Antigone raises issues of law and morality that are just as relevant today as they were more than two thousand years ago. Whether this is your first reading or your twentieth, Antigone will move you as few pieces of literature can.
Antigone is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, first performed around 441 BCE. It is the third play in Sophocles' Theban Plays trilogy, following Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. The play centers on the themes of fate, duty, justice, and the conflict between personal conscience and the laws of the state.
The story takes place in the aftermath of the war between the brothers Eteocles and Polynices, who have killed each other in battle over control of Thebes. The new ruler of Thebes, King Creon, orders that Eteocles be given a proper burial, while Polynices, who fought against Thebes, is left unburied as punishment, his body to be scavenged by animals. Creon’s decree is clear: any person who disobeys this order will be punished by death.
Antigone, the sister of both brothers, defies Creon’s orders, believing that the laws of the gods supersede the laws of men. She buries her brother Polynices, knowing the consequences, and is arrested. Despite Creon’s threats and the pleas of her sister Ismene and her fiancé Haemon (Creon’s son), Antigone stands firm in her conviction that it is her duty to honor the gods and her family, even at the cost of her life.
Published on by eBooks
Categories: Fiction Literature