Antigone

Antigone is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles. Chronologically, it's the last of three plays Sophocles wrote about Oedipus and Thebes, but it was the first play written.



Plot Summary
The play picks up shortly after the battle between Oedipus's son's Eteocles and Polyneices. Both brothers are dead, and Antigone's uncle King Creon has decreed that Polyneices should be declared a traitor. The decree further states that he will remain unburied, which means that his soul will not be able to go to the final resting place. Antigone can't bear this, and tells her sister Ismene that she plans to go in secret and bury their brother. Ismene is unable to talk her out of her plan, and Antigone sprinkles her brother's body with just enough dirt to allow him to rest.

Creon discovers that the body has been covered and sends soldiers to remove the covering and guard the body. Antigone is captured when she returns to bury her brother again. When she comes before Creon, she doesn't deny what she has done. Ismene tries to claim guilt, but Creon does not believe her. He decrees that Antigone must die for her crime, even though his son Haemon (Antigone's fiancee) begs him to be merciful. Creon finally relents somewhat, and sends Antigone to live in a cave for the rest of her days. He and Haemon argue, and Haemon leaves.

The leader of the chorus (a wise elder) talks to Creon, and Creon finally becomes convinced that he's treated Antigone wrongly. He orders that Polyneices' body be given a proper burial and heads to the cave to free Antigone. When he arrives, Antigone is dead, having killed herself. Haemon, wild with grief, tries to kill his father. When he fails, he kills himself.

When Creon's wife hears what has happened, she goes into the palace to grieve. Creon arrives and a servant comes running from the house, carrying the news that Eurydice has also killed herself. Creon's pride has led to the death of nearly his entire family.

Characters
Here's how to make a list of characters.
 * Person One
 * Person Two
 * Here's a fact about Person Two
 * Person Three

Themes
Theme 1:

Sister Rivalries

Theme 2:

The Nature of Tragedy

Motifs
Motif 1:

The Chorus

In Greek tragedy, the Chorus consisted of a group of approximately ten people, playing the role of death messenger, dancing, singing, and commenting throughout from the margins of the action. The Chorus are a motif because the numbers of reoccurrences they have in Antigone.

Symbols
Symbol 1:

Queen Eurydice

As the Chorus remarks, Queen Eurydice's function in the tragedy is to knit in her room until she dies. She is Creon's final lesson, her death leaving him utterly alone. In the report of her suicide, Eurydice will stop her knitting and the stab herself with her needle. The end of her knitting is the end of her life.

Adaptations
The story of Antigone has been a popular subject for books, plays, and other works, including:

The Antigone, one of the three Theban plays by Sophocles (497 BC - 406 BC) - The most famous adaptation
 * Antigona, opera by Tommaso Traetta, libretto by Marco Coltellini (1772)
 * Antigona, opera by Josef Mysliveček, libretto by Gaetano Roccaforte (1774)
 * Antigone, play by Jean Cocteau (1889–1963)
 * Antigone, full-length album by Heaven Shall Burn (2004)
 * Antigone, opera by Carl Orff (1895–1982)
 * Antigone, play by Jean Anouilh (1910–1987)
 * "Antigone-Legend", for soprano and piano (text by Bertolt Brecht), by Frederic Rzewski (b. 1938)
 * Αντιγόνη (Antigone), opera by Mikis Theodorakis (b. 1925)
 * Antigone (1990/1991), opera by Ton de Leeuw (b. 1926)
 * Antígona Furiosa (Furious Antigone), play by Griselda Gambaro (b. 1928)
 * "The Island", play by Athol Fugard (b. 1932)
 * La Pasión Según Antígona Pérez (The Passion of Antigone Pérez), adaptation of Sophocles by Puerto Rican writer Luis Rafael Sánchez (b. 1936), updated to 20th century Latin America
 * Tegonni, An African Antigone by Femi Osofisan (b. 1946)
 * Antigone, adaptation of Sophocles' play by Peruvian poet José Watanabe (b. 1946)
 * Antigone, opera by Mark Alburger (b. 1957)
 * Antigone play by Andy Wibbels (b. 1975)
 * Antigone, comic book by David Hopkins (b. 1977)
 * Antigone by Henry Bauchau
 * The Burial at Thebes by Seamus Heaney
 * The Burial At Thebes (2008) opera by Dominique Le Gendre to a libretto by Seamus Heaney and Derek Walcott
 * Antígona Vélez (1950) adaptation of Sophocles' play by Argentinean writer Leopoldo Marechal (1900–1970)
 * Antigonai (2009) an opera based on fragments by Sophocles and Hölderlin for three choirs and a women trio by Argentine composer Carlos Stella
 * Antigone by Bertolt Brecht, based on the translation by Friedrich Hölderlin and published under the title Antigonemodell 1948.