The "Antigone" of Sophocles
Author(s): S. M. Adams
Source: Phoenix , Summer, 1955, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Summer, 1955), pp. 47-62
Published by: Classical Association of Canada
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1086704
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THE ANTIGONE OF SOPHOCLES
S. M. ADAMS
THE structure of this drama has disturbed many critics: despite its
title, it continues, with Creon in the central role, for some four hundred
verses after Antigone has left the stage for good. We have here, it is said,
not one play but two; and for this kind of piece the term "diptych play"
has been invented-doubtless more in sorrow than in censure. This is
faulty criticism. It arises from an arbitrary conception of what Soph
clean tragedy was, or ought to have been, a conception founded on th
form of the Oedipus Tyrannus and on principles of dramatic construct
derived by Aristotle some three-quarters of a century later. If we con
sider the Antigone in its place in the development of Greek tragedy w
shall see it for what it really is. It does indeed contain two stories, bu
to Sophocles and his audience it was an artistic entity; and theirs is th
viewpoint that really matters. He wrote, and they saw and heard,
drama of conventional pattern, the pattern of hybris assailed by peit
and brought to punishment. There is throughout the greater part of th
play a marked shift of emphasis from "tragic hero" to a figure seconda
in the so-called moral formula; that is all. And for this there was pre
dent and authority.
Sophocles was bound to take this pattern. Whatever may have be
the details of Antigone's story in the KOLPJ) 56a, one thing is certain
Antigone met her death through defiance of an edict forbidding t
burial of Polyneices' body. It is no less certain that to Sophocles and h
audience that edict was a piece of gross irreverence and, as such, the a
of a man of hybris. The dramatist wishing to tell the story of Antigon
thus found himself with the familiar theme of hybris on his hands.
could not tell her story without bringing in the edict, and once that
of hybris was introduced the artist would desire, and the audience wou
expect, the punishment of its author-in our play, Creon. Moreove
Antigone's story must end before Creon's: his punishment cannot com
until after her death. There is only one way to avoid anticlimax o
worse, a mere addendum; but it is an obvious way. Sophocles composes
a drama which is, in basic structure, the story of Creon; technically, th
protagonist is the king; and it is through his story that the story
Antigone is told. That she is nevertheless the dominant figure until h
part is over is due to the fact that up to this point the dramatist kee
the story of Creon on more or less traditional lines. Vivid as is his po
trayal of the man of hybris, the tale so far is one with which the audie
was familiar. Their chief interest was therefore free to rest with Antigone,
who captured it with the force of her personality in the first verses of the
prologos. That is the simple skill of genius. It is equally the work
47
THE PHOENIX, vol. 9 (1955) 2
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48
THE
PHOENIX
genius that after Antigo
ordinated-though steadil
own, showing a typically
What unites these stories
is a development of the fi
is the part she plays in th
part that would be immed
the day. And if that part
of the formula itself, the
authority.
I mean the Agamemnon. That drama, like the Antigone, presents the
story of hybris and its chastisement, and in it Clytaemnestra is peitho.
Because Aeschylus is altering the legend, he is compelled to develop his
Clytaemnestra in full measure as a woman who could and would, single-
handed, at any risk and at any cost, take vengeance on her husband.
The result is, as we all readily admit, a Clytaemnestra whose dramatic
qualities dominate the work. That sort of characterization, that sort of
drama, represented what "tragedy" meant to Sophocles; and that is
precisely the kind of effect he requires here. He wants an Antigone who
will dominate the hybris theme, and here is his model. As Clytaemnestra
drives Agamemnon to put himself on a level with the gods, so in our play
Antigone drives Creon to put himself above them; as Clytaemnestra in
dramatic appeal outweighs Agamemnon, so Antigone, until her part is
played, outweighs Creon. I do not mean to say that the parallel is exact;
of course it is not. For one thing, Clytaemnestra is before us to the end,
and the shift of interest in the Antigone cannot be denied. What I am
saying is that in 441 B.c. or thereabouts the design of this play would be
seen as an artistic whole with a welcome variant on the peitho themea peitho as dramatically exciting in her own way as Clytaemnestra had
been in hers. As for the title, Sophocles wrote the play for the purpose of
presenting Antigone as he saw her; he did this in the only way he could,
but he gave his work the name of the character that mattered most to
him. The very title was a forecast to the audience. Certainly no
one, whatever his views concerning the play, will deny that Antigone
earns it.
In the prologos, Antigone fails to secure Ismene's help and sets forth
alone to bury the body. It is a case of tolma or thrasos, "rash daring" or
"recklessness," against sophrosyne, "safemindedness" or "wisdom"; and
an example of the Sophoclean technique of bringing out an essential
quality in the tragic figure by setting it in sharp contrast with the opposite
quality in another character. Ismene is an incarnation of that "wisdom"
which in the common scheme of Greek morality was the cardinal virtue.
Her "rightness" in this situation would be immediately seen: sophrosyne
cannot entertain Antigone's proposal because there is apparently no
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THE ANTIGONE OF SOPHOCLES 49
chance of its success.1 To Antigone, this att
she proposes may be "folly" (95), but to her
she can take; if it means her death, there ar
are indeed rash daring and recklessness. B
right. To him sophrosyne is not enough; the
wrong that transcends the question of "wis
criterion he envisages as a body of Unwri
that govern the things we know by instinc
these laws enjoin piety to the gods and piet
they require for their observance abando
cardinal virtue, itself. That is the case he
epcos-compels Antigone to defy the edic
abandon sophrosyne and take to tolma and
demanding piety to man (and to the gods in
the authority of the Unwritten and Eter
tolma and thrasos are not vice but virtue; an
above sophrosyne as currently understood.
Such is the general substance of the prolog
is significant if we are not receptive to the c
speech; for in addition to capturing and fir
interest in her through her own emotional
lishes her background, the background of Cr
edict. She and Ismene are daughters of a
sufferings have been visited upon them by
Oedipus. Creon has issued his edict as str
significance of which has not often been ap
presumably in the heat of battle, he gave th
the right to expect absolute obedience; ho
position is that of the civil ruler?' As for the
Antigone asks, "that evil done to foes come
this is clear. Antigone does not oppose th
wrongly, burial is, or has been, denied to
tolerate is its denial to her brother. She is n
such, against the laws of man.
Divine law, as we know and as she realiz
1"You cannot do it," says Ismene, in effect. "What y
and "One should not make any attempt at all to ach
2Cf. however John Morrison, "The Place of Prot
CQ 35 (1941) 1-16.
3This may have some bearing on the story, report
that Sophocles was chosen strategos as a result of this
commands that will not stand the scrutiny of civic a
'The point could hardly have been made less empha
be guilty of dishonouring that which is held in honour
to be taken as an expression of her motive. Moreove
reverting at once to the sophrosyne theme; and th
expressions of the eros motive (73-76, 80-81).
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50
THE
PHOENIX
but her motive is eros, an
prologos, and indeed thro
to keep me from my own"
beloved
centred
What
with
upon
they
him
all
did
its
I
love
memb
does
not
men
ente
though Polyneices was a t
will not be proved a trait
of her as "daughter of a
or "family fixation" or wh
concentrated on "her own
to her dead brother is pre
between the laws of the g
The
chorus
of
old
from siege and of the ene
construction: after each st
In the first of these an im
it weaves its way with de
fact to the end of the firs
movement of that image,
its chastisement. The imm
old men see in the Argive
as Capaneus; here is the at
about Creon's edict and kn
relevance; and this is emp
second antistrophe so that
was in anapaests that the
In
their
closing
verses
t
conference" (Jebb) summo
the usual "chorus of elder
further: they have been es
all the grim and disastrou
by
the
reigning
king
with
s
through thick and thin. T
most for support; and it i
acterization of the chorus
and the content of their o
him shows that already h
Creon
opens
the
episode
through the Seven-a remi
the man who used this met
the
palace
of
the
Kings
o
hybris. He prepares to ma
he issued as general, begin
quently been noted: "It is
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THE ANTIGONE OF SOPHOCLES 51
or mind of any man until you see him
laws" (175-177). Then come the princi
In themselves his precepts are sound, b
act automatically condemned as hybr
proclaims in a burst of rage that lead
intentions that even the traitor coul
edict uttered, his wrath abates.
The chorus submit to his will, but w
is your pleasure," says the leader, addin
to employ any law concerning either
In other words, "Our king, right or wr
our king, right or wrong." They thus
doing they put the first stroke to his
the tyrannos who, in Fifth-Century At
of power (and was therefore very likel
always fear sedition working through
tyrannos underlies the brief exchang
moral support of these men because
edict (219). Uneasy already about tha
excuse for stasis; and "hope of gain o
motive.
The leader suggests (what we have already heard) that the penal
for disobedience will be death. Creon accepts this and by so doing com
mits himself before the audience.
When the Guard enters and embarks on his speech of hesitation, weif we are the original audience-think we know the reason for his diffidence: of course, he has come to bring word that Antigone has buried the
body. The dramatist makes the most of our suspense. Then, when the
Guard gives his news and tells his story, our expectation is belied and
we are taken aback. There is no mention of Antigone; instead, we are
told about a burial so extraordinary as to seem inexplicable: the body
had simply vanished under a covering of fine dust; there was no mark of
tool or wheel, no track of bird or beast. "It was," says the Guard, "a
mystery to us all" (254).6
Why did Sophocles insert this "first burial" in his play? The late Professor E. T. Owen pointed out dramatic effects secured by it.' Sophocles
wanted Creon to hear of the flouting of his edict before he knew that the
"His savage prevision of the body torn by birds and dogs will perhaps be remembered
when we hear about the first burial.
61t requires little thought to see that this first burial cannot have been carried out
by Antigone. The burial took place in the night; it was not noticed until the first daywatchman went on duty (253-254). But the prologos presents a scene occurring when
there was at least some light. Antigone therefore cannot have performed the burial
before the watchman has light enough to see what is going on. (This is not "going behind
the play"; it is merely reading what the dramatist has written.)
7E. T. Owen, "Sophocles the Dramatist," UTQ 5 (1936) 229-231.
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52
THE
PHOENIX
culprit
thus
was
prolong
Antigone,
the
drama
scenes enhances the effectiveness of the second in that it makes the
audience wait for the great moment they know is coming, establishes and
heightens their expectation of Creon's anger, and helps to make Creon's
attitude towards Antigone more readily acceptable to the imagination,
since he doubly commits himself, first by his proclamation and secondly
in this scene, in his rage at the message and manner of the Guard.
Professor Owen felt that the effects secured are the "cause" of this
first burial, and that to secure them strict motivation is sacrificed, the
dramatist knowing how far such sacrifice of motivation can be carried.
It requires no little temerity to question the conclusion of one whose
aesthetic sensitivity was unrivalled; but I cannot feel that there is no
motivation here. For the dramatist also knows how far he can expect an
audience, duly guided, to draw an inference; and such an inference is to
be drawn from the precise and detailed account he has put into the Guard's
mouth. Neither Antigone nor any other human being could accomplish
such a burial as the Guard describes. Sophocles has taken pains to give
us that impression. Moreover, he prolongs the Guard's story with an
inconsequential narration of what happened amongst the watchers in
order to give us time to draw this inference-that the burial was some-
how supernatural-, so that when the chorus-leader says he thinks it
may have been the work of gods his remark comes as a verification of our
notion. We are, of course, puzzled by all this; we do not know what it
portends; but it "registers," and we know that it must be here for some
purpose.
Creon rejects the leader's suggestion. Naturally; for he knows th
explanation: it is sedition, working through bribery. Also, the deed is t
him an act of hybris (309): a characteristic thought, for in Sophocles th
man of hybris habitually thinks it is his opponent who has the hybri
And the characteristic suspicion of the tyrannos fastens on the obvious
guiltless Guard. He thinks the man has been bribed to conceal the identit
of the guilty and commands him to produce the culprit on penalty of
"calamities" as the net result of "cunning gain." Like a slave before an
eastern potentate,9 the Guard is thankful to escape with his life.
Towards the close of this vigorous development of the tyrannos the
Guard points to the essential tragedy of the king: "It is too bad when
man's resolved and his resolution's wrong" (323). For despite his hybris
Creon has at least the characteristic Sophoclean strength of purpos
and his strength is being expended in a struggle in which from the ver
beginning he is at deadly fault.
Few choral odes have been more admired than the ensuing hymn on
8Cf. in this play 480, 482 (Antigone); 768 (Haemon).
'Observe the use of iXeb0epos 299, 445.
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THE ANTIGONE OF SOPHOCLES 53
Man's Rise to Civilization. The purpose of
theme is clear: they are justifying the stan
the edict. The magic of "language, rhyt
across long stretches of endeavour. Man h
the earth. Birds and beasts and fishes he
beasts he has tamed to his service. He has
lectual and social. His crowning achieveme
depends for its continued existence upo
almost their last words, though of course
wreck their case. What they mean here (3
the laws of the land and that justice he h
high is his city." But the words Oer'v r' evop
oathbound justice of the gods," and we
they have submitted violates that justi
they have reared for their justification cr
this unintended touch. Here is irony as f
in lyric. And the irony in their next wor
7rapo4'cpvrjqa: "Citiless is wrong's partne
scious reference to the tolma of Antigone
Now comes the scene that was so effec
Creon is faced with Antigone as the culpr
to hear that Antigone was caught in the a
gives him time to grasp the meaning of
dramatist extracts from the situation the full measure of the shock it
has given him.'x Then, at the king's abrupt command, the Guard tells
the story of the capture. The watchmen were at a distance, on the alert,
when suddenly in the burning noonday a whirlwind raised a storm of
dust that filled the plain and choked the air. The guards were forced to
close. their eyes; and when at last the storm was over and they lookedthere was Antigone. They watched her perform the simple ritual of dust
and libations; then they dashed forward and seized a quarry obbbv
EK1re rXny/Pvl, "quite calm and collected." They taxed her with both
burials; ,irapvos 6' o~bevbS KaOLoraro: she took the stand of making no
denial of anything;1' she owed no answer to these men.
Obviously, this dust-storm is the dramatist's device to enable Antigone
to bury the body despite the watch kept upon it; something of the sort
had to be devised. I suggest that it has another function: that it solves
our puzzle concerning the first burial. Little effort is needed to infer that
that extraordinary burial was the result of just such a dust-storm as this.
1OHere is a brilliant touch. "I saw her," says the Guard, "burying the body you forbade
burial to. Is that plain and clear?" And Creon is so preoccupied that he does not even
notice this undisguised impertinence.
"It seems necessary to point out that this Greek does not and can not mean that she
confessed to both burials.
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54
THE
We
PHOENIX
are,
in
inference
fact,
and
his
tive here there
which, though
remin
that
t
are two
in them
context seem to
application here
prove
as we
might erect to point the
I suggest, then, that th
body from birds and do
burial
and
to
be
caugh
already been indicated:
to all men who show hy
At any rate, that is w
Agamemnon to tread t
Creon to commit an act
Justice which dwells wi
and unfailing ordinances
of course: Clytaemnestr
guile
in
deadly
For
Antigone;
to
Creon
Creon,
especially
fool,
it
the
by
is
as
but
Clyt
die
her
is
conclu
perhaps
a
f
still more clearly the tr
"I will not be worsted b
choice, and makes it wi
The completely unfoun
Ismene shows how far h
As for Antigone, she w
recede from his position
We know that he does n
as Professor Owen poin
and though his suspicion
would be no easy matte
12I offered this interpretat
with no approval. But cf. Sir
51: "Is it not possible that h
night.., .to cover up the bod
'3It is to this passage (450-46
the self-appointed upholder o
inherent power. Naturally, i
for the gods with the voice
This is only half of her spe
"complex"
plays
her
and
part
the
as
eros
peitho,
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mo
yet
THE ANTIGONE OF SOPHOCLES 55
welcome an excuse to do so. That is why h
to argue with her. In this she is no m
she cannot here (or later) offer a logical
was an instinct only. To that instinct, to
not made for sharing hate, but love" (
wrath rises again: "Then go below and
While I live, no woman shall rule me." A
ends with effective statement of the mo
one side, eros; hybris on the other.
Ismene is brought in-a different Ismen
sophrosyne, "safemindedness," for eros-lo
of her family (548, 566). As eros sway
Polyneices, so it sways Ismene now th
declares (536-537) that she shared in th
to it to save her. She must make Creon f
foundation for that confession, and to ac
cruelly: she has to be cruel in order to b
Her efforts, we are to see, are not in vai
strongly emphasized: "My life has long b
the dead I serve" (559-560). And we le
betrothed to Creon's son.
Creon still avoids the death-sentence he has threatened to pronounce.
Clearly, he still hopes it may not be necessary; imprisonment plus the
threat of death may bring these women to their senses.
At the beginning of this episode the chorus-leader saw Antigone as the
"unfortunate daughter of an unfortunate father" (379-380), and after
her first defiant speech he observed that she was her father's daughter
The chorus now sing an ode which commences on that theme, the theme
of the House Accursed. They are trying to see in Antigone's plight simply
the workings of the family curse, which passes from generation to gener
ation, sparing no one. They are in fact again trying to justify their support
of Creon, this time by holding the curse responsible for what is happening.
In a sense they are right, but only in a sense. They do not see where the
and Creon are wrong. Yet, ironically, they proceed to explain the curse
upon this house by attributing it to hybris; and thus again while seeking
to justify themselves they speak unconsciously the condemnation of their
king. As the song ends, Creon's son enters.
In the Creon-Haemon scene the qualities of the tyrannos which we
have watched in steady development are crystallized, so to speak, as
he is set in direct contrast with an obvious man of sophrosyne. The cas
he puts to Haemon is simply the case for obedience-obedience of son to
father, obedience within the family, obedience of citizen to ruler. Antigone
(there is no mention of Ismene) has been taken in disobedience; he will
not be false to his public pronouncement. If he cannot control his own
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56
THE
PHOENIX
kin how can he control o
matters large and small, i
viewpoint of the tyranno
are the steadfast support
seems to justify their loy
But Haemon also states his case. With sober deference he tells his
father that he is going contrary to unanimous public opinion; the who
city is on Antigone's side, recognizing her act as deserving of the highe
honour. He urges him to yield and supports his plea with expressions o
old and tried proverbial wisdom. Loyal though they are to Creon, t
old men are so much impressed that they venture to suggest that h
give consideration to Haemon's words. It is the first sign of possib
weakening on their part.
But, as Creon's pride rebelled at the thought of inferiority to a woman
so now it rebels at the thought of taking instruction from a youth
Knowing him as we do, we expect him to be enraged; for Haemon's ple
has shown his position to be doubly wrong: he has not only offend
against the gods and the Unwritten Laws; he is also offending against th
principles on which all good government must be based. It is on th
plane that the open quarrel in the ensuing stichomythia begins an
develops. Haemon's attitude is that of the democratic man whom an
normal Athenian might typify; the sentiments of Creon are almo
grotesquely those of the tyrannos: "Is the city to tell me what orders
should give?" (734); "Must I rule this land to suit another than myself?
(736); "Is not a city supposed to belong to its ruler?" Here is the tyrann
made manifest. And he goes from bad to worse, incapable of reason
incapable of normal understanding. He thinks Haemon is threatening hi
life (751-752). When Haemon says (755), "If you were not my father
would have said you were infatuate," Creon thinks he means merel
"I would have said you were not wise," and tells him not to fawn on him
Beside himself with infatuate wrath, he says he will have Antigone kill
before Haemon's eyes, here and now.
Haemon, himself now carried away by wrath, rushes from the scene
and Creon, accusing him of hybris, declares that at any rate the two gir
shall not escape their doom. How far he really meant to go this time w
need not guess, for the leader holds him to the point. The readiness wit
which he remits Ismene's sentence is significant; and incidentally the
verb O,ydybw, recalling Antigone's use of it in 546, is a deft and not to
subtle indication that she did indeed save Ismene then: her words have
stayed in Creon's mind.'4 Again the coryphaeus holds him to the point
and at last he pronounces what amounts to a formal sentence of death
upon Antigone: he prescribes the manner of it. Yet in the midst of it h
"4With syntactic irregularity and prodelision, & p) '0ryes is an expression designed to
strike the ear and "register."
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THE ANTIGONE OF SOPHOCLES 57
is still uneasy; even this devious form of d
pollution. The thought goads him; wrath m
on a note of blasphemy.
Now comes the short but all-important
power which "keeps vigil on a girl's soft
gain) "makes havoc of worldly goods"-a
which gods and men alike are subject. The
they have just witnessed: it was eros tha
kinsmen. They are right, of course; althou
and Haemon developed along political lines,
was assuredly the love of Haemon for Ant
far wider relevance. Eros was also Ismene's
Antigone's fate; above all, it was the who
fitly, then, and with strong irony, do the
assessor in office by the side of the Great
the phrase, but it is surely sound. The cho
greatness of this power, but to us their wo
on what we have seen so well-that Antigon
piety and so has obeyed the Unwritten
For the central stasimon of this play the
appropriate; it is artistically essential.
The last clause in the ode strikes the k
"Aphrodite,"
the old who
menenters
sing, now.
"..ratcL."
a
different Antigone
Gon
vocativeness and longing for death. This is
nature, the woman she would have been
demands of eros. A figure hitherto no mo
figure tragic, as Sophocles saw tragedy: a w
compelled behaviour utterly foreign to her
nature gentle and made for love, driven by
in a desperate situation, a part completely i
And now she realizes the price that she m
dead-the dead whom she longed to join; a
the demands of eros has taken from her all
held for her: she goes without ever having had
song; she is to be the bride of Acheron (81
note is struck. The goddess of eros mocks
15Apart from this revelation of the tragic Antigo
quired dramatically. Up to the central stasimon we
"her own." But we heard of her betrothal to Hae
could be such mutual love as theirs" (570). She had
higher claim took precedence and absorbed her, unt
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58
THE
PHOENIX
There
is
a
change
in
t
their OeapotL-the law of
pity, try to comfort h
a common intensity of
stone, so she is to be im
was robbed of her child
might have had. The ch
they declare her lot an
That is why she cries
these old men do not un
not forgo their loyalty
most thrasos and has fa
inheritance (853-856). T
the dark background of
her "complex." The cho
loyalty: "Your act," the
man who wields power c
ends the kommos with a
all mankind. That is v
Creon re-enters. Any
sentence will be carrie
leave
him
"yvbs.
She
do
is to be her bridal-cha
motive-eros for her d
Utterance of that name releases the flood of her emotion. Verses 904-920
are most certainly to be retained. They have been suspected chiefly
because they contain no mention of "divine law." Of course they do not;
any such reference here would be a lamentable intrusion. Antigone has
acted throughout not from calm and reasoned respect for divine law as
such, but on an instinct; and she is trying to explain that instinct to
herself. She cannot do it now, any more than she could explain her act
to Creon. The only nomos she knows (rivos v6Ptov, 908; roL4Be v6bC, 913914) is the nomos of eros-an eros greater, she thinks, than she would
have felt for the husband or child she never had. It does not matter
whether or not Sophocles borrowed this idea from Herodotus. What
matters is its perfect use. She is thinking of the husband she was to have
had and the children she might have had, and she is trying to tell herself
that her brother meant more to her than these could have meant. The
pathos of her thinking this is the explanation of its presence. And if the
syntax is somewhat confused in places, we know well enough how adept
Sophocles was in breaking syntax to display emotion.
Observance of this nomos, she adds, involved no violation of the gods'
law, yet they are allowing her to perish for it. She feels herself deserted
now by gods as well as men: a typical Sophoclean tragic figure, she stands
at last completely alone. Her piety has only given her the name of
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THE ANTIGONE OF SOPHOCLES 59
impious. Yet it is in the odour of piety, an
pares to leave. "If this is right in the judg
suffered I shall know my offence" (925-9
is these who offend, may they not suffer
unrighteously to me." That is Sophrosy
but a truer wisdom altogether.
The fourth stasimon begins as one of th
parallels "universalize" the story. Danae, t
imprisoned. Here the parallel is close, f
innocent. But then the parallelism of imp
twist in their grasp. The case of Lycur
Lycurgus was guilty of offence against
Cleopatra, in whose story also imprison
mention of imprisonment here. Instead,
blinded, wounds that brought darkness u
geance, wounds struck with daggers impr
exovres &av4~revrov yovaiv. The theme h
the House Accursed. This is Oedipus and
our thought the poet gives us the word
attempt to comfort Antigone gives way
explanation for what is happening to her
repetition.
The play is Creon's now. The dramatist's task will be to impart to his
story, hitherto "played down," an interest that will attract and absorb
the audience's attention. He does not lose a moment. With the entrance
of Teiresias we are plunged at once into a tale, composed with all the
poet's power of word and verse, that must have fallen on the ears of the
Athenian audience with all the horror of a tale of evil miracle. The birds
of augury are rioting, the media of divination in revolt. The gods reject
all prayer and sacrifice. Creon's counsel has brought plague upon the
city, whose hearths and altars are tainted with carrion from Polyneices'
body. Creon has faced in turn subject, culprit, and son, and with each
interview his wrath has mounted higher. Now he faces the representative
of the gods. He is given his chance (1023 ff.); and this, in 441 B.c., may
well have been a novelty. But unhappily for him Teiresias ends his appeal
with the word KepBOS, "gain." Instantly the suspicion, rage, and hybris
of the tyrannos blaze up again; he thinks the seer has brought this charge
against him because he has been bribed by malcontents to do so. His
answer is an outburst of furious, defiant pride that surpasses everything
that he has uttered hitherto, magnificent in its very recklessness and
blasphemy. We can only wonder at the dramatic power that could lift
to a still higher strain a theme which already seemed to have reached its
limit. Teiresias himself is now moved to wrath. Condemning Creon for
sacrilege against gods below and gods above, in the veiled language of
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60
THE
PHOENIX
prophecy he foretells t
through their represent
can be no escape; the se
the sequel.
The old men can stand no more. Even they cannot support the king
against the seer's unerring words. And if these men, who stood unshaken
by the royal house through all its past tribulations, and have so loyally
supported Creon's authority through this day's harrowing course-if
these men feel thus, he too cannot go on. It is still hard for him to yield,
but the misgiving he has never really quelled has play, and he does so.
"I fear," he says, "it may prove best to keep the established laws all
through one's life" (1113-1114). Here at least is an innovation well calculated to impart new interest to the story of hybris and its chastisement.
The man of hybris is not to go blindly to his doom. He has been, so to
speak, converted. And yet his doom has been irrevocably spoken. How
will it come about that, though he sees and would undo his errors, that
doom will nevertheless come upon him? What he should do, and do at
once, is obvious. Both he and the coryphaeus realize that he must, first,
free Antigone, and then give burial to Polyneices' body.
In the ensuing hyporcheme there is the usual irony in that the chorus,
either forgetting or disregarding the fact that Creon spurned his chance
and so offended the gods who offered it through the mouth of Apollo's
priest, think that all will now be well, whereas we know that somehow
Creon will fail and his doom descend upon him.'"
A Messenger announces that Haemon has died by his own hand. At
this moment Eurydice, Creon's wife, enters, her emotional background
drawn in with swift, sure stroke. The Messenger tells his story. Creon
has done the wrong thing first: instead of freeing Antigone at once, he
has spent much time in burying the body. Why did Sophocles do this?
Of course, it was to his advantage to get the burial out of the way before
the important scene at the tomb; but this does not explain why he made
it so very clear that Creon intended to free Antigone first; he could quite
easily have left the order of procedure vague. The explanation is simple.
Creon's period of "sanity"-if it was sanity and not plain fear-did not
last; it was in a final seizure of ate, mental blindness, that he acted as he
did both here and at the tomb; and that is how and why the fate foretold
for him came to pass. The gods took him in hand, blinding him. That is
precisely his own verdict (1272-1274):
OE&s T6T' apa TOTE ,2E7a B&po S' M Xov
b-ratcrEv, Ci 5' &r, o'Ev ,yplar ois .6.o .
16Also, it is perhaps ironical in that they address themselves not to Apollo, but to
Dionysus.
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THE ANTIGONE OF SOPHOCLES 61
The repeated rbre can only refer to wh
scene at the body and at the tomb: "Th
heavy blow." And the second clause me
ways of cruelty," but "and plunged me in
may reject tmesis, "and shook me in a cr
The whole of the Messenger's narrative,
blindness. We wait in dismay through
burial-prayers to Hecate and Pluto, washi
firewood, burning of the body, heaping
of this waste of invaluable time and, sure
what Creon afterwards calls "the errors o
story proceeds. Informed of a wail in the
he draws nearer, hears a muffled cry of b
frenzy of apprehension. Obviously, his co
he thinks he now knows what Haemon meant in 751. "Do I then read
the future?" he asks. "Is this the most ill-fated journey I have ever made
My son's voice pleads with me." He urges his men to hurry and see
whether he has grasped the meaning of Haemon's voice-- Oeolo
KXkrrotat, "or whether the gods mislead me": the dramatist's sign-post
And when they see the hanged Antigone and Haemon clasping her, Creon
cries to his son (1228-1230):
1 X 7rXov, oiov epyovu epyaa.at riva
&oiY &rXes; ' r^ o'vCsoopas StErodppls;
'RXOe, Tre'Kvov, IKto6S oe XtoorC/at.
It is, of course, possible that these strong words refer merely to Haemon's
forcible entrance into the tomb; if so, they are mad enough, since Creon
intended to do precisely that and should have welcomed this anticipation.
But I do not think they do; I think they have a far more deadly significance,17 and that this is why Haemon stares, spits, and attacks his father
and, missing his aim and therefore enraged with himself-not "in violent
remorse"-, commits suicide. Well may the Messenger exclaim upon the
folly of men (1242-1243). And well may the coryphaeus refer to Haemon's
body, when the diversion caused by Eurydice's exit is past, as obc
&XXorplav ,rvnY, the work of Creon's own infatuation.
The play draws to its close surcharged with lyric. Admitting his own
blindness, Creon applies to himself the ancient principle, p&Oos 2rae0; he
has learned wisdom through misery (1272). A Messenger from within
reports the suicide of Eurydice. Creon puts the guilt of this also upon
himself alone. His punishment is complete, and he prays for death; but
the coryphaeus reminds him that prayers are useless: this is his "destined
"Since he left before Creon pronounced sentence, it may be thought that Haemon
supposes the hanging was by Creon's order; but Creon's words are so vague that Haemon
must now believe his father is charging him with it and must act on this assumption.
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62
THE
PHOENIX
calamity" and there is n
Teiresias pronounced hi
by seeking to undo the
The
"tag"
is
much
bett
adequate and effectiv
chorus chant, "more t
But there must be no
penalty, and teaches w
and so forfeited happi
has paid heavy penalti
is a wide term, and I ha
that they too have learn
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