ANTIGONE
(AN-TI-GAH-NEE)
Sophocles and Greek Tragedy
TRAGEDY IN GENERAL
 Involves downfall of hero, usually ending with his/her destruction
or death (called?)
 Intense emotion/horrible truth that leads to release or “catharsis”
 From Aristotle:
• Arouses the emotions of pity and fear, wonder and awe
• Explores the interactions of gods and mortals
• Purifies the emotions
GREEK THEATER
 Produced as part of religious festivals
 Performed in outdoor theaters
 No scene changes, simple plots, focused on one day/setting/event
 Violence took place off stage – audience told through messengers
ACTORS AND CHORUS
 All actors were men – wore masks w/megaphones and platform shoes
 Chorus = Group of actors who moved/sang together – a “character” in Greek plays.
•
Set the mood, summarize action, side w/certain characters, warn of disaster
 Choragos – leader of the chorus
 Prologue – explanation of background to set up the conflict of a story
 Parodos – opening song
 Strophe/ Antistrophe – group response to chorus leader (strophe right to left,
antistrophe left to right)
 Ode – song from the chorus used to divide scenes, like a curtain
OTHER WORDS TO KNOW
 Paean – thanksgiving to Dionysus
 Exodos – final exiting scene
 Catharsis – purging of emotion, usually pity or fear
(result of watching a tragedy – outcome for audience)
 Hubris – excessive pride or self-confidence
SOPHOCLES
 Wrote during “Golden Age” of ancient Greece
 496 BC – 406 BC: 90 years old at death = ancient (pun intended…)
 Only 7 of his 100 plays remain
 Added third actor to cast of plays – previously dramas included 2
actors and the Chorus
ANTIGONE
 3rd of 3 plays about the Cadmus family (continuation of the story of Oedipus)
• Family curse for a crime committed against the gods
• King and Queen leave baby in the mountains to avoid the prophecy that the baby will
kill his father and marry his mother (incest)
• Baby raised by king and queen of neighboring town (unbeknownst to the Cadmus
family)
• As a man, the baby unknowingly kills the father, marries the mother, and has children
--- doesn’t know the man he killed and the woman he married are his own father and
mother.
ANTIGONE CONTINUED
• When mother finds out what they have done, she hangs herself. The son
gouges out his own eyes and goes into exile, leaving his brother-in-law
(mother’s brother) in charge of his children
• Leaves kingdom to his two sons who kill each other over power
• Brother-in-law becomes king, older brother receives burial ceremony, other
younger brother does not (his soul will never rest).
• Sister buries younger brother against king’s orders (where play begins).
CADMUS FAMILY TREE
Laius
(Father)
Creon
(Brother)
Jocasta
(Mother)
Jocasta
(Mother)
Oedipus
(Son)
Polyneices
(younger)
Eteocles
(older)
Ismene
Antigone
(buries
Polyneices)