ANTIGONE
By: Sophocles
The Theater
The theater for which Antigone was written
was different from theaters we know today.
More like a ___________
The Theater
Theater was _________ and plays only
performed during daylight hours.
Theater locations were carefully chosen.
Set on a hill, like a natural amphitheater.
Seats were built in rows and made of ______,
______, ______
The Theater
At base of rows was the ___________,
where the play was performed.
Actors performed on the orchestra.
Chorus chanted and danced on the orchestra.
No raised stages like
Shakespeare had.
The Theater
Theaters had great acoustics.
People could hear even in the highest rows.
Actors wore large masks, which helped to
amplify the sound.
The Theater
Audience could also see action well, even
from far away.
Actors wore oversized, well-padded clothing.
Actors also wore boots with raised soles.
Actors
Actors were all ______.
Moved in a stately and controlled way.
Less realistic than today’s actors.
Chorus consisted of 15 men with one
spokesman, or leader, called the ________.
Chorus commented on action of play and
interpreted its meaning for the audience.
The Theater
Greeks took theater very seriously.
Part of religious ritual.
Playwrights entered their plays in
competitions.
Plays were performed for several days.
Sophocles
Sophocles was probably
born in __________
Won his first playwright
competition when he was
twenty-seven years old.
Beat most famous
playwright in Athens.
Sophocles
Sophocles had a good life.
Born at Colonus to a wealthy family.
Received traditional education in dancing,
music, and gymnastics.
He was handsome and graceful.
Two time general, priest, and member of
commission to revise Athens’ constitution.
Sophocles
Sophocles probably wrote over ______
plays in his lifetime.
Only ______ in existence remain today.
Background of Antigone
Story begins when ______ (grandson of
founder of Thebes) is king and Iocaste is
queen.
An _______ proclaims that Laios will be
killed by his own son.
Laios pierces and binds the feet of his infant
son and abandons him on a
mountain.
Background of Antigone
Infant is found and adopted by King
_________.
Names the baby Oedipus. (Means “swollen
foot.”)
Background of Antigone
When Oedipus becomes an adult, he is told
(by another oracle) that he is destined to kill
his ________ and marry his ________
Leaves home to avoid fate.
Meets a stranger.
They fight, Oedipus kills man. (Not knowing it
is his father.)
Background of Antigone
In meantime, a ________ has appeared at
Thebes.
Winged monster with body of lion and face of
woman.
Sphinx preys on travelers who can’t answer
her riddle.
“What creature has four feet, then two, then
three, but only one voice, and when it has the
most feet it is the weakest?”
Background of Antigone
Oedipus answers correctly: a man.
Sphinx throws herself into sea and people
offer to make Oedipus king and to give him
Iocaste (their queen) for his wife. (Because
their king has recently died.)
Oedipus accepts and marries his mother – the
oracle has come true.
Background of Antigone
Oedipus and Iocaste have four children.
Two daughters: ________ and ________
Two sons: _________ and ________
Reign happily until a ______ strikes the
city.
Plague because the murderer of the former king
still lives there.
Background of Antigone
Oedipus promises to find this man.
Does not realize that it is ________.
Oedipus learns that he has married his
mother and killed his father.
Iocaste commits suicide.
Oedipus blinds himself.
Background of Antigone
Oedipus is later exiled from Thebes.
Sons do nothing to help him
Oedipus leaves with his daughters and dies.
Background of Antigone
In the meantime, Creon has been ruling in
Thebes.
Oedipus’ sons decide they should rule.
Creon sides with Eteocles
Brothers fight and kill each other.
Creon (still siding with Eteocles) has him
buried and won’t bury Polyneices.
Background of Antigone
This was a terrible sentence.
Greeks believed that if you were not buried,
you lived in ________ ________.
Antigone decides to defy Creon’s order and
bury her brother which is where the tragedy
of Antigone begins.