Let's review the plot summary of Sophocles'Antigone. In the introduction to Antigone, Thebes has been invaded by Argos. During the battle, two of Oedipus'sons died fighting on opposite sides, Ateocles for Thebes and Polyneices for Argos.
Creon, their uncle, emerges as the new leader of Thebes. The play opens with Oedipus'two daughters, Antigone and Ismene, discussing the deaths of their brothers. In the rising action of the play, Antigone is enraged at Creon's proclamation that Polyneices is not to receive a burial or funeral rites, while Ateocles is to be given an honorable funeral. Creon has also decreed that anyone who interferes with this law will be publicly stoned to death.
Antigone claims that Creon's law is unjust, since the gods'decree that every mortal must be given a proper funeral. She tells Ismene that she plans to bury their brother's body and give him his funeral rites, even if she's punished. Ismene refuses to help, fearing Creon's punishment.
She reminds Antigone that their family has suffered enough tragedy. Antigone disagrees, claiming not to care if she's punished. She would welcome death in exchange for standing up for her beliefs.
Guards catch Antigone when she revisits the grave she's prepared for her brother. Brought before Creon, she freely admits what she's done and welcomes punishment. She defends her actions by claiming she has honored the gods, whose laws are more important than mortal laws.
Creon is enraged at her defiance and confirms her death sentence, even though she's engaged to his son, Heman. Ismene lies to Creon, claiming to be her sister's accomplice. Creon declares that he'll have them both killed, but Antigone refutes Ismene's story. Heman tells Creon that he loves him, but disagrees with Antigone's punishment, as does most of Thebes, who view Antigone as a hero and martyr.
They argue heatedly. Then Heman disowns Creon and warns him that Antigone's death will result in another death. Antigone laments that she'll never wed and that she'll die alone, friendless, and without Creon has her led away to be entombed alive in a cave.
The blind prophet Tiresias arrives and warns Creon that he saw in a prophecy that the gods are furious with him. He urges Creon to free Antigone before it's too late. Creon is outraged at Tiresias'advice, accusing him of taking a bribe.
In retaliation, Tiresias tells him now it's too late. Creon will be punished by having his son taken away from him. Creon realizes that Tiresias is serious and acts quickly to do as he advised.
In the play's climax, a messenger arrives at the palace and announces that Heman killed himself after he found Antigone hanging from a noose in the cave. Creon had arrived at the cave just in time to witness his son's death, and he's inconsolable. Creon's wife Eurydice emerges from the palace to hear the messenger's story, then returns to the palace in silence. A distraught Creon returns, carrying Heman's corpse. The messenger emerges from the palace and informs Creon that Eurydice has killed herself.
In the play's falling action, Creon is miserable, finally realizing he's brought all this tragedy on himself. In the play's resolution, the chorus sings an ode about the importance of obeying the gods and staying humble in order to gain wisdom. Let's review some of the characters in Sophocles'Antigone.
Antigone is Oedipus'daughter and the niece of Creon, who is the new king of Thebes. Antigone is also engaged to Creon's son, Heman. She defies Creon's order that her brother Polyneices'body remain unburied, even though the punishment is death. She believes that honoring the gods is more important than mortal laws, and she admits that she's prepared to die for this belief.
After she's caught burying her brother, she defies Creon, who sentences her to be shut in a cave and left to die. Heman comes to rescue her, but she has already killed herself. Ismene, Antigone's sister, refuses to help Antigone bury their brother for fear of the punishment attached to disobeying Creon's proclamation.
She believes enough tragedy has befallen their family. But when Antigone is caught burying and giving funeral rites to Polyneices, Ismene falsely confesses to having helped her. She does this out of loyalty and love for her sister.
Antigone refuses to let this lie stand, as it might offend the gods. Creon is Oedipus'brother, Antigone and Ismene's uncle, and Heman's father. He is also the newly appointed king of Thebes, and he believes that his laws are the ultimate authority.
He disagrees with Antigone's justifications for burying her brother, and his arrogance results in the deaths of everyone he loves. Heman, son of Creon and Eurydice. Heman is engaged to marry Antigone.
Heman advises Creon to be lenient with Antigone, since the citizens of Thebes do not support Creon's decision. Heman ultimately disowns his father and dies by his own hand, angry and distraught over Antigone's death. The Chorus.
Composed of a group of elderly male citizens and a leader who speaks for them, the Chorus offers narration and judgments about the character's actions. At first deferential toward the new king, the chorus eventually tries to persuade him to moderate his harsh rulings and to heed Tiresias'advice. Let's review the main symbols in Antigone.
Tiresias points out the situational irony to Creon that he has chosen to bury Antigone alive, underground, while he allows her brother's corpse to remain unburied above ground. Tiresias highlights the unexpected juxtaposition in Creon's decision to flout the Law of the Gods, which decrees that bodies are to be given proper burials and funeral rites. Not only does Creon refuse to honor the Gods'decree, but he has also buried a living person.
Someone whose disobedience comes from following the gods will. So he is quite wrong when he states that no person has the power to pollute the gods. On the contrary, by insisting on strict adherence to his laws, Creon brings pollution on Thebes, both literally by allowing a corpse to rot, and metaphorically by incurring the wrath of the gods, who punish not only Creon, but also Thebes as a whole.
In this way, burials become symbols of the place central conflict between religious devotion and civic duty. Birds appear in the play symbolically as fierce scavengers, protectors, and agents of prophecy. The chorus mentions that since Polyneices'body is left in the open, his corpse will be torn apart by birds.
The guard also paints a vivid picture of Antigone as looking like a bird when she hovers over the corpse of her brother, trying to protect his body. Lastly, Tiresias tells a vivid tale about Creon's future when he hears two birds fighting, one killing the other. He mentions that these are the very same birds that are feasting on Polyneices'corpse. Let's review the main themes of Antigone.
Creon orders Polyneices'body to remain unburied and without funeral rites, which is a direct disobedience of the gods'will. Creon believes that the only way the citizens will respect him is if he upholds the laws he creates. Antigone, on the other hand, believes that Creon's law is unjust, and she honors the gods by honoring their law and burying her brother properly.
She claims, My honors for the dead must last much longer than for those up here, meaning that her loyalty is greater to the gods and her family than to the ruler of her city-state. Creon ultimately comes to realize that his law has only served to anger the gods. They punish him with his own son's death.
From the beginning it's clear that Antigone has an unbending devotion to family and to the gods. This devotion surpasses civic duty to the leader of her state or his laws. Her sister, Ismene, illustrates the struggle that arises when spiritual devotion is set against loyalty to God. government.
Creon, the source of Ismene's call to civic duty, is as unbending in his adherence to mortal law as Antigone is in her devotion to the gods. Creon believes that disobeying his laws results in a just punishment, and this is his rationale for sentencing Antigone to death. He's blind to familial and divine devotion in his desire to secure his people's loyalty to him. Antigone's courage is based on her convictions.
She stands firm in the face of her tragic fate and against Creon's edicts and blatant disdain for women. Antigone's fate reflects the tragic curse of her father, Oedipus. Even as the chorus applauds Antigone for trying to take her fate into her own hands, it understands that she ultimately will pay for her father's actions.
Creon's laws mean nothing to Antigone when they fly in the face of her devotion to family, and to the gods. Creon seems even more determined to punish Antigone when he declares that he'll never let some woman beat us down. Antigone, who has been called an early feminist hero, scoffs at such statements, fearless in the face of anything she views as unjust.
Neither Antigone nor Creon shows flexibility in the play. While Antigone's inflexibility may be based more on strong convictions, that on stubbornness, Creon's stubbornness is hard to deny. Above all else, he demands to be obeyed, even when he places himself above the gods.
By showing some flexibility, Creon might have saved himself and his family. He loses everyone he loves due to his arrogance and hubris. And even though he hopes the gods have set things right again, in the end, it's too late. The wheels of fate have already been set in motion.
Let's review the main motor. ...in Antigone. Tiresias advises Creon that there is still time to avoid tragedy when Tiresias cautions Creon that his luck is once more on fate's razor edge. This image suggests a precarious position.
If Creon fails to appease the gods in his actions, his delicate balance on fate's razor edge will falter. Many characters in Antigone make metaphoric references to ships and sailing the seas. Creon introduces the metaphor in episode one when he says, After much tossing of our ship of state, the gods have safely set things right again. Creon sees himself as the caretaker and captain of that ship, and though his reference to the gods hints that he understands they are the ultimate overseers, his respect for their authority lessens from this point onward. The chorus also makes many references to men sailing stormy seas in order to gain more knowledge and power, but they caution that this knowledge is not always used for good.
Creon's son, Heman, also attempts to use the metaphor of the ship as state to caution Creon that sailors who keep their sails stretched tight, never easing off, make their ship capsize. Sadly, Heman's warning comes true and Creon pays for his arrogant decisions. Because the gods are displeased with Creon's actions regarding the burial of Polyneices and the punishment of Antigone, they refuse to accept sacrifices or prayers from the city of Thebes.
These unconsumed sacrifices come to represent the rottenness of the city that is led by a man who puts himself above the gods. Antigone risks the displeasure of Creon and her personal safety to honor the law of the gods by burying her bride. When she sees his bare body, she casts handfuls of dirt onto him.
In this way, the dirt shows her devotion to her family and a religion above her devotion to the state that has forbidden his burial. Blindness comes up in both physical and abstract ways throughout the play. Tiresias is a blind prophet.
Though he can't see the future with his own eyes, he can foretell it by paying attention to other signs. Tiresias gives Creon advice that Creon seems blind to until it's too late. Even though Creon can see with his own eyes that his decisions are costing him the trust of his citizens and the love of his family. Creon's symbolic blindness causes him to seal his tortured and miserable fate because he will not open his eyes in time to affect it.
In almost every case the incest of Oedipus and Jocasta Leads to the destruction of the family tree through suicide or choice. Antigone hangs herself. Eurydice and Heman stab themselves. And Polyneices and Ateocles die fighting each other.