Antigone

The fact that Laius's murderer (Oedipus) lives unpunished.

Theban King Laius is Theban King Oedipus' father. But Oedipus doesn't know this critical piece of information when the play 'Oedipus Rex' begins. Instead, he believes himself to be the son and heir apparent of King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth.

Theban King Creon orders burial honors for his nephew Eteocles. But he forbids the same god-given rights to his nephew Polyneices, who is the twin brother of Eteocles. The King's reasoning is spelled out in his own decree. By law, the King refuses proper funerary rites to some of the Thebans who die in the recent armed struggle against the Argive invader. Those who receive their due are the loyal Theban dead. Those who are denied their god-given rights are the disloyal Theban dead. Eteocles is in the first category, Polyneices in the second.

No, she is not. In the play, she mentions that she will follow what her religion says (in this case, to bury dead bodies for passage to the afterlife), which was against the throne's/Creon's decree that the body she was burying was not to be buried.

Nothing can be proved in psychology. That's why all theories of Freud are debated and challenged.

taoism is a belief!

According to the ancient Greeks, a tragedy is a serious drama. It has a conflict between the main character and some other, usually superior, force. It has a disastrous conclusion. For example, the main character dies or is banished. The hero in a Greek tragedy is the main character who does great deeds. He also has great power or strength. It usually is a fatal flaw such as passion or pride that leads to his downfall. Antigone is tragic, as the main character in a serious drama. She ends up in conflict with her uncle, Theban King Creon. The interaction ends disastrously for Antigone, who is sentenced to death and commits suicide; and for the King, who loses everything that gives his life meaning. Additionally, Antigone is a hero as the doer of great deeds. She respects the god-given laws by which Thebans live and die. She shows great strength in following these traditions even though the King seems to think that he can issue a decree that overturns god-given rights of all Thebans to a proper burial. But Antigone has the fatal flawof passion that alienates her uncle and her sister Ismene. And so she is both heroic and tragic.

No, Antigone didn't die in vain. All it took was a visit with the blind prophet Teiresias to change the flow of events. From Teiresias, Theban King Creon learned of the citywide taint from the gorging of birds and dogs on the unburied dead of the Argive invaders and the Theban collaborators. The King repents of his inhumane, unfair and unjust law on non-burials, and of his likewise treatment of his own niece, Antigone.

The myth-background of the play 'Antigone' was summarized in the chorus' discussion about the staying power of curses from the gods. The chorus specified the gods' curse on the house of Labdacus from which the main character, Antigone, descended. And so the myth-background began with the main character's, and indeed her uncle and Theban King Creon's, descent from Cadmus, the founder of Thebes in about 2000 B.C.E.* Cadmus was the son of King Agenor and Queen Telephassa of Tyre, in Phoenicia. By his father, Cadmus was the grandson of Poseidon the sea god and Libya; the great grandson of the siblings Cronus and Rhea; and the great great grandson of the original couple, Saturn and Gaia. By his mother, Cadmus was the great grandson of the siblings Oceanus and Tethys. Oceanus and Tethys in turn were the siblings of Cronus and Rhea. They therefore numbered among the original couple's children. The marriage of Cadmus to Harmonia was the first earthly wedding to be attended by the gods. In the play 'Antigone', the chorus warned against those times when the gods have made direct contact with mortals. And the warning retroactively may have applied to that wedding. Indeed, one of Harmonia's wedding presents was the cursed Necklace of Misfortune from Hephaestus, the god of fire and metals. Additionally, Cadmus was cursed for having killed a dragon sacred to Ares, the war god. The Cadmean curse was passed on to the Cadmean descendants. It was worsened by the curse on Theban King Labdacus, Cadmus' grandson. The King was critical of Dionysus, the wine god. The gods brooked no criticism. And so the King was killed by Dionysus' followers. The curse continued to pass on down through the generations. No remorse, regrets, penance, or atonement stopped, slowed or softened its devastating effects on the Cadmean descendants. It culminated in Cadmus' great great grandson, Theban King Oedipus. Specifically, the King unknowingly killed his father and his king, Laius. Then he equally unknowingly married his mother, Queen Jocasta. And so the siblings Antigone, Eteocles, Ismene, and Polyneices became the cursed offspring of incest and murder. All but Antigone shunned their father once the incestuous and murderous news came out. The disgraced Theban King Oedipus then further worsened the Cadmean curse by cursing his sons, the twins Eteocles and Polyneices. The twins were their father's successors to the Theban throne in a royal power-sharing arrangement. But they quarreled, and Polyneices was exiled. Polyneices came back with an invading army of Argive supporters and Theban discontents. But what with all the curses on the Cadmean descendants, and what with the specific Oedipal curse on his own children and half-siblings, the brothers ended up killing each in mortal combat on the battlefield. And that was the myth-background to the taking and losing of power by Theban King Creon. The King was brother to Queen Jocasta. What with all the Cadmean curses, and wholesale fatalities from the twins' civil war, he was the royal family member most eligible to wear the crown. With his disgrace, he was succeeded by Theban King Laodamas, Eteocles' son. Laodamas in turn was killed in a royal challenge by Thersander, the son of Polyneices and Argeia of Argos. From that point on, the Theban crown passed only through the descendants of Polyneices. Specifically, Thersander was succeeded by his son Tisamenus and then by his grandson Autesion. *Before the Christian Era

Ismene is the foil of her sister Antigone. The two have very dissimilar personalities. For example, Ismene lacks her sister's capacity for courage and love to defend her family against cruel, inhumane, unfair, unjust treatment. Neither does Ismene do anything to change such differential treatment or to provide comfort and relief to suffering loved ones.

That Antigone acts like a mother bird, curses and re-does the burial is what the guard reports.

Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh [June 23, 1910-October 3, 1987] was interested in individual and mass reactions to established authority. He found that theme in the ancient, classical play 'Antigone'. So he decided to update the story, and have it performed in modern times. His play opened on February 6, 1944. It quickly was interpreted as a statement against the Nazi occupation of France, and as support for the French Resistance.

Creon is his dad and antigone is his cousin

The bridal imagery in the play 'Antigone' relates to the prevention of the marriage of the main character of the same name to her first cousin and fiance. Haemon is the son of Antigone's uncle, Theban King Creon. The King enacts and enforces a law that approves the burial of the loyal Theban dead, and forbids that right to the disloyal Theban dead. Antigone disobeys the law in burying her brother, Polyneices, who is among the disloyal Theban dead. The King sentences Antigone to death, and therefore disavows her betrothal and subsequent marriage to his own son. From then on, Antigone's death sentence is described as her marriage to the house of Hades, which is the underworld residence of the dead. For example, the King says, '...let this girl go to find a husband in the house of Hades...'. Antigone is to be walled up in a remote cave. Her final resting place therefore is described as her 'bridal chamber'.

The city of Thebes has won a war against Argos. Theban King Creon has a law enacted to regulate the burial of the war's dead. All those who fought for Thebes may be given proper burial. The Argive dead and those Thebans who were allies of Argos must be left exposed to the birds, dogs, and elements. Anyone who violates the law will be put to death by stoning.

The sentry captured Antigone burying Polyneices and brought her to Creon

Why should she not - isn't that natural?

No. Medusa was originally a sea nymph before being cursed by Athena because she was with Poseidon in Athena's temple.

Yes, Theban King Oedipus finds himself in the end the victim of his own crime, his own sense of justice, and his own punishment. He kills his father and his sovereign, Theban King Laius. But he does so in self defense, and in ignorance of Laius' identity. While still unaware of his crime, Oedipus issues a harsh decree that ignores any mitigating factors and concentrates on the heinousness of the offense. So he ends up being banished from his beloved Thebes by his own decree.

The two brothers of Antigone are Eteocles and Polyneices. Although the play 'Antigone' doesn't say so, the brothers are also twins. They power-share the throne following the disgrace of their father, Theban King Oedipus. At a certain point, the two disagree. Eteocles remains loyal to Thebes. But Polyneices takes up arms with invaders from Argos. The two end up killing each other in the bloody battle that ensues.

The Minotaur was a curse on Crete, I think sent from Poseidon or born from something sent by Poseidon. King Minos of Crete kidnapped the genius inventor Daedalus and his son, and told him to design and build an impossible labyrinth in which he could keep the Minotaur so it could never get out. Daedalus did this and then eventually escaped from Crete, but that is another story.

King Minos told Athens that he would go to war with them if they did not send 10 young men and 10 young women each year for him to feed the Minotaur, and King Aegeus of Athens had no choice but to agree. So every year the 20 sacrifices were put on a ship and sent to Athens where they were thrown into the labyrinth and fed to the Minotaur. Eventually King Aegeus' son Theseus of Athens decided this had to stop so he begged his father to let him go with the next group of sacrifices so he could slay the Minotaur and no more sacrifices would be needed. Reluctantly King Aegeus agreed, and told his son that if he was successful he should sail home in a ship with white sails, and if he were to die the ship should return with black sails.

When Theseus arrived in Athens with the other 19 sacrifices he was met by the King and his daughter Princess Ariadne of Crete. She immediately recognised Theseus as a prince and fell in love with him, but she was fairly plain to look at and he barely noticed her. The sacrifices were taken to the holding cells to await their fate with the Minotaur, and Theseus began to work out how he could escape from the maze again after slaying the Minotaur, for King Minos had begun to enjoy the fearsome reputation his monster gave him and would not be pleased when it was slain. One night, after visiting Daedalus who had soft spot for the princess, Ariadne came to Theseus and offered him a way to escape the maze after killing the Minotaur if he would agree to take her with him as his wife when he escaped. Theseus did not want to marry Ariadne but nor did he wish to be stuck in the maze forever so he agreed, and she gave him a ball of string.

Eventually it was Theseus' turn to be thrown into the labyrinth. He was taken to the grid that was the entrance and thrown in. He then attached the end of the string to the grating before setting off into the maze to find the monster. Eventually at the centre of the labyrinth he came across the Minotaur, and proceeded to wrestle the bull creature, until he caught it by the horns and wrenched at it's head, breaking it's neck. He then followed his string back to the entrance to the labyrinth where Ariadne was waiting and together they escaped for the ship and set sail back to Crete.

Theseus was overjoyed at his success, but less pleased by the plain-looking princess he had acquired. He decided he did not wish to marry her, so on the way home he had the ship stop on the island of Naxos, claiming he wished to return home refreshed and with a gleaming ship. Ariadne offered to go and clean the sails, which had become fairly dirty in the ship's time in Crete's harbour. Watching her on her knees on the beach happily scrubbing the sails, Theseus was disgusted by her un-princess-like behaviour, and boarded his ship and set sail for home without her, leaving Ariadne stranded on the beach with the sails. One of the gods fell in love with Ariadne and took her away from the island to be his wife, but that is another tale.

As the sails had been left on the beach with the princess, the crew took out their spare set of sails, the black pair, and set off once again for Athens. King Aegeus was, as he had been every day since his son left, waiting on the cliff looking for some sign of his son's ship, and as it came over the horizon he was filled with happiness which was quickly overcome by grief when he saw the colour of the sails and, remembering his son's promise, believed that Theseus was dead. In his grief he hurled himself off the cliff into the sea that was named after this act, the Aegean sea.

Theseus returned home to find his father dead, and regretted the day he had ever left Ariadne and the sails on an island.

It makes him feel high.

Teiresias , the seer.