Eurydice
Haemon
Antigone
Creon
Ismene
Jocasta
Menoeceus
Polynices
Ectocles
Laius
Labdacus
Oedipus
THEBAN ROYAL FAMILY TREE
Antigone
Sophocles, 441 BCE  Adapted by B. Coon
Dramatis Personae:








ANTIGONE, daughter of the late King Oedipus
ISMENE, Antigone’s younger sister
CREON, King of Thebes; Antigone’s uncle
EURYDICE, his wife
HAEMON, his son
TIRESIAS, the blind prophet
TWO GUARDS
CHORUS OF THEBAN ELDERS (five voices)
Antigone was written by Sophocles around 441 BCE. Sophocles wrote
three known plays in a trilogy: Oedipus Rex, about the fall of
Antigone’s father, Oedipus; Oedipus at Colonus, which examines the
death of Oedipus; and finally Antigone. Though Antigone follows the
other two plays, it was actually written first, as a response to the play
Seven Against Thebes by fellow playwright Aeschylus.
Sophocles wrote this play while a drafted general for the Athenian
army. He fought against Samos to pressure the city into joining the
Delian League, an arrangement where Athens fought for other cities
in return for protection money. While Sophocles never mentions
Athens, his warnings against tyrants show his true opinions of the war.
Greek drama differed greatly from modern plays. All performers were
men, even if they played female roles. Every play features a chorus,
which narrates the action through song. Outside the chorus, there
were only three actors who played all the other parts. As plays were
religious celebrations, every play has songs by the chorus praising the
gods or asking for their help. Usually, a god would appear in response;
these gods were actors dangled from a special crane called a machina.
The modern literary term deus ex machine, where problems are
suddenly and inexplicably solved, comes from this practice.
1
Backstory
Antigone is the last story in the Oedipedia, a series of tragic stories
about the end of the line of Labdacus, who was the first king of
Thebes. Labdacus founded Thebes, yet was killed when he fought with
a tribe called the Argives over the borders of the city. The crown went
to Amphion and Zethus, twin sons of Zeus and a mortal woman, who
build a think wall around Thebes with only seven gates of entry. The
rightful heir, Labdacus’ son Laius, is smuggled out of the city and
raised by Pelops, king of Pisa. While with Pelops, Laius abducts and
lies with the king’s son, Chrysippus. For this sin, the gods curse Laius
that should he have a son that his son would kill him.
Laius later returns to Thebes to rule, marrying Jocasta. Jocasta and her
brother Creon are the last of the Spartoi, a race of men created when
the god Cadmus planted dragon’s teeth in the ground. The two have
a son; however, because of the gods’ curse, Laius orders that his son
be taken to a mountaintop and left to die.
Years later, the city of Thebes is beset by a sphinx, a creature that asks
people a series of riddles; should one answer incorrectly, the sphinx
devours them. Laius went to journey to the oracle at Delphi for the
answer to the riddles so he could defeat the sphinx. On his way, he
encountered Oedipus, son of King Polybus of Corinth. Oedipus had run
away from home when the oracle told him he was destended to kill
his father. Laius demanded the boy move out of his way, and crushed
his foot with his chariot wheel; in anger, Oedipus killed Laius and all
of his men.
Oedipus journeyed to Thebes to bring the corpses of those he killed
for burial. Upon being confronted by the sphinx, he answers all the
questions of the sphinx, killing it. The people rejoice and assume the
sphinx is what killed Laius and the other men. Oedipus is chosen by
the elders of Thebes to be the new king; he marries the widowed
Jocasta and has four children: male twins Ectocles and Polynices, and
daughters Antigone and Ismene.
2
Twenty years after he became king, Thebes is struck by a plague.
Creon, now head adviser to King Oedipus, goes to the oracle and
discovers the plague will continue until Laius’ murderer is exiled from
Thebes. Oedipus asks the blind seer Tiresius who the murderer is, and
Tiresius tells him that the man he killed on the road who broke his foot
was the king. Furthermore, Oedipus discovers that King Polybus was
not his true father—he was taken to the king by a shepherd who found
him on a mountaintop. Oedipus turns out to be the true son of Laius
and Jocasta. Upon this discovery, Jocasta kills herself; Oedipus blinds
himself and is led out of the city by his daughters.
With Oedipus gone, his twin sons are left to rule and pledge to take
turns. However, after the first year, Ectocles refuses to give the crown
to Polynices; Polynices, in turn, goes to the Argives and asks the six
most hated enemies of Thebes to help him take back the throne.
Together, they raise an army, and are known as the Seven Against
Thebes. They attack the city and cause a year-long civil war.
Meanwhile, Oedipus and his daughters have escaped to Colonus,
where they befriend Theseus, king of Athens. When Creon learns that
whomever gains Oedipus’ blessing with be king to the finest city in
Greece, both he and Polynices try to win Oedipus’ favor. However,
Oedipus gives his blessing to Theseus (making Athens the beacon city)
and curses Ectocles and Polynices to kill each other before he dies.
Antigone and Ismene journey back to Thebes, where Antigone is
engaged to marry Haemon, Creon’s only son. As they come back to
the city, they find that the Seven have been defeated, but that both
Ectocles and Polynices have slain each other. Antigone is now next in
line, but as women cannot be king, Creon is appointed to rule until
Antigone takes a husband. This is where Antigone begins.
3
Scene I
The lights rise on the Thebean agora, the open Greek marketplace
where both commoners and kings came to discuss ideas and purchase
necessities. It is a circular space with doors to the left and right, and a
single door through a back wall that goes to the palace. ANTIGONE
comes in from left, looks around, and then calls into the center door.
ANTIGONE:
(softly) Ismene! Izzy, sister, come out! (ISMENE
enters) Have you heard?
ISMENE:
No word, gladsome or painful, has come to me since
we two sisters were bereft of brothers twain.
ANTIGONE:
'Tis more dark tidings to the tragedy?
ISMENE:
Tragedy. Gods, I cannot stand the word. I am sick to
death of tragedy. Tell me not.
ANTIGONE:
I must!
ISMENE:
I won’t hear.
ANTIGONE:
It’s important, Izzy!
ISMENE:
No, Antigone! I am too heartsick. Mother, father, our
county torn apart… (almost crying) I swear, should
you utter a single word compounding my loss I will
jump from the highest rock.
ANTIGONE:
Hold sister! Hey! (ANTIGONE embraces ISMENE) I’m
sorry. I love you more than words can say, sister, and
we have born every calamity together. Remember
how I blocked your sight from mother’s body when
she hanged herself? Or when we took care of father?
ISMENE:
Poor father. Every day we guided his hand, fed him,
clothed him, and held his hands as he cried. Do you
remember how his tears would infect his wounds?
4
ANTIGONE:
Ay. What a cruel joke of Zeus that a man can cut out
his own eyes yet still be able to cry.
ISMENE:
Do you blame father? For what happened?
ANTIGONE:
(sighs) He was the root but not the cause. He ignored
the oracle and dishonored the gods. He committed
acts against nature when he begat us. But every sin
was done in ignorance. Father only wanted peace for
Thebes and happiness for us.
ISMENE:
Some happiness he caused.
ANTIGONE:
Father loved us.
ISMENE:
(angrily) Don’t tell me about love! You think I didn’t
love father as well? But who is there to love us now?
Mother’s dead. We buried father a month ago. Our
brothers just tore out each other’s throats not two
days ago. Who do I have left?
ANTIGONE:
You have me.
ISMENE:
You have Haemon, and will soon leave for other lands.
ANTIGONE:
You know I have to. The curse of Oedipus lurks in the
eyes of every person in Thebes. They look upon us
with disgust, and mutter about the shame of our
parentage. But I have no sin. I have committed no
crime. Yet the eyes, always watching, always judging.
ISMENE:
I know the looks, and get them myself. Yet here I stay.
ANTIGONE:
Then come with us.
ISMENE:
No. Thebes is my home. I’m not brave like you. And
Uncle Creon is nice to me. I’m back in the palace and
it feels normal again.
5
ANTIGONE:
Izzy…
ISMENE:
No. We have suffered lifetimes. We have watched our
parents die and our brothers war to be king. Thebes
is but a ruin, and now Eteocles and Polynices are
corpses, fit for burial.
ANTIGONE:
Only one brother is meant for the earth, sister.
ISMENE:
(with sudden hope) You mean… did Polynices survive?
ANTIGONE:
No. He is part of no world.
ISMENE:
I do not understand.
ANTIGONE:
At the last battle, when the Seven came and burned
the town, Eteocles took Polynices’ life, but not before
he mortally wounded Eteocles. Now our newly kinged
uncle must bury his kin. Eteocles, they say, hath been
laid in the earth, for his honor among the dead below.
But the hapless corpse of Polynices—his rebellion
against Thebes and forming the Seven has angered
our uncle, and hath decreed that none shall entomb
him or mourn, but leave unwept, unsepulchred, a
welcome feast for animals.
ISMENE:
Oh no! Our brother, fated to wander earth a shade!
ANTIGONE:
Consider if thou wilt share the toil and the deed.
ISMENE:
In what venture?
ANTIGONE:
Wilt thou aid this hand to lift the dead?
ISMENE:
You are going to bury him? But 'tis forbidden!
ANTIGONE:
I will do my duty as a sister--and thine, if thou wilt
not—to a brother. I will never be untrue to family.
6
ISMENE:
What about Uncle Creon, who hath forbidden it?
ANTIGONE:
He hath no right to keep me from mine own.
ISMENE:
But think, sister, how we two left all alone shall perish
if we defy the law. We were born women, and are
ruled by the stronger.
ANTIGONE:
Sex is not strength, sister, and no person, man or
woman, can stay me from mine actions.
ISMENE:
I—I can’t. I fear these must be only your actions.
ANTIGONE:
I will not urge you. Be what thou wilt; but I will bury
him: for me to die in doing that would be an honor.
ISMENE:
At least, then, tell this plan to none, but hide it
closely—and so, too, will I.
ANTIGONE:
No! Silence is the hateful crime of cowards. Thebes
must know that I do this and that my actions are just.
ISMENE:
But then Creon will punish you!
ANTIGONE:
I fear not our uncle.
ISMENE:
And what of his son? You are betrothed to Haemon,
his only boy and heir to Thebes.
ANTIGONE:
You’re backwards: I am the eldest of Oedipus, true
king of Thebes. Haemon is no heir without my hand.
ISMENE:
You miss my meaning. Haemon loves you.
ANTIGONE:
(hesitates) I—I’m not so cold and callous to forget my
husband to be. I know of his love; he knows of mine.
Yet I rightly love my brother more, and should my
duty to him mean losing Haemon’s love, so be it.
7
ISMENE:
Thou hast a hot heart for chilling deeds.
ANTIGONE:
I know that I please where I am most bound to please.
ISMENE:
Go, then, if thou must; and of this be sure--to thy dear
ones thou art truly dear. I and Haemon will love you
no less. As I am sure of this, I will fly and tell him of
your plan; I am sure, he will help you in this madness.
ANTIGONE:
(embraces ISMENE) Thank you, sister. Stay safe.
Exit ANTIGONE left. ISMENE retires into the palace by the center door.
Scene II
Dawn. The CHORUS OF THEBAN CITIZENS enters.
CHORUS 1:
Beam of the sun, fairest light that ever dawned on
Thebes, you bring new hope to our sad city.
CHORUS 2:
You shine through the burnt and the broken, the
wreckage of Polynices, maker of the war that
poisoned our land.
CHORUS 3:
Foul son of a foul father. He paused above our
dwellings, he and his Seven thirsty for blood; and
fierce was the noise of battle raised behind him.
CHORUS 4:
Seven captains at seven gates, led by warring kin, set
against each other their twain conquering spears, and
are sharers in a common death.
CHORUS 5:
The sons of Oedipus, one noble, one vile, perished,
along with our city. We are left with ruins and ashes,
broken homes and broken families.
CHORUS 3:
But a new day as risen. Let us forget the horror of war,
and hold night-long dance and song.
8
CHORUS 1:
The time for that will be later; our duty is to the dead,
and we must seal them to the earth.
CHORUS 5:
Agreed. Men left to rot without rite and interment
can never find afterlife in Hades. But lo, here comes
Creon, our new ruler by the new fortunes that the
gods have given.
Enter CREON, from the central doors of the palace, in the garb of king.
CREON:
Sirs, I called ye by my summons because I know how
true and constant was your reverence for the royal
power of Laius; how, again, when Oedipus was ruler
of our land, and when he had perished, your steadfast
loyalty still protected his children. Since, then, his
sons have fallen in one day, each stained with a
brother's blood, and I now possess the throne and all
its powers until my nieces, Oedipus’ daughters, wed.
No ruler can be fully trusted, in spirit and mind, until
he hath served justice. And should a ruler see injustice
and keeps his lips locked, he is wicked; if any holds a
friend higher than his homeland, he is unjust. I--be
Zeus my witness--will not be silent when I see ruin
coming to Thebes; nor would I ever deem a foe to our
land a friend to myself, even if that enemy be family.
Such are the rules by which I guard this city. And in
accord with them, here is my edict regarding the sons
of Oedipus: Eteocles, who hath fallen fighting for our
city, shall be entombed and crowned with every rite
that follows the noblest dead to their rest. But as for
his brother, Polynices--who returned from exile
seeking to consume the city of his fathers with fire,
spilling the blood of our citizenry--none shall grace
him. He shall be left unburied, food for birds and dogs,
a ghastly sight of shame. Such the spirit of my dealing;
never can the wicked stand in honor before the just.
See, then, that ye be guardians of the mandate.
9
CHORUS 5:
What would you have us do?
CREON:
That ye side not with any who break my command.
CHORUS 2:
Who would deny your word? More than king, you are
kin to the boy, and have the right.
CREON:
A mistaken sense of duty hath oft ruined a soul.
CHORUS 2:
No man would be so foolish; the penalty is death.
CREON:
Forget whom might break the law, only that should it
be broken, you will side with the law. The act is of
concern, not the motivation.
CHORUS 1:
We are agreed, and pledge fidelity to the royal line.
(A GUARD runs in from left.)
GUARD 1:
My liege!
CREON:
My trusted captain. What is it that disquiets thee?
GUARD 1:
I’m sorry, sir. I did not do it and did not see the doer.
CREON:
Do what? Tell it straight.
GUARD 1:
The corpse. It was stole away from my men. After a
search of the woods, we found buried under a fresh
mound. The robber entombed the body and was gone
away--after sprinkling thirsty dust on the flesh.
CREON:
What? What living man hath dared this deed?
GUARD 1:
I know not; no stroke of pickaxe was seen there, no
earth thrown up; the doer was one who had left no
trace. The dead man was veiled from us; not shut
within a tomb, but lightly strewn with dust, as by the
hand of one who shunned a curse.
10
CREON:
Stole and buried! Twice the crime!
GUARD 1:
Evil words flew fast and loud among us, guard
accusing guard, but all disclaimed knowledge of the
deed. My men were ready to take red-hot iron in their
hands--to walk through fire and make oath by the
gods that they had not done the deed. At last, I spake,
saying to all that this deed must be reported. So here
I stand, hoping for mercy; for no man delights in the
bearer of bad news.
CHORUS 4:
The body stole with no man as witness?
CHORUS 1:
A grave dug with no sign of the digger?
CHORUS 3:
Can this deed, perchance, be the work of gods?
CREON:
Cease, ere thy words fill me utterly with wrath. The
gods care not for this corpse. No, the deed was done
by man. From the first there were certain in the town
that muttered against me, chafing at this edict,
wagging their heads in secret. 'Tis by them that your
men have been beguiled and bribed to do this deed.
GUARD 1:
Impossible!
CREON:
Anything but! Nothing so evil as money ever grew to
be current among men. It warps honest souls till they
set themselves to works of shame. Your bribed men,
soon or late, they shall pay the price. Now know you
this--I tell it thee on my oath--if ye find not the very
author of this burial, and produce him before mine
eyes, death alone shall not be enough for you.
GUARD 1:
I swear by my office my men were not complicit in this
deed.
11
CREON:
Ye may hope; otherwise, your trusted officers have
sold thy life for silver. Find the villain, and uncover the
traitor’s rotting flesh. Should he not be buried a full
day, he will still cease to pass to the nether. You have
your charge: get it done with haste. (CREON exits)
GUARD 1:
Well, may he be found! But, be he caught or be he
not, truly thou wilt not see me here again. Oedipus,
despite his sins, was fair and just, yet his wife’s
brother spout cruelty. Alas! 'Tis truly sad that he who
judges should misjudge. (The GUARD goes out left)
Scene III
CHORUS 4:
Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than
man. He that crosses the white sea, making a path
under surges that threaten to engulf him.
CHORUS 1:
And Earth, the immortal, the unwearied, doth man
wear and break, turning the soil with horses, as the
ploughs go to and fro from year to year.
HAEMON enters, without the CHORUS seeing
CHORUS 3:
And the light-hearted race of birds, and the tribes of
savage beasts, man snares in the meshes of his woven
toils. And he masters by his arts the beasts who roams
the hills; he tames the horse of shaggy mane, and
tames the tireless mountain bull.
CHORUS 2:
Man hath taught himself how to flee the arrows of the
frost and the arrows of the rushing rain; yea, he hath
resource for all; he meets nothing without resource.
HAEMON:
Nay. Death. Only against Death shall he call for aid in
vain; only from death hath he devised no escapes.
CHORUS 4:
Young Haemon! What wise wit you offer.
12
HAEMON:
I have heard many words tonight. I heard my father
forbid the burial of Polynices. I heard that someone
defied him. And I have heard spoken the name of who
had done the dead.
CHORUS 1:
Thou has! Speak, and let us bring the villain to justice.
HAEMON:
No.
CHORUS 4:
It is your duty, as both prince and your father’s son.
HAEMON:
And what of duty to the dead? Polynices was my
beloved’s kin, and through her eyes I’ve seen him as
more than just rebel. He was a man, with both flaws
and noble qualities. I have oft disagreed with father
but never more so than this. Now where is my father?
CHORUS 3:
I pray, tell us, what man did this?
HAEMON:
No man.
CHORUS 3:
Thou speaks in riddles.
HAEMON:
Nay, just delays. Polynices was entombed by his
loving kin: his sister, Antigone. I was told of her intent
by Ismene, and flew to her side as accomplice, a
distracter of guard while she stole away the body.
.
CHORUS 2:
Antigone!
CHORUS 5:
Haemon, why do you tell us this instead of hiding her
from your father’s wrath?
HAEMON:
Antigone wants her deed known. All of Thebes must
know to honor the gods before a vengeful king.
Besides, she has already left our land, and I shall soon
join her. I only wanted a moment to tell my mother
and father farewell.
13
CHORUS 3:
They are inside the palace. But beware: your father
may not let you leave upon hearing this news.
HAEMON:
I’m not afraid of my father. Thank you men.
(HAEMON exits center)
Scene IV
CHORUS 3:
The beloved daughter of Oedipus a traitor sentenced
to death! What shall we do?
CHORUS 5:
Honor we our fidelity to the crown and tell Creon?
CHORUS 1:
Nay; we honor fidelity to the royal line. Creon is not
the blood of Labdacus, yet Antigone is. Our honor and
her safety are one.
CHORUS 2:
Yet how canst we help her?
CHORUS 1:
Haemon has claimed she has already flown.
Therefore, we help best in our silence.
Enter GUARD 2 from the left, leading in ANTIGONE, her hands bound.
CHORUS 4:
What portent from the gods is this?
CHORUS 2:
What means this?
GUARD 2:
Here she is, the doer of the deed. I caught this girl
burying him. But where is Creon?
CHORUS 1:
In the palace. Know you not who this is?
GUARD 2:
Nay, and I care not. It is her neck or mine. I shall call
down Creon. Will thou watch her and block her
attempts to flee?
CHORUS 3:
Leave her to us.
14
GUARD 2:
Thanks, sirs. (exits through center doors)
CHORUS 3:
Princess Antigone, granddaughter of Laius and last of
his line! Why are thou a prisoner?
ANTIGONE:
I was disloyal to the king's laws.
CHORUS 1:
Yet you are here! What Haemon spoke was untrue.
ANTIGONE:
Haemon was here?
CHORUS 1:
Aye, and looking for his father. Haemon spoke of your
flight to a strange land; why are you here?
ANTIGONE:
After the crime, I went to bid a last farewell to my
beloved sister; as I snuck into the palace, I heard
Creon decree that my brother should be
unentombed, that my crime would be for naught. I
flew to his grave to keep him under—yet a tempest of
wind arose and the guards caught me in an ambush.
CHORUS 5:
And the guards are sure of your guilt?
ANTIGONE:
As their eyes witness. Why do you ask of my
innocence if you know of my guilt?
CHORUS 4:
(looks around, then whispers) Know this: above all, we
are loyal to the royal line. We mourned your
grandfather’s murder and attended his funeral rites.
CHORUS 2:
We aided your father when he confronted the sphinx,
and cheered him on his coronation day.
CHORUS 3:
We were even there on the fateful day of your
mother’s death and father’s exile. You may recall the
hooded ones who led you and your father past the
shouting mobs at the gates, the men who carried your
sister from danger. That was us.
15
ANTIGONE:
I don’t understand.
CHORUS 1:
Our council swore an oath to your grandfather and
the gods to always protect his line. You are the last of
that line. Though Creon wears the crown, our fidelity
to him lasts only so long as it takes for you to ascend.
CHORUS 5:
Though it would be our deaths if he knew, our council
serves you before Creon. Let us loose these bonds.
ANTIGONE:
(considering everything) I—I can’t. I would not have
you bear Creon’s wrath for my sake.
CHORUS 2:
Then let us say you were taken in folly. The guard will
bear Creon’s scorn and you will survive.
ANTIGONE:
I would not allow one who speaks truth to suffer for
my lies. The punishment of the just never serves
justice. Creon must know not just what I have done
but why I have done it; he must see what duty and
honor mean, even if it means my neck.
Scene V
CREON enters with GUARD hurriedly from the palace.
CHORUS 1:
Lo, he comes forth again from the house, at our need.
CREON:
What is it? Niece? Why has thou taken her?
GUARD 2:
She was reburying the man; thou knowest all.
CREON:
Dost thou mean what thou sayest?
GUARD 2:
I saw her burying the corpse that thou hadst
forbidden to bury. Is that plain and clear?
CREON:
And how was she seen? How taken in the act?
16
GUARD 2:
When we had come to the place, we swept away all
the dust that covered the corpse, and bared the dank
body well. We then sat us down on the brow of the
hill, to windward, heedful that the smell from him
should not strike us. Every man was wide awake, and
kept his neighbor alert with torrents of threats, if
anyone should be careless of this task.
So went it, until the sun's bright orb stood in mid
heaven: and then suddenly a whirlwind lifted from
the earth storm of dust, and the wide air was choked
therewith: we closed our eyes, and bore the plague
from the gods. Through our tears and choking, the
maid was seen; and when she saw the corpse bare,
she called down curses on the doers of that deed. And
straightway she brought thirsty dust in her hands; and
from a shapely ewer of bronze, held high, with drinkoffering she crowned the dead. We rushed forward
when we saw it; she stood not on denial of aught.
CREON:
I see. Your service is both commendable and
lamentable. Thank you for returning my niece.
GUARD 2:
Niece?
CREON:
As I have no messenger handy, I require of you to go
into my house and fetch my wife and son.
GUARD 2:
(looking at ANTIGONE) A—Aye, sir (exits into palace)
CREON:
Niece--thou whose face is bent to earth--dost thou
avow, or disavow, this deed?
ANTIGONE:
I avow it; I make no denial.
CREON:
Now, tell me thou—and choose your words carefullyknewest thou that an edict had forbidden this?
17
ANTIGONE:
How could I help but know it? It was public.
CREON:
And thou didst indeed dare to transgress that law?
ANTIGONE:
Yes; for it was not Zeus that had published me that
edict. The laws set among men are nothing in
compare to the justice which dwells with the gods.
Nor deemed I that thy decrees were of such force that
a mortal could override the unwritten and unfailing
statutes of heaven.
CREON:
You foolish girl. Do you realize your fate?
ANTIGONE:
Death? Die I must, even without thy edicts. But if I am
to die before my time, I count that a gain if death
should mean undoing a wickedness against my kin
and my gods. And if my present deeds are foolish in
thy sight, it may be a foolish judge looks upon me.
CHORUS 1:
The maid is a passionate child of passionate father,
and knows not how to bend before troubles.
CREON:
Yet o'er-stubborn spirits are most often humbled; 'tis
the stiffest iron, baked to hardness in the fire, that
thou shalt oftenest see snapped and shivered.
In truth, I feared such an act from you. Your upstart
attitude and brash tongue are not unknown to me.
Yet I had hoped your duty to my son would keep your
actions pure and hands unsullied.
ANTIGONE:
I have only made pure acts against an impure law.
CREON:
Yet the law is set. And what am I to do now? You are
the last of the line, and you must marry Haemon for
my line to continue. I could uncover your brother
again, fetter you and hide you from sight until the
wedding, and pretend none of this happened.
18
ANTIGONE:
Yet the guard and his men have seen me, and my
absence would create unfavorable questions.
CHORUS 4:
If I may, you could issue a pardon as she is your blood.
CREON:
No, verily I am no man if this victory shall rest with her
and bring no penalty. No! Be she sister's child or any
citizen. She and her kinsfolk shall not avoid a doom
most dire.
ANTIGONE:
What does thou mean kinsfolk?
CREON:
Thou couldn’t have known to return to rebury the
body without an accomplice in the palace. Therefore,
I charge Ismene with a like share in the plotting of this
crime. Bring her out!
ANTIGONE:
No! She is innocent!
CREON:
Hardly. I saw within the palace, weeping, and not
mistress of her wits. So oft, after a criminal deed, the
mind stands broken by guilt. Though ‘tis more hateful
when one who hath been caught in wickedness then
seeks to make the crime a glory.
ANTIGONE:
Must thou do more than slay me?
CREON:
No more, indeed; having that, I have all.
ANTIGONE:
What cowardice then delays your punishment?
CREON:
Why does your tongue seek further offense?
ANTIGONE:
All here would do the same were not their lips sealed
by fear. They share my anger, but they curb their
tongues for thee.
CREON:
Then how art thou different from all these Thebans?
19
ANTIGONE:
Royalty, as you well know, hath the power to do and
say what it will.
CREON:
And art thou not ashamed to act apart from them?
ANTIGONE:
No; there is nothing shameful in duty to family.
CREON:
Was not family too who died opposing him?
ANTIGONE:
Brother by the same mother and the same father.
CREON:
Yet you make him equal in honor with the wicked.
Why does this not shame your house?
ANTIGONE:
Wicked or not, Hades desires these rites.
CREON:
A foe is never a friend--not even in death.
ANTIGONE:
Tis not my nature to join in hating, but in loving.
CREON:
Pass, then, to the world of the dead, and, it thou must
needs love, love them.
Scene VI
Enter ISMENE from the house, led in by two attendants.
CHORUS 1:
Lo, yonder Ismene comes forth, shedding such tears.
CREON:
And thou, who, lurking like a viper in my house,
secretly draining my life-blood, wilt thou also confess
thy part in this burial, or wilt thou forswear all
knowledge of it?
ISMENE:
(voice quavering) I--I share the burden of the charge.
ANTIGONE:
Nay, justice will not suffer thee to do that: thou didst
not consent to the deed, nor did I give thee part in it.
20
ISMENE:
Antigone, I am not ashamed to sail the sea of trouble
at thy side. I would rather be known as your second
than have enough wear my burden.
ANTIGONE:
Share not thou my death, nor claim deeds to which
thou hast not put thy hand: my death will suffice.
ISMENE:
And what life is dear to me, bereft of thee?
ANTIGONE:
To still be living.
ISMENE:
Tell me, how can I serve thee, even now?
ANTIGONE:
Save thyself: I grudge not thy escape.
ISMENE:
And shall I have no share in thy fate?
ANTIGONE:
Thy choice was to live; mine, to die.
ISMENE:
I asked thee if father was, in your mind, the cause to
our endless troubles. I’ faith, he is innocent of blame.
Nay, our enemies are the gods themselves.
ANTIGONE:
How canst thou say that? Man is the source of his own
folly. Our father sinned due to his own lapse in
judgment… just as Creon does now.
CREON:
Lo, one of these maidens has newly shown herself
foolish, as the other has been since her life began.
ISMENE:
What life could I endure, without her presence?
CREON:
Nay, speak not of her 'presence'; she lives no more.
ISMENE:
But wilt thou slay the betrothed of thine own son?
CREON:
There are other fields for him to plough.
21
ISMENE:
But there can never be such love as bound him to her.
CREON:
I like not an evil wife for my son.
ISMENE:
Should that not be his choice? (shouting) Haemon, do
you hear how thy father wrongs thee!
ANTIGONE:
Izzy, leave Haemon out of this!
CREON:
Enough, enough of thee and marriage!
ISMENE:
Wilt thou indeed rob thy son of this maiden?
CREON:
No more delay; servants, take them within! Bind
them, for even the bold seek to fly, when they see
Death now closing on their life.
Exeunt attendants, guarding ANTIGONE and ISMENE. CREON remains.
SCENE VI
CHORUS 3:
Blest are they whose days have not tasted of evil. For
when a house hath been shaken from heaven, there
the curse falls, passing from life to life.
CHORUS 5:
Even if the curse seems defeated, as like a fierce ship
on the sea-winds will defeat a squall, it rolls up the
black sand from the depths, and create a new storm.
CREON:
Leave me be with curses. It was the folly of a girl that
brought these deeds to pass.
CHORUS 2:
So now that hope of which the light had been spread
above the last root of the house of Oedipus--that
hope must be brought low by the blood-stained dust
due to folly in speech and frenzy at the heart?
CREON:
Tread lightly, sirs. I still rule these lands.
22
CHORUS 1:
Yet the gods rule all. Thy power, O Zeus, what human
can limit thy power? Thou, a ruler to whom time
brings not old age, who darest deny you? How deftly
you tread on the affairs of men. Truly, nothing that is
vast enters into the life of mortals without a curse.
CREON:
Stop! What, would you blame me? I swear, while I
live, no woman shall rule me.
CHORUS 4:
We judge not; we counsel. Our aim is the avoidance
of tragedy through the lantern of wisdom.
Disappointment comes on one who knoweth naught
until he burn his foot against the hot fire.
CHORUS 5:
For with wisdom, we say: evil seems good, soon or
late, to him whose mind the god draws to mischief.
SCENE VII
HAEMON:
(offstage) Father? Where are you?
CHORUS 1:
Lo, Haemon, the last of thy sons, with your wife. Think
he comes grieving for the doom of his promised bride,
Antigone? (Enter HAEMON and EURYDICE)
CREON:
My son, have thou come in rage against thy father?
HAEMON:
Father, I am thine; and thou, in thy wisdom, set for
me rules which I shall follow.
CREON:
Yea, this, my son, should be thy heart's fixed law--in
all things to obey thy father's will.
HAEMON:
And since my heart speaks of fidelity to you, I beg you
to spare my sweet bride.
23
CREON:
Do not thou, my son, at pleasure's beck, dethrone thy
reason for a woman's sake. Your joy in her embrace
soon grows cold when with an evil woman shares thy
bed and thy home. For what wound could strike
deeper than a false friend?
HAEMON:
Never has she been false; indeed, she has proven her
love to her sister, her brother, yea, to all.
CREON:
And what love does she show to your father? Nay, she
scoffs at me and my laws, and therefore will not be
part of my house. Let this girl go to find a husband in
the house of Hades.
HAEMON:
You would ignore my love for your pride?
CREON:
I will not make myself a liar to my people—I swear to
the gods, I will slay her.
HAEMON:
Your people! She is the daughter of Oedipus, last in
the line of Labdacus, founder of Thebes and our first
king. She is the city’s true master.
CREON:
No, whomsoever the city may appoint, that man must
be obeyed, in little things and great, in just things and
unjust. Disobedience is the worst of evils that ruins
cities. Therefore we must support the cause of order,
and in no ways suffer a woman to worst us.
HAEMON:
Father, the gods implant reason in men, the highest
of all things that we call our own. And it is my natural
office to watch, on thy behalf, to hear all that men
say, or do. Yet the dread of thy frown forbids the
citizen to speak such words as would offend thine ear.
But I can hear these murmurs in the dark, these
moanings of the city for this maiden. Listen:
CHORUS 2:
(whispering) No woman ever merited her doom less.
24
CHORUS 5:
(whispering) None ever was to die so shamefully for
deeds so glorious as hers.
CHORUS 4:
(whispering) Her own life sacrificed for the rites of a
brother; deserves not she the meed of golden honor?
HAEMON:
Such is the darkling rumor that spreads in secret. For
me, my father, no treasure is so precious as thy
welfare. So heed these whispers. Think not that thy
word, and thine alone, must be right. For if any man
thinks that he alone is wise is a fool.
CREON:
Son, I will not—
HAEMON:
Nay, forego thy wrath; permit thyself to change. For
if I may offer my thought, since men be not all-wise
by nature, 'tis good also to learn from those who
speak aright.
Sire, thou should listen to his words.
CHORUS 1:
CREON:
Are men of my age indeed to be schooled, then, by
men of his?
CHORUS 3:
Thou should look to his merits, not to his years.
CREON:
Is it a merit to honor the unruly?
HAEMON:
I wish no one to show respect for evil-doers.
CREON:
Yet is not she tainted with evil?
HAEMON:
Our Theban folk, with one voice, deny it.
CREON:
Shall Thebes prescribe to me how I must rule?
HAEMON:
There is no city which belongs to one man.
25
CREON:
Is not the city held to be the ruler's?
HAEMON:
You would make a good monarch of a desert.
CREON:
This boy, it seems, is the woman's champion.
HAEMON:
If thou art a woman; indeed, my care is for thee.
CREON:
You bring great shame to me!
HAEMON:
Were thou not my father, I would call thee unwise.
CREON:
Thou woman's slave, shall suffer for these taunts.
Thou canst never marry her, on this side the grave.
HAEMON:
Then she dies, and will in death destroy another.
CREON:
Doth thy boldness run to open threats? Bring forth
that hated thing that she may die forthwith in his
presence--before his eyes--at her bridegroom's side!
HAEMON:
No, not at my side shall she perish. Nor shalt thou
ever set eyes more upon my face. Rave, then, with
such friends as can endure thee. (Exit HAEMON)
SCENE VIII
CHORUS 2:
The man is gone, O king, in angry haste.
EURYDICE:
A youthful mind, when stung, is fierce.
CREON:
He shall not save these girls from their doom.
EURYDICE:
I remember, years ago, of a young man whose verbal
sparing with King Laius got him lashes in the square.
CREON:
(smiles) I still have the scars.
26
EURYDICE:
He gets his brashness from his father, you know.
CREON:
What would you have me do, wife?
EURYDICE:
Stop being a kinsman and start being a king. When
thou dealt with Haemon, Antigone, and even
Polynices, thou made decrees from a wounded heart.
Kings decide by the head; adjust you faculties thus.
CREON:
I cannot go back on my word; what is left to be done?
EURYDICE:
Simply do what is just. (pause) Dost thou still indeed
purpose to slay both?
CREON:
No. Not her whose hands are pure: my anger has
cooled, and I see no reason to harm her.
EURYDICE:
And by what means shall you slay the other?
CREON:
Antigone believes she serves the will of our gods; so
do those who espied the tempest of wind that struck
my guards. So I will leave her fate to the gods.
EURYDICE:
How do you mean?
CREON:
I will take her where the path is loneliest, and seal her,
living, in rocky cave, with so much food set forth, that
the city may avoid a public stain. I will return under
the next moon. And there, praying to Hades, the only
god whom she worships, perchance she will obtain
release from death; or else will learn, at last, though
late, that it is lost labor to revere the dead.
CHORUS 1:
A probable but not an absolute death. Hope’s rays still
shine; your wisdom has prevailed well.
CREON:
Bring her out, yet let her have no speak to her kin or
min, else her words cause further poison to infect
27
their hearts. Come, dear wife, let us find our son.
(CREON and EURYDICE exit)
CHORUS 5:
Love, unconquered in fight, Love, who makes havoc
of wealth, who keeps a vigil on the soft cheek of a
maiden; no immortal can escape thee.
CHORUS 2:
Even the most just can have their minds warped by
love to wrong for their ruin: 'tis love that hast stirred
up Haemon’s passions; the goddess Aphrodite is
working her unconquerable will.
SCENE IX
ANTIGONE is led out of the palace by two guards who are about to
conduct her to her doom.
CHORUS 3:
Alas, I can no more keep back the streaming tears,
when I see Antigone thus passing to the bridal
chamber where all are laid to rest.
ANTIGONE:
See me, noble men, setting forth on my last way,
looking my last on the sunlight; I shall be bride to
Hades, my wedding veil a shroud.
CHORUS 1:
Glorious and alive thou depart to that deep place of
the dead: wasting sickness hath not smitten thee;
thou hast not found the wages of the sword; no,
mistress of thine own fate, and still alive, thou shalt
pass to Hades, as no other of mortal kind hath passed.
ANTIGONE:
Where are the faces of my loves, my lost bridegroom
and lost sister?
CHORUS 3:
By Creon’s order, they shall not see you off.
ANTIGONE:
Pray, do you know of my dear Haemon?
28
CHORUS 5:
Spoke well of you, and railed against his father with
tears and shouts; yet it was to no avail. Know thou he
would be here if his father would allow.
ANTIGONE:
Who will bear me witness? I am unwept of loved ones
as I pass to the rock-closed prison of my strange tomb.
Ay me, unhappy! I have no home on the earth or in
the shades, no home with the living or with the dead.
CHORUS 4:
Thou hast rushed forward with daring and thou hast
fallen, my daughter, with a grievous fall. Yet by this
ordeal thou art paying for thy father's sin.
ANTIGONE:
Thou hast touched on my bitterest thought. The
doom given to the house of Labdacus. Alas for the
horrors of the mother's bed! Alas for the wretched
mother's slumber at the side of her own son! Sins paid
for with a just child’s suffering!
Now unwept, unfriended, without marriage-song, I
am led forth in my sorrow on this journey. All manner
of sorrow starting from Laius’ original stain. How
unjust, ye gods, that a woman need suffer for sins of
a man. (CREON enters from the palace.)
CREON:
Know ye not that should we cry songs and wailings
before death, the noise would never cease?
ANTIGONE:
And who shall wail for you when you pass, uncle?
CREON:
Believe me true when I say I sorrow at my son losing
his bride, yet that I will miss not your wagging tongue.
ANTIGONE:
May you slay all who speak against you, and you shall
rule a vast and mighty necropolis, a great cemetery of
critics to keep you company.
29
CREON:
Away with her! And when ye have enclosed her in the
cave, leave her alone --whether she wishes to die or
to live a buried life is up to her. My hands are clean.
ANTIGONE:
My sole joy is that coming will be welcome to my
father, my mother, and my brother, for when he died,
against your words I washed and dressed him with
mine own hands, and poured drink-offerings at his
grave. And yet… had been a mother with child lost or
had a husband moldering, never would I have taken
this task upon me in the city's despite.
CREON:
Hold: I am curious. Why not? Why care for a brother
more than man or child?
ANTIGONE:
The husband lost, another might have been found,
and child from another, to replace the first-born: but,
with father and mother hidden with Hades, no
brother's life could ever bloom for me again. And
now, no bridal bed, no bridal song will be mine, no joy
of marriage, no portion in the nurture of children.
CREON:
Should you pray to your gods, and they pity you, you
may still live. I would you try, for my son’s sake.
ANTIGONE:
And what god should I pray to--what ally should I
invoke? Nay, my fate is mine. If my fate pleases the
gods, I shall come to know my sin; but if the sin is with
my judges, I could wish them no fuller measure of evil
than they mete wrongfully to me.
CREON:
Still the same tempest of the soul vexes thy mind with
the same fierce gusts. I tire of you: farewell.
ANTIGONE:
Speak, ye citizens! Ye gods above! Behold me,
princess of Thebes, see what I suffer, and from whom,
because I dared to cast away the fear of man! Speak
up and be heard, ere you suffer my same fate.
30
SCENE X
ANTIGONE is led away. Enter TIRESIAS, led by a Boy, on right.
TIRESIAS:
Nay girl, one needs not see to know you suffer. One
cane hear it well enough.
CREON:
Aged Tiresias, blessed by the gods with no eyes yet
great sight. What are thy tidings?
TIRESIAS:
I will tell thee if you are willing to listen.
CREON:
Indeed, I appreciate thy counsel.
TIRESIAS:
Mark that now you stand on fate's fine edge.
CREON:
What means this? How I shudder at thy message!
TIRESIAS:
This morn, I heard a strange voice among the birds;
they were screaming with dire, feverish rage, that
drowned their language; and I knew that they were
rending one another with their talons, murderously.
Forthwith, in fear, I made a burnt-sacrifice: but from
my offerings the Fire-god showed no flame; only a
dank moisture, oozing like blood, trickled forth upon
the embers, and smoked, and sputtered.
‘Tis thy laws that hath brought this sickness on our
State. For the homes of our people and alters have
been tainted by dead birds and dogs who fed on
carrion from the son of Oedipus. Therefore, the gods
accept no prayer or sacrifice at our hands.
Think, then, on these things, my son. All men are
liable to err; but when an error hath been made, that
man must heal the ill into which he hath fallen, and
remain not stubborn.
31
CREON:
Old man, the seer-tribe hath long sold to me their
wisdom. Gain your gains, chase your gold; but ye shall
not hide that man in the grave. Aged Tiresias, the
wisest fall with shame when they speak shameful
thoughts as godly portends for lucre's sake.
TIRESIAS:
Sir! Dost thou say that I speak falsely?
CREON:
Well, the prophet-tribe was ever fond of money.
TIRESIAS:
How precious, above all wealth, is good counsel.
CREON:
Know that you speak to a king?
TIRESIAS:
I know it; for through me thou hast saved Thebes.
Recall, my guidance in battle against the Seven saved
most of thy city from ashes.
CREON:
Thou art a wise seer; but thou also love evil deeds.
TIRESIAS:
Evil deeds, eh? Then know the evil fate’s fair hand
holds for you. Thou shalt not see another sunrise ere
one of thine house shall perish, a corpse for corpses.
As thou hast thrust children of the sunlight to the
shades, and ruthlessly keepest in this world one who
belongs to the gods, a corpse unburied, unhonored,
unhallowed. Therefore the avenging destroyers lie in
wait for thee, the Furies of Hades seek justice. Should
Antigone be slain, you shall answer for it with your
own blood.
CREON:
What fowl words are these?
TIRESIAS:
Well deserved ones. Boy, lead me home; let our king
spend his rage on younger men, and learn to keep a
tongue more temperate. (Boy leads TIRESIAS out.)
32
SCENE XI
CHORUS 1:
The man hath gone, O King, with dread prophecies.
And he hath never been a false prophet to our city.
CREON:
I, too, know it well, and am troubled in soul. Death
before the next sunrise!
CHORUS 4:
Dear sir, calm your mind.
CREON:
The sun is nearing to set! Oh, what little time is left.
CHORUS 5:
Please, take our wise counsel.
CREON:
What should I do then? Speak and I will obey.
CHORUS 2:
Go thou and free the maiden from her rocky chamber,
and make a tomb for the unburied dead.
CREON:
This is thy counsel? Thou wouldst have me yield?
CHORUS 3:
Yes, King, and with all speed; for swift harms from the
gods cut short men before their time.
CREON:
I… I obey. We must not wage a vain war with destiny.
CHORUS 1:
Go, thou, and do these things yourself; leave them
not to others.
CREON:
Let us go. On with me, take shovel in your hands, and
hasten to the ground that ye see yonder! Since our
judgment hath taken this turn, I will unloose her as
myself bound her.
CREON and CHORUS 1 leave out left.
33
SCENE XII
CHORUS 4:
O loud-thundering Zeus! Thou who watches over us!
We implore you, descend upon this soil where the
fierce dragon's teeth were sown!
CHORUS 3:
Thebe, of all cities, hold you first in honor. O thou with
whom the stars rejoice as they move, the stars whose
breath is fire; O master of the voices of the night;
appear, O king!
CHORUS 2:
Aid our dear Antigone, and help our misguided king
loose the seal on her rocky tomb.
CHORUS 5:
For this we pray and await all sign of your arrival.
(Enter CHORUS 1)
CHORUS 1:
Good brothers, all hath been lost. We were too late.
CHORUS 4:
And what is this new grief that thou hast to tell?
CHORUS 1:
Death, and the living are guilty for the dead.
CHORUS 5:
O prophet, how true hast thou proved thy word!
CHORUS 3:
Who is the slayer? Who the stricken? Speak.
CHORUS 1:
Haemon hath perished; his blood hath been shed by
no stranger.
CHORUS 3:
By his father's hand?
CHORUS 1:
By his own, in wrath with his father for the murder.
CHORUS 2:
Lo, I see the hapless Eurydice approaching.
CHORUS 4:
And with her the sorrowful sister of Antigone.
34
Enter EURYDICE and ISMENE from the palace.
EURYDICE:
Good men of Thebes, I heard your words as we were
going forth to salute the goddess Pallas with prayers
for my niece. Say again what the tidings were; I shall
hear them as one who is no stranger to sorrow.
CHORUS 1:
Dear lady, I will witness of what I saw, and will leave
no word of the truth untold. I attended thy lord to the
furthest part of the plain, where the body of
Polynices, torn by dogs, still lay unpitied. We prayed
to Hades, washed the dead with holy washing. Then
we turned away to enter the caverned mansion of the
bride of Death. Some stones had been loosed, enough
to climb inside. And Creon heard a voice of loud
wailing at that bride's unhallowed bower.
He groaned, and said in accents of anguish,
“Wretched that I am, can my foreboding be true? My
son's voice greets me. Help me wrench away these
stones and look if 'tis Haemon's voice that I know, or
if mine ear is cheated by the gods.”
Thus we worked; at last, in the furthest part of the
tomb, we saw Antigone, both there and absent.
ISMENE:
Alas! My dearest sister! No!
CHORUS 1:
The maid hanged by the neck, while weeping Haemon
embraced her with arms thrown around her waist,
bewailing the loss of his bride, and his father's deeds,
and his own ill-starred love.
His father, when he saw him, called to him with a
voice of wailing: “Unhappy, what deed hast thou
done! Come forth, my child! I pray thee!” But the boy
glared at him with fierce eyes, spat in his face, and,
without a word of answer, drew his sword.
35
EURYDICE:
Sword against his father? Pray, tell me the outcome.
CHORUS 1:
As his father held up his empty hands in acceptance,
Haemon halted his advance, and straightway leaned
with all his weight against his sword, and drove it, half
its length, into his side. And, while sense lingered, he
clasped the maiden to his faint embrace, and, as he
gasped, kissed her pale cheek, marking it with a faint
stream of oozing blood.
Corpse enfolding corpse they lie; he hath won his
nuptial rites, poor youth, in the halls of Death.
(EURYDICE runs into the house)
CHORUS 4:
The lady hath turned back, and is gone, without a
word, good or evil.
CHORUS 5:
I know not; but to me, at least, a strained silence
seems to portend peril.
ISMENE:
Yea, I fear her silence may have a darker meaning. I
will enter the house, and learn. Thou sayest well:
silence is the hateful crime of cowards.
ISMENE goes into the palace. Enter CREON with attendants, carrying
the bodies of HAEMON and ANTIGONE.
CREON:
Woe for the sins of a darkened soul, stubborn sins,
fraught with death! Behold us, the father who hath
slain, the son who hath perished! Alas, my son, thou
hast died by thy folly, but by mine own! Woe, woe,
for a fool’s pride! (Enter ISMENE, shaken.)
ISMENE:
Uncle, thou needs look upon woes within thy house.
CREON:
Woes? What worse ill can follow upon this?
ISMENE:
Thy queen hath died.
36
CREON:
My wife?
ISMENE:
The fair Eurydice, my sweet aunt, now but a corpse.
CREON:
Oh Hades, hast thou no mercy for me? Alas, I was
already as dead, and thou hast smitten me anew!
Alas, alas, unhappy mother! How did she perish?
ISMENE:
Her own hand struck a keen knife to her heart, when
she had learned her son's fate. She suffered her
darkening eyes to close, and, with her last breath, she
cursed evil fortunes upon thee, the slayer of thy son.
CREON:
And what was the manner of the violent curse? Pray
that it be death. Oh, let it come, that fairest of fates
for me, that brings my last day! Oh, let it come, that I
may never look upon to-morrow's light.
ISMENE:
Nay; she wished you to live forever, alone with your
guilt, with only your cod heart to keep you warm.
CREON:
Oh wife, your words sting with truth. My decree killed
all. Lead me to her, niece, so I can look upon her one
last time. (CREON then mutters)
ISMENE:
What, uncle? Speak up.
CREON:
Promise me that you will see them all buried.
ISMENE:
I take from thy tears you are unable to do this deed.
CREON:
Aye, lovely niece, I cannot. For never can the wicked
stand in honor before the just.
ISMENE leads CREON into the palace. Lights fade.
37