Antigone by Sophocles

This is the only one on the list for those who loathe plays. As a fellow loather of plays, I understand that they tend to be mundane in their approach, and it is difficult to imagine characters in this context. Even some of Shakespeare's plays tend to make the reader feel a sense of Meliora. However, Sophocles manages to do something that most playwrights of today are incapable of: keeping the reader's attention and providing many moving themes within a short story.

Before the beginning of the play, the brothers Eteocles and Polynices lead opposite sides in Thebes' civil war and die fighting each other for the throne. Creon, the new ruler of Thebes, has decided that Eteocles will be honored and Polynices will be in public shame. Furthermore, the rebel brother's body will not be sanctified by holy rites. Rather, he will lie unburied on the battlefield, the harshest punishment at the time.

The sentry explains that the guards uncovered Polynices' body and then caught Antigone as she did the funeral rituals. After sending the sentry away, Creon questions her, and she does not deny what she has done. Instead, she argues unflinchingly with Creon about the immorality of the edict and the morality of her actions. Creon becomes furious and, seeing Ismene upset, thinks she must have known of Antigone's plan. He summons her. Ismene tries to confess falsely to the crime, wishing to die alongside her sister, but Antigone will not have it. Creon orders that the two women be imprisoned.

Creon decides to spare Ismene and bury Antigone alive in a cave. By not killing her directly, he hopes to pay minimal respects to the gods. Again, she is brought out of the house, and this time, she is sorrowful instead of defiant. She expresses her regrets about not marrying and dying to follow the laws of the gods. Finally, she is taken away to her living tomb.

Tiresias, the blind prophet, enters. Tiresias warns Creon that Polynices should now be urgently buried because the gods are displeased, refusing to accept sacrifices or prayers from Thebes. However, Creon accuses Tiresias of being corrupt. Tiresias responds that Creon will lose "a son of [his] own loins"[3] for the crimes of leaving Polynices unburied and putting Antigone into the earth. Tiresias also prophesies that all of Greece will despise Creon and that the sacrificial offerings of Thebes will not be accepted by the gods. The leader of the Chorus, terrified, asks Creon to take Tiresias' advice to free Antigone and bury Polynices. Creon assents, leaving with a retinue of men.

Creon enters, carrying Haemon's body. He understands that his actions have caused these events and blames himself. A second messenger arrives to tell Creon and the Chorus that Eurydice has also killed herself. With her last breath, she cursed her husband for the deaths of her sons, Haemon and Megareus. Creon blames himself for everything that has happened, and, a broken man, he asks his servants to help him inside. The order he valued so much has been protected, and he is still the king, but he has acted against the gods and lost his children and wife. After Creon condemns himself, the leader of the Chorus closes by saying that although the gods punish the proud, punishment brings wisdom.

Civil Disobedience

The contrasting views of Creon and Antigone about laws higher than those of the state inform their different conclusions about civil disobedience. Creon demands obedience to the law above all else, right or wrong. He says, "there is nothing worse than disobedience to authority" (An. 671). Antigone responds with the idea that state law is not absolute and that it can be broken in civil disobedience in extreme cases, such as honoring the gods, whose rule and authority outweigh Creon's.

Fidelity

Antigone's determination to bury Polynices arises from a desire to bring honor to her family and honor the gods' higher law. She repeatedly declares that she must act to please "those that are dead" (An. 77) because they hold more weight than any ruler. That is the weight of divine law. In the opening scene, she emotionally appeals to her sister Ismene saying that they must protect their brother out of sisterly love, even if he did betray their state. Antigone believes that there are rights that are inalienable because they come from the highest authority, or authority itself, that is, the divine law.

Love for Family

Antigone's love for family is shown when she buries her brother, Polynices. Haemon was deeply in love with his cousin and fiancée Antigone, and he killed himself in grief when he found out that his beloved Antigone had hanged herself.

Estimated Reading Time: 43 minutes