Antigone

The main conflict in 'Antigone' is the controversy over respect for divine and mortal authority. That conflict initially is resolved with Antigone's death. But the spin offs of that conflict in terms of Thebans and their city require the carrying out of the blind prophet Teiresias' recommendations and the ultimate exile of Theban King Creon.

Additionally, there are hierarchical questions in terms of respect for mortal authorities and family heads. For example, Creon doesn't cooperate with Teiresias, who deserves respect as the prophet of Thebes. Ismene doesn't cooperate with Antigone, who deserves respect as the elder sister. Haemon doesn't cooperate with Creon, who deserves respect as father and sovereign. Nor does Theban Queen Eurydice cooperate with Creon, who deserves respect as husband and sovereign.

In the first two cases, the conflict is resolved somewhat peaceably. So Creon tries to right the wrongs that he has done in not letting Polyneices' body be buried and in sentencing Antigone to death. Ismene likewise tries to make up for her initial lack of support by siding publicly with the arrested, tried and sentenced Antigone.

In the second two cases, the conflict is resolved violently. Haemon chooses to commit suicide rather than live one more minute without Antigone and under his father's harsh, godless rule. Eurydice likewise chooses to kill herself rather than live one more minute without her son and with her insensitive husband.

The sentry and his fellow guards are afraid to tell Creon about Polyneices' burial in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Polyneices' burial is forbidden by Theban King Creon's recent edict against the burial of the disloyal dead in the recent civil war over the royal succession. Burial means the death penalty for the guilty. The sentry and his co-workers fear that an angry king who brooks no opposition will blame them and have them tortured and killed.

It is by respecting his god-givenrightsthat Antigone shows honor by burying her brother in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Creon denies to his perceived enemies the god-given rights of all Thebans to below ground burials. Bodies so disfigured and dismembered by weather and wildlife do not seek entry in intact form into the Underworld of the afterlife. Theban Princess Antigone therefore seeks to right Creon's wrong to her brother's body by carrying out his divinely sanctioned rights and by getting him intact through the death experience.

Thebes is important as the setting for "Oedipus Rex" since it is a city whose royal family is cursed by the gods and because Oedipus therefore will be the most recent victim of that curse.

Specifically, Thebes is cursed since the time of Cadmus, the city's founder and first king. Even though he is the paternal grandson of the sea god Poseidon and the maternal and paternal great great grandson of the mother goddess Gaia, Cadmus is cursed for killing a dragon sacred to the gods. That original curse is compounded by additional cursesfrom the wine god Dionysus for perceived disrespct by Cadmus' son Polydorus and grandson Labdacus. Consequently, Labdacus' son Laius, grandson Oedipus, and great grandchildren Eteocles and Polyneices will suffer the worst of all in son killing father and brother killing brother until the cumulative curses exhaust themselves.

The first choral entrance and ode is the meaning of the word parados in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the term parados comes from the ancient Greek word πάροδος. It literally describes the first entrance of the chorus members onstage. But it also is used to refer to the first ode that the chorus sings while dancing onstage.

Yes, justice is served, but no, it is not yet complete, at the end of "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, justice requires the identification and punishment of whoever is guilty of killing Theban King Laius. Theban King Oedipus is found to be guilty and punishes himself with blindness. But the actual punishment is either exile or execution, and Creon awaits the expression of divine will as to which to apply.

That her uncle orders the body to be exposed again after the first burial attempt is the reason why Antigone buries her brother twice in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Creon anticipates violations of his unpopular edict of non-burial of the disloyal Theban dead. He has guards patrol the areas where the bodies of the unburied dead lie. The guards locate the partially buried body of Polyneices, Princess Antigone's brother, and re-expose him. Antigone returns to check up on her work, reburies him and is captured to be brought in for questioning and sentencing.

That she will kill herself before she dies as a result of his punishment is the reason why Creon says that his hands will be clean after taking Antigone to the vault in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone breaks one of her uncle King Creon's laws for which the punishment is dying at the hands of stone-throwing Thebans. Creon concludes that Antigone has the wits and communication skills to turn Thebans against him and his unpopular edict. He therefore decides to have Antigone walled up in a remote cave with enough food to survive but in such a scary place that she will die at her own hands before dying from his ultimate sentence of death by starvation.

Sophocles wrote the play "Antigone."

Specifically, ancient Greek playwright Sophocles (495 B.C.E. -- 405 B.C.E.) is thought to have written over 120 plays. Only a handful survive, of which "Antigone" is one. There is not much of a paper trail for the playwright and his works, but the play is guesstimated to have been written by 442 B.C.E.

That she has a lifelong, proven track record for wisdom but must be guilty because she is so upset is what Creon first thinks of Ismene in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban King Creon observes during Princess Antigone's trial that the latter has a lifelong track record for foolishness. But at the same time, he makes the comment that Princess Ismene is the opposite. He nevertheless considers the possibility of guilt since Ismene is showing herself to be quite distraught, and therefore to Creon's way of thinking quite guilty.

The victim of divine ill-will and the participantin an incestuous marriage are Oedipus' curses in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, the gods are hostile to the descendants of Cadmus, Thebes' founding king and Poseidon the sea god's grandson. The antagonism increases as does the haplessness of each generation once Cadmus' nephew, Dionysos the wine god, becomes angry with Cadmus' son Polydorus and grandson Labdacus. What with the combined force of all these divine curses, Theban King Oedipus is lucky to escape with his life even though his career, happiness and reputation are in shreds.

No, Antigone does not deny burying her brother Polyneices in the play "Antigone" by ancient Greek playwright Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Antigone openly admits burying her brother. The Sentry brings her before her uncle and future father-in-law, Theban King Creon. Creon asks Antigone whether or not the charges are true of her having broken the law against non-burial of the disloyal Theban dead. In the R.C. Jebb translation available online, Antigone says in Episode 2 Line 290, "I avow it; I make no denial."

By scenes 1-2 Antigone buries and reburies Polyneices in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Antigone announces in the play's Prologue her intent to bury her brother Polyneices. By Scene 1 Polyneices' body partially is buried under a layer of dust. King Creon. By Scene 2 the body is re-buried, and Antigone is arrested for being the perpetrator.

Suicide is what happens to Haemon at the end of "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Prince Haemon is engaged to his first cousin, Princess Antigone. But the engagement is broken when Haemon's father, King Creon, sentences Antigone to be buried alive. Haemon goes to rescue or join her and finds her hanging by the halter of her own dress. He unsuccessfully attempts to kill Creon and then kills himself.

That Oedipus arrives at Colonus, befriends Theseus, curses his sons and Creon, dies, and gives luck to Athens through his death is a summary of "Oedipus at Colonus" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princesses Antigone and Ismene accompany their father, disgraced Theban King Oedipus, in exile. The trio arrive at Colonus, a village outside Athens and location of a grove sacred to the Furies. Oedipus becomes friends with Athenian King Theseus, who protects him from local hostility and all three from violent forays by Creon, Oedipus' brother-in-law and former royal colleague. He meets with and curses his son Polyneices, who plans to attack Thebes in order to defend the royal power seized from him by his brother Eteocles and his uncle Creon. Oedipus then meets with Theseus and says that Colonus is the death place identified in an otherwise dreadful prophecy and that his death will bring good luck to Theseus' city. A sudden, fierce storm thunders through the area as a divine sign of Oedipus' imminent death. Oedipus says his goodbyes to Antigone and Ismene and walks to death in a secret, sacred place with only Theseus as witness.

It is in the words of Creon and Ismene that assumptions about gender roles are reinforced in "Antigone" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Ismene identifies women as domestic and obedient and men as job and power holders. Her uncle King Creon goes a step further in assumed gender roles. He characterizes as all alike, replaceable and unworthy of expressing opinions.

Following is a list of natural imagery that is used in the choral odes in the play "Antigone" by ancient Greek playwright Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

In the Parados:

1. "Eye of golden day" describes the suns;

2. An eagle with snow-white edges to outer rear edges of his wings describes Polyneices;

3. An eagle's plumage describes the soldiers of Polyneices;

4. A fight between an eagle and a dragon describes the battle that takes place outside Thebes just before the action of the play;

5. "Clanging gold" describes the combined forces of disgruntled Thebans and invading Argives that attack Thebes;

In Stasimon 1:

6. "The eldest of the gods" describes the Earth;

7. Plows describe the hooves of the horses;

8. The wind describes thoughts;

9. Arrows describe frost and rain;

In Stasimon 2:

10. Vexation to the headlands against which it blows describes the wind during a storm;

11. A roar describes the response of the headlands to the wind mentioned above;

12. A snare by which everybody gets caught describes sleep.

Reminders of parental suffering and societal roles are what Ismene gives as she urges Antigone not to disobey Creon's law in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles (495 B.C.E. - 405 B.C.E.).

Specifically, Theban Princess Ismene brings up the shameful consequences of their father's crimes and of their parents' immorality. She characterizes females as obedient and males as decisive. She concludes that traditional female and male roles are being jeopardized by Antigone taking the law into her own hands.