon
Haemon is the son of Creon and Eurydice and is engaged to be married to Antigone Haemon's devotion to Antigone is clear; at her death, he is so distraught that he tries to kill his father and then kills himself.
Teiresias
Teiresias is a blind prophet who warns Creon that the gods do not approve of his treatment of Polyneices' body or the punishment of Antigone.
Eurydice
Eurydice is Creon's wife and Haemon's mother. Broken by her son's suicide, she kills herself, calling curses down on Creon for having caused the tragedy.
Chorus of Theban Elders
The Chorus comments on the action and interacts with Creon, actively interceding with advice at a critical moment late in the play.
Sentry/Watchman
The Sentry brings the news that Polyneices has been buried, and later captures Antigone
Messenger
The Messenger reports the suicides of Antigone and Haemon to the Chorus and Eurydice. He leaves to follow Eurydice when she runs off in grief. The Second Messenger reports Eurydice's suicide to the Chorus and Creon. Creon, already broken by Haemon's death, is forced to confront the suicide of his wife as well.
V. Setting
In Front of the Palace, Thebes, Ancient Greece. Antigone, like Oedipus the King, is set in that disaster-prone city-state known as Thebes. Though the plays were set in other places than Athens, they did take on hot-button Athenian issues. For example in Antigone the clash between Creon and Antigone can be seen as symbolic of the many cultural clashes going on in Athens at the time.
Probably the most prominent Athenian culture clash we see in Antigone is the laws of the state vs. religious fundamentalism. Sophocles was a religious conservative and was a member of several cults. However, in his time, a group called the Sophists was on the rise. These men valued rationality over what they thought of as superstition. Any Athenian even moderately aware of current events wouldn't have missed the warning encoded in Sophocles' play. When Creon, the hyper-rational representative of law and order falls to the will of the gods, it's pretty clear where Sophocles stood on this hot-button issue.
Most specifically the play is set in front of the palace of Thebes. This place has been the sight of much tragedy for Antigone's family. It's where her mother/grandmother, Jocasta, committed suicide, and where her brother/father Oedipus discovered his shame and gouged out his own eyes. Not to mention the fact that the palace represents the throne that her brothers have just killed each other over. There's really no more fitting place for Antigone to receive her own tragic fate.
VI. Summary
The death of Oedipus, the late King of Thebes who unknowingly killed his father King Laius and married his mother Queen Jocasta blinded himself after discovering the truth and left his children under the supervision of their uncle Creon. The two sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polyneices had fought for the throne to be King of Thebes which led to them killing each other in war. With no one left to rule the city, their uncle Creon succeeded the throne. As the new ruler of Thebes, Creon declared that Eteocles will be honored and have proper burial while Polyneices as the rebel brother, will be disgraced and left without proper burial to serve as a food for the birds and scavenging dogs. Antigone and Ismene were the only children of Oedipus left, and having heard the declaration of Creon, Antigone wants to bury Polyneices' body but Ismene refuses to help her fearing the death penalty.
Despite of the penalty she might receive, Antigone still buried his brother Polyneices because she believes that everyone should have proper burial. A Sentry came to Creon and told him that the body of Polyneices has been buried. Furious Creon ordered the Sentry to find the culprit or face death himself. The Sentry left, but after a short absence he returned, bringing Antigone with him. Creon questioned her, and she does not denied what she has done. Creon ordered that Antigone and Ismene who he thought were both guilty of the crime, be temporarily locked up. Haemon, Creon's son and Antigone's fiancé and cousin, came to pledge allegiance to his father. He was willing to obey his father’s decision, but when he tried to persuade him to spare Antigone, their conversation went to disaster. Creon decided to spare Ismene’s life and imprison Antigone in a cave where she will suffer until the end of her life.
Teiresias, the blind prophet came to see Creon to tell him his prophecy. Teiresias warned Creon that he will lose one child for the crimes of leaving Polyneices unburied and putting Antigone into the cave. All of Greece will despise him, and the sacrificial offerings of Thebes will not be accepted by the gods. The Chorus, terrified, asks Creon to take their advice---bury Polyneices and free Antigone. Creon took and followed their advice but it was too late. He found Antigone and Haemon both taken their own lives. And when Eurydice, Creon’s wife heard the news, she disappeared and was also found dead. With her last breath, she cursed her husband. Creon blamed himself for everything that has happened, and as a broken man, he asked his servants to help him inside. The order he valued so much has been protected, and he is remained king, but he had acted against the gods and lost his child and his wife as a result. .
VII. Point of View
There is an old saying that family always comes first. Friends do come and go, seasons rotate in and out, but nothing can change the blood that runs through your veins. Family is something you’re born into, some rich and some poor but you are still born to complete a family. Like in the story of Antigone, she believes that it is her duty to ensure that both of their brothers should receive a proper burial, traitor or no traitor. Antigone understands this is her role, her job, as part of the family. She made a tough and courageous decision to bury his brother even if she knows that the punishment she will receive for disobeying the King’s law is death.
No pride on earth is free from the curse of heaven. Because of Creon’s pride, the gods have punished him eternal suffering. He lost his wife and son at the same time because he thought that his judgment and only his words were right. We, people must realize that we are only mortal beings. We are human and we are not always right. We commit mistakes and from these mistakes we must also learn how to lower ourselves because nothing is more just and powerful than our Creator. By being humble and lowering our heads, God will bless us with the fruits of heaven.
VIII. Conclusion
The tragedy that happened to the family of Antigone simply reflects the fruits of anger, envy and pride that had caused sufferings and many lives. Starting with Oedipus who killed his own father and married his own mother in ignorance of the truth, suffered and died leaving his children behind. And because of the fight for the throne, the two sons of Oedipus both killed each other allowing Creon to succeed the throne. The anger of Creon towards Antigone’s brother had led to many sufferings. And because Creon did not lower himself and he thinks that his words and decisions is always right, he received the punishment of heaven. Because no pride on earth is free from the curse of heaven. It is truly said that man’s little pleasure is the spring of sorrow. We cannot always assume that our decisions in life are always right and just, for it is God only, who knows best and judges fair. We are not in the position to know everything that people say or do, or what they feel, or how to judge because only God has the power for everything. All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows that his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime made is pride. As the story ends, it shows that there is no happiness if there is no wisdom; but in submission to the gods. Big words are always punished, and proud men in all age learn to be wise.
Antigone
I. Introduction
Antigone is a Greek dramatic play tragedy by Sophocles. Sophocles was born into a wealthy family (his father was an amour manufacturer) and was highly educated. Sophocles' first artistic triumph was in 468 BC, when he took first prize in the Dionysian theatre competition over the reigning master of Athenian drama, Aeschylus. Sophocles wrote the three Theban plays, a collection that has survived for centuries, and for good reason. One of these plays was Antigone. It follows the struggle of a young woman, Antigone who disobeyed the law of King Creon (who is also her uncle) that no one should bury Polyneices (Antigone’s brother) who Creon believes was a traitor.
II. Author
Sophocles, the son of Sophilus, was a wealthy member of the rural deme (small community) of Colonus Hippius in Attica, which was to become a setting for one of his plays, and he was probably born there. He was born a few years before the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC: the exact year is unclear, although 497/6 is the most likely. Sophocles was born into a wealthy family (his father was an amour manufacturer) and was highly …show more content…
educated. Sophocles' first artistic triumph was in 468 BC, when he took first prize in the Dionysia theatre competition over the reigning master of Athenian drama, Aeschylus. According to Plutarch, the victory came under unusual circumstances. Instead of following the usual custom of choosing judges by lot, the archon asked Cimon and the other strategoi present to decide the victor of the contest. Plutarch further contends that following this loss Aeschylus soon left for Sicily. Although Plutarch says that this was Sophocles' first production, it is now thought that his first production was probably in 470 BC. Triptolemus was probably one of the plays that Sophocles presented at this festival.
In 480 BC Sophocles was chosen to lead the paean (a choral chant to a god), celebrating the Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Salamis.
Early in his career, the politician Cimon might have been one of his patrons, although if he was, there was no ill will borne by Pericles, Cimon's rival, when Cimon was ostracized in 461 BC. In 443/2 he served as one of the Hellenotamiai, or treasurers of Athena, helping to manage the finances of the city during the political ascendancy of Pericles. According to the Vita Sophoclis, in 441 BC he was elected one of ten strategoi, high executive officials that commanded the armed forces, as a junior colleague of Pericles, and he served in the Athenian campaign against Samos; he was supposed to have been elected to this position as the result of his production of
Antigone.
Sophocles died at the age of ninety or ninety-one in the winter of 406/5 BC, having seen within his lifetime both the Greek triumph in the Persian Wars and the bloodletting of the Peloponnesian War. As with many famous men in classical antiquity, his death inspired a number of apocryphal stories. The most famous is the suggestion that he died from the strain of trying to recite a long sentence from his Antigone without pausing to take a breath. Another account suggests he choked while eating grapes at the Anthesteria festival in Athens. A third holds that he died of happiness after winning his final victory at the City Dionysia. A few months later, a comic poet, in a play titled The Muses, wrote this eulogy: "Blessed is Sophocles, who had a long life, was a man both happy and talented, and the writer of many good tragedies; and he ended his life well without suffering any misfortune." According to some accounts, however, his own sons tried to have him declared incompetent near the end of his life; he is said to have refuted their charge in court by reading from his as yet unproduced Oedipus at Colonus. One of his sons, Iophon, and a grandson, also called Sophocles, also became playwrights.
III. Theme of the Story
Fate and free will A central theme of Antigone is the tension between individual action and fate. While free choices, such as Antigone’s decision to defy Creon’s edict, are significant, fate is responsible for many of the most critical and devastating events of the trilogy. By elevating the importance of fate, Sophocles suggests that characters cannot be fully responsible for their actions.
Rules and order Antigone contrasts two types of law and justice: divine or religious law on one hand, and the law of men and states on the other. Because of the centrality of fate and the rule of the gods in the lives of the main characters of the play, religious rites and traditions are elevated to the status of law.
Determination
Determination is a nearly universal character trait amongst the characters of Antigone. Despite the important role of fate in the lives of the characters, Creon, Antigone, Ismene, and Polyneices are all driven, at times stubbornly, to pursue their goals. Determination in the play is linked to hubris and proves less an asset than a flaw to the characters that possess it.
Power
Power both corrupts and metaphorically blinds the characters in Antigone. The clearest example of this is King Creon of Thebes, who is arrogant, unperceptive, and downright mean to people around him.
Women
Antigone explores a contrast between the behavior expected of women and the reality of their role in society. Creon expects men to be the primary actors in society and women to take a secondary and subservient role.
Mortality
Self-injury and suicide are almost universally prevalent among the main characters in the Oedipus trilogy, and particularly in Antigone. Antigone, Haemon, and Eurydice each commit suicide; Polyneices and Eteocles willingly take actions that result in their deaths. Furthermore, self-injury and suicide seem to be the only ways in which characters in Antigone are able to influence their destinies.
IV. Characters
Antigone
Antigone is both the daughter and the sister of Oedipus (since he married his own mother). Now that Oedipus and his brothers are dead, Antigone and Ismene are the last of the Labdacus family. She believes that her brother Polyneices deserves the same treatment as Eteocles.
Polyneices
Was the son of Oedipus and Jocasta, brother of Antigone and Ismene. His wife was Argea. Because of a curse put on them by their father, Oedipus, the sons, Polyneices and Eteocles, did not share the rule peacefully and died as a result by killing each other in a battle for the throne of Thebes.
Eteocles
Was a king of Thebes, the son of Oedipus and Jocasta. However, because of a curse from their father, the two brothers did not share the rule peacefully. Eteocles was succeeded by his uncle, Creon.
Ismene
Antigone's last surviving sibling, Ismene is the foil for her stronger sister. In comparison to Antigone she has almost no agency, primarily because she is utterly terrified of disobeying men in power.
Creon
The ruler of Thebes in the wake of war, Creon cherishes order and loyalty above all else. He cannot bear to be denied any more than he can bear to watch the laws of the state defied. He does not recognize that other forms of justice exist, and in his pride he condemns Antigone, defies the gods, and brings ruin on himself.
Haemon
Haemon is the son of Creon and Eurydice and is engaged to be married to Antigone Haemon's devotion to Antigone is clear; at her death, he is so distraught that he tries to kill his father and then kills himself.
Teiresias
Teiresias is a blind prophet who warns Creon that the gods do not approve of his treatment of Polyneices' body or the punishment of Antigone.
Eurydice
Eurydice is Creon's wife and Haemon's mother. Broken by her son's suicide, she kills herself, calling curses down on Creon for having caused the tragedy.
Chorus of Theban Elders
The Chorus comments on the action and interacts with Creon, actively interceding with advice at a critical moment late in the play.
Sentry/Watchman
The Sentry brings the news that Polyneices has been buried, and later captures Antigone
Messenger
The Messenger reports the suicides of Antigone and Haemon to the Chorus and Eurydice. He leaves to follow Eurydice when she runs off in grief. The Second Messenger reports Eurydice's suicide to the Chorus and Creon. Creon, already broken by Haemon's death, is forced to confront the suicide of his wife as well.
V. Setting
In Front of the Palace, Thebes, Ancient Greece. Antigone, like Oedipus the King, is set in that disaster-prone city-state known as Thebes. Though the plays were set in other places than Athens, they did take on hot-button Athenian issues. For example in Antigone the clash between Creon and Antigone can be seen as symbolic of the many cultural clashes going on in Athens at the time.
Probably the most prominent Athenian culture clash we see in Antigone is the laws of the state vs. religious fundamentalism. Sophocles was a religious conservative and was a member of several cults. However, in his time, a group called the Sophists was on the rise. These men valued rationality over what they thought of as superstition. Any Athenian even moderately aware of current events wouldn't have missed the warning encoded in Sophocles' play. When Creon, the hyper-rational representative of law and order falls to the will of the gods, it's pretty clear where Sophocles stood on this hot-button issue.
Most specifically the play is set in front of the palace of Thebes. This place has been the sight of much tragedy for Antigone's family. It's where her mother/grandmother, Jocasta, committed suicide, and where her brother/father Oedipus discovered his shame and gouged out his own eyes. Not to mention the fact that the palace represents the throne that her brothers have just killed each other over. There's really no more fitting place for Antigone to receive her own tragic fate.
VI. Summary
The death of Oedipus, the late King of Thebes who unknowingly killed his father King Laius and married his mother Queen Jocasta blinded himself after discovering the truth and left his children under the supervision of their uncle Creon. The two sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polyneices had fought for the throne to be King of Thebes which led to them killing each other in war. With no one left to rule the city, their uncle Creon succeeded the throne. As the new ruler of Thebes, Creon declared that Eteocles will be honored and have proper burial while Polyneices as the rebel brother, will be disgraced and left without proper burial to serve as a food for the birds and scavenging dogs. Antigone and Ismene were the only children of Oedipus left, and having heard the declaration of Creon, Antigone wants to bury Polyneices' body but Ismene refuses to help her fearing the death penalty.
Despite of the penalty she might receive, Antigone still buried his brother Polyneices because she believes that everyone should have proper burial. A Sentry came to Creon and told him that the body of Polyneices has been buried. Furious Creon ordered the Sentry to find the culprit or face death himself. The Sentry left, but after a short absence he returned, bringing Antigone with him. Creon questioned her, and she does not denied what she has done. Creon ordered that Antigone and Ismene who he thought were both guilty of the crime, be temporarily locked up. Haemon, Creon's son and Antigone's fiancé and cousin, came to pledge allegiance to his father. He was willing to obey his father’s decision, but when he tried to persuade him to spare Antigone, their conversation went to disaster. Creon decided to spare Ismene’s life and imprison Antigone in a cave where she will suffer until the end of her life.
Teiresias, the blind prophet came to see Creon to tell him his prophecy. Teiresias warned Creon that he will lose one child for the crimes of leaving Polyneices unburied and putting Antigone into the cave. All of Greece will despise him, and the sacrificial offerings of Thebes will not be accepted by the gods. The Chorus, terrified, asks Creon to take their advice---bury Polyneices and free Antigone. Creon took and followed their advice but it was too late. He found Antigone and Haemon both taken their own lives. And when Eurydice, Creon’s wife heard the news, she disappeared and was also found dead. With her last breath, she cursed her husband. Creon blamed himself for everything that has happened, and as a broken man, he asked his servants to help him inside. The order he valued so much has been protected, and he is remained king, but he had acted against the gods and lost his child and his wife as a result. .
VII. Point of View
There is an old saying that family always comes first. Friends do come and go, seasons rotate in and out, but nothing can change the blood that runs through your veins. Family is something you’re born into, some rich and some poor but you are still born to complete a family. Like in the story of Antigone, she believes that it is her duty to ensure that both of their brothers should receive a proper burial, traitor or no traitor. Antigone understands this is her role, her job, as part of the family. She made a tough and courageous decision to bury his brother even if she knows that the punishment she will receive for disobeying the King’s law is death.
No pride on earth is free from the curse of heaven. Because of Creon’s pride, the gods have punished him eternal suffering. He lost his wife and son at the same time because he thought that his judgment and only his words were right. We, people must realize that we are only mortal beings. We are human and we are not always right. We commit mistakes and from these mistakes we must also learn how to lower ourselves because nothing is more just and powerful than our Creator. By being humble and lowering our heads, God will bless us with the fruits of heaven.
VIII. Conclusion
The tragedy that happened to the family of Antigone simply reflects the fruits of anger, envy and pride that had caused sufferings and many lives. Starting with Oedipus who killed his own father and married his own mother in ignorance of the truth, suffered and died leaving his children behind. And because of the fight for the throne, the two sons of Oedipus both killed each other allowing Creon to succeed the throne. The anger of Creon towards Antigone’s brother had led to many sufferings. And because Creon did not lower himself and he thinks that his words and decisions is always right, he received the punishment of heaven. Because no pride on earth is free from the curse of heaven. It is truly said that man’s little pleasure is the spring of sorrow. We cannot always assume that our decisions in life are always right and just, for it is God only, who knows best and judges fair. We are not in the position to know everything that people say or do, or what they feel, or how to judge because only God has the power for everything. All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows that his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime made is pride. As the story ends, it shows that there is no happiness if there is no wisdom; but in submission to the gods. Big words are always punished, and proud men in all age learn to be wise.