Antigone A Greek Tragedy by Sophocles

Tragedy •  A drama or literary work in which the main

character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances.

The formation of tragedy was the blend of lyrical and epic poetry combined with

ritual dancing.

Chorus

•  The chorus was considered to be the mouthpiece of

society (in its humble form) and morality and suffered along with the heroes.

•  After Sophocles, the chorus had 15 members and stood in a circle

Ancient Greek Masks •  The use of masks in ancient greek

theater draw their origin from the ancient dionysiac cult.

•  The members of the chorus wore masks, usually similar to each other but completely different from the leading actors

Ancient Greek Masks •  Because the number of actors varied from one to

three, they had to put on different masks, in order to play more roles.

•  The actors were all men. The mask was therefore necessary to let them play the female roles.

Sophocles •  A definitive innovator in

the drama, he added a third actor, increased the size of the chorus, abandoned the trilogy of plays for the self-contained tragedy, and introduced scene painting.

Antigone •  A tragedy written in

442 BC by Sophocles

•  Chronologically the third of the three Theban plays but was written first –  Oedipus the King –  Oedipus at Colonus –  Antigone

•  After Oedipus is exiled, he leaves the ruling rights of Thebes to his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices who must take it in turns to rule.

•  Eteocles rules first but the two becomes enemies after Eteocles refuses to give up the throne, and Polynices is exiled.

•  At the beginning of the play, both brothers are dead, apparently slain by the other's hand.

•  The current ruler, Creon, has made a decree: Since Polynices fought against Thebes, he shall not be buried. Meanwhile, Eteocles is to be buried with full military honors.

•  Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus and the sister of the dead brothers, believes this proclamation to be against the gods' orders.

•  She confides her plan to bury Polynices herself to her sister Ismene. The more timid of the two, Ismene refuses to take part out of fear, but agrees with her motive.

Why study Antigone? •  Ancient Greek Drama is the basis for all

modern drama and film •  The story gives many important clues to the

Ancient Greek culture and character •  Tragedies still contain the basic elements that

they originated with in Sophocles’ time.