Description

As Sophocles’s ca. 442 B.C. tragedy Antigone opens, a great conflict has just come to a bloody end in Thebes. Two princely brothers — Polynices and Eteocles, the leaders of the two opposing forces — are dead. Creon has claimed the crown of Thebes, declaring that his comrade, Eteocles, will receive a noble burial while Polynices will not. Creon orders Polynices’s body to lie where he died, prey to any scavenging creatures that roam the battlefield. Antigone and Ismene, the two soldiers’ sisters, are deeply troubled by this cruel decree, but both realize that it would be death to disobey Creon. Antigone, the braver of the two sisters, knows that it is up to her to either remain safely at home while her brother’s body is ravaged or risk her life to give him the honor she knows he deserves. As this timeless drama’s events unfold, tragedy brings themes of love, honor, duty, courage, and power into sharp relief.

About the Author

Sophocles (ca. 496-406 B.C.) was born in Attica, Greece, to a wealthy family. His stellar education and social prominence perhaps led to his becoming a pillar of his community throughout his life. Sophocles played key roles in many of Athens’s governing bodies, whether political, military, or financial. He made a name for himself as a dramatist in 468 B.C., when he famously won the Dionysia drama competition. This honor was no small accomplishment, as Sophocles beat out Aeschylus, who had for some time been considered Athens’s greatest playwright. Sophocles went on to write many plays in his long lifetime, and several of them survive today. He is best known for his Oedipus cycle, which includes Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonnus, as well as for his other dramas Electra, Philoctetes, and Ajax. Many of Sophocles’s works deal with the painful human dilemmas that even the greatest of leaders must face. To this day, Sophocles is considered one of the founding fathers of Western drama, with his plays enjoying thousands of years on the stage in performances around the world.

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Opening Lines (Experimental)

SCENE. Before the Cadmean Palace at Thebes.
Ismene, have the tidings caught thine ear?
When harm from foes threatens the souls we love?
Cut off with mutual stroke, both in one day.
Nearer to happiness or more in woe.
The palace gate, that thou alone mightst hear.
ISMENE. Speak on! Thy troubled look ...