English 3201
Antigone
Notes
Major topics to consider…Note that there will be other ideas discussed in class as well, so
while you should use this as a guide, do not treat it as the only source you will need to fully
understand this play.
Pride
 Also known as hubris; A trait despised by the gods, who bring suffering to the proud
 At the same time, in the Greek mind pride is also an inextricable part of greatness.
 Both Antigone and Creon are incredibly proud, making it impossible for either to
concede
 Pride is part of what makes Antigone heroic.
Individual versus State; Conscience versus Law; Moral or Divine Law versus Human Law
 Some of the central issues of the play revolve around this conflict
 Antigone and her values line up with the first entity in each pair, while Creon and his
values line up with the second.
 Antigone’s rebellious character is a threat to the status quo; she invokes divine law as
defense of her actions, but implicit in her position is faith in the discerning powers of her
individual conscience. She sacrifices her life out of devotion to principles higher than
human law.
 Creon makes a mistake in sentencing her (and his mistake is condemned, in turn, by the
gods) but his position is an understandable one. In the wake of war, and with his reign so
new, Creon has to establish his authority as supreme. On the other hand, Creon's need to
defeat Antigone seems at times to be extremely personal. At stake is not only the order of
the state, but his pride and sense of himself as a king and, more fundamentally, a man.
Gender: the Position of Women
 Antigone's gender has profound effects on the meaning of her actions.
 Creon himself says that the need to defeat her is all the more pressing because she is a
woman.
 The freedom of Greek women was extremely limited; the rules and strictures placed on
them were great even for the ancient world.
 Antigone's rebellion is especially threatening because it upsets gender roles and
hierarchy.
 By refusing to be passive, she overturns one the fundamental rules of her culture.
Ambition vs. Complacency
 There is a contrast between Antigone and Ismene when faced with injustice; the two
women react in very different ways. Ismene chooses to do nothing, and Antigone chooses
to act; later, Antigone proves again and again that she is the character with the most
agency. She is arguably the only character in the play who walks into her fate with her
eyes open all along the way.
The Corrupting Nature of Power
 Athenians were sensitive to the idea of tyranny and the fine line between a strong leader
and a brutal tyrant. Creon is in many ways a sympathetic character, but he often abuses
his power. His faults do not necessarily lie in a lust for power; often, he has noble
intentions. He is completely loyal to the state, but he is subject to human weakness and
poor judgment.
Major issues to consider while reading:
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Character traits of major characters
Creon’s character change as the play progresses
conflicts, including motivations and resolution
theme(s) and development
Overlapping parallels to previous works studied this year
atmosphere
irony and how it develops character; develops theme; adds dramatic tension/suspense
Characteristics of a Tragic Hero
1. Someone who is born of high or noble birth
2. Someone who has a tragic flaw which leads to his/her downfall
3. Someone who is virtuous, but not above justice themselves
4. Someone who gains knowledge or insight through suffering
The Role of the Greek Chorus
The Greek chorus continued to play an important role in classical Greek drama, especially in
tragedy. Ranging in number from 50 in the time of Thespis to 15 in later classical Greek drama,
the chorus consisted of Athenian citizens and was not a professional body. Its role was:
1. To give background and summary information that facilitates an audience’s ability to follow
the live performance;
2. To indicate a movement or change in events, including elapsed time;
3. To show popular consensus or public opinion regarding events in the play;
4. To offer a sense of rich spectacle to the drama;
5. To provide time for scene changes and give the principal actors a break;
6. To model an ideal audience’s response to the unfolding drama;
7. To evoke the visionary experience through the rhythmic dance and chants of the chorus
(positioned always to mediate the physical space separating audience and actor).
Greek Tragedy and the Tragic Hero:
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Greek tragedies deal mainly with the relationship of man and the gods and try to illustrate
some particular lesson of life.
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The Greek tragic hero represents man and each man inevitably has some flaw. In Greek
culture the most serious flaw was hubris or excessive pride.
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The Greeks believed that every person’s life was ruled by a pre-determined fate set in
motion by the gods, a force that could not be changed. Each person is fated to endure
some suffering. A person who accepted his fate would endure his suffering with dignity.
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The Greeks also believed in free will. If a man exercises his freedom in defying the gods,
more suffering would be heaped upon him. The protagonist or hero comes to be
destroyed, but the tragedy also affects both the bad and the good; the guilty and the
innocent.
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Man gains insight through his suffering and is redeemed. Sophocles’ plays are
compassionate in his sympathy for his characters, no matter how deluded or broken they
are.
Terms:
Protagonist - The character around whom the story centers
The character faced with the conflict
Antagonist - A character who struggles against the main character or adds complication to the
conflict.
Dramatic Irony – The audience knows more about a situation than a character(s) does
Situational Irony - The story contains a twist through which an expectation is violated; what
happens is the opposite of what was expected
Atmosphere - The feeling surrounding a piece of writing. Atmosphere is created through
description of the environment, setting circumstances, and conflict
Conflict - A central struggle or problem that a character faces
Internal conflict - A character is struggling with a decision or with his own feelings.
Interpersonal conflict - A character is in conflict with
another character.
External conflict - A character is struggling with an external force such as nature of fate.
Motivation - The cause or causes that move a character in a story or play to behave as he or she
does. These are usually internal forces; for example, greed, pride, loyalty, etc.
Catharsis - An intense stirring and release of emotions experienced by the audience. It
participates in the grief, pain and fear of the tragic hero.
Apostrophe - A figure of speech in which a thing is spoken to as if it were alive, a person who is
absent is spoken to as if he or she were present, or a dead person is spoken to as if he or she were
alive.
Allusion - A reference to a historical, literary, religious person, place, or event with which the
reader is expected to be familiar.
Paradox - A statement which appears to contradict itself, but upon closer examination, reveals a
truth.
Climax - The event of point of greatest intensity or interest. The climax of the plot is the point of
highest tension before the plot is resolved.
Theme - The main idea or message of a story, also known as the central insight.
Typical Structure of a Tragedy
1.
Prologue: A monologue or dialogue preceding the entry of the chorus, which presents the
tragedy's topic.
2.
Parode (Entrance Ode): The entry chant of the chorus, often in an anapestic (short-shortlong) marching rhythm (four feet per line). Generally, they remain on stage throughout the
remainder of the play. Although they wear masks, their dancing is expressive, as conveyed by
the hands, arms and body.
Typically the parode and other choral odes involve the following parts, repeated in order several
times:
a.
Strophê (Turn): A stanza in which the chorus moves in one direction (toward the altar).
b.
Antistrophê (Counter-Turn): The following stanza, in which it moves in the opposite
direction. The antistrophe is in the same meter as the strophe.
c.
Epode (After-Song): The epode is in a different, but related, meter to the strophe and
antistrophe, and is chanted by the chorus standing still. The epode is often omitted, so there may
be a series of strophe-antistrophe pairs without intervening epodes.
3.
Episode: There are several episodes (typically 3-5) in which one or two actors interact
with the chorus. They are, at least in part, sung or chanted. Speeches and dialogue are typically
iambic hexameter: six iambs (short-long) per line, but rhythmic anapests are also common. In
lyric passages the meters are treated flexibly. Each episode is terminated by a stasimon:
4.
Stasimon (Stationary Song): A choral ode in which the chorus may comment on or react
to the preceding episode.
5.
Exode (Exit Ode): The exit song of the chorus after the last episode
English 3201: The Oedipus Trilogy
Keeping the Stories Straight
Oedipus the King
-King Oedipus sends his brother in law to seek the advice of Apollo from the oracle as to how to fix the
curse of Thebes.
-The crops are diseased as are the grazing animals, the people are poor and sick, and they turn to
Oedipus because he saved them from the Sphinx.
-Creon reveals that the curse will be lifted when the murderer of the former king Laius is punished.
-Oedipus, in an attempt to save the city, relentlessly seeks out the murderer with the help of the blind
prophet Teiresias. However, he discovers that he himself is the murderer.
-Upon coming to Thebes (because he was trying to prevent killing his Corinthian “father” and marrying
his Corinthian “mother”, two events which had been prophesized), Oedipus did kill Laius at the
crossroads as he had tried to force him off the road, and married Jocasta, his biological mother who had
given him up as a baby to prevent the oracle from coming true.
-All of this information is revealed. As a result of her shame Jocasta kills herself, and in order to punish
himself Oedipus gouged out his eyes and exiled himself from the city of Thebes.
-Before he leaves Oedipus asks Creon to look after his girls, but not his sons. They can get by without
him as they are considered mature
-Creon takes power
Oedipus at Colonus
-20 years have passed since Oedipus blinded himself and was exiled from Thebes.
-Oedipus now wanders from town to town accompanied by his daughter Antigone
-Creon is the regent (man in charge of ruling until the next king in line is of age to rule)
-Creon and Oedipus’ two sons have turned their backs on Oedipus
-Polyneices and Eteocles are both fighting for the throne
-Oedipus is approximately 65 years old; appears as a decrepit old beggar
-Play opens in a grove outside of Athens, Greece (a holy place)
-A citizen of Colonus approaches Oedipus and Antigone, and tells them that they must leave as mortals
are forbidden here.
-Oedipus learns that the reigning god which presides over the grove is Eumenides, or the goddess of
fate. This is fitting considering Oedipus’ live journey.
-Oedipus refuses to move, but sends the citizen to get Theseus, the king of Athens, and bring him to this
place. This is the place that Oedipus was fated to die (another prophecy)
-The citizens try to drive Oedipus and Antigone away from this place, Colonus, however, he reveals
himself and says that the city will benefit if they do not drive him away.
-Ismene enters the scene. She is back from her journey gathering news from the oracles.
-Ismene informs Oedipus that Eteocles, the younger son, has overthrown his older brother Polynices in
Thebes. Now Polynices is gathering an army to attack Creon and Eteocles.
-The oracle predicted that Oedipus’ burial place would bring good fortune to the city in which it is
located, and as a result, Creon is on his way to claim Oedipus so that he can bury him in Thebes.
-Oedipus doesn’t want this, as his sons did not prevent his exile all those years ago, so instead he asks to
stay in this place.
-First, Ismene must ask the gods for forgiveness for her father trespassing on their land, and she offers
prayers and sacrifices on his behalf.
-Theseus agrees
-Creon kidnaps Antigone and Ismene to make Oedipus go with him. However, Theseus retrieves them.
-Polynices comes to try and convince Oedipus to return with him, he refuses. He says that the brothers
will die at each other’s hands as was the curse he laid on them when he left Thebes.
-Polynices leaves.
-Oedipus knows death is close as is signaled by the thunder.
-He only tells Theseus where he will die so that Theseus’ sons will always be blessed
-Theseus is charged with looking after the girls.
-The girls ask for safe passage back to Thebes so that they may prevent a war between their brothers.
Antigone
-Polyneices and Eteocles, two brothers leading opposite sides in Thebes’ civil war, have both been killed
in battle.
-Creon, the new ruler of Thebes, has declared that Eteocles will be honored and Polyneices disgraced
because he rebelled against his brother.
-Antigone and Ismene are the sisters of the dead brothers; the last children of the ill-fated Oedipus.
-Antigone brings Ismene outside the city gates late at night for a secret meeting because she wants to
bury Polyneices’ body, in defiance of Creon’s edict.
-Ismene refuses to help her, fearing the death penalty, and she is unable to dissuade Antigone from going
to do the deed by herself.
-Creon seeks the support of the Theban elders, in particular their support for his edict regarding
Polyneices’ body.
-The Chorus pledges their support.
-News is brought that the body has been buried.
-The Sentry brings Antigone to Creon as the guilty party.
-Creon questions her, and she does not deny what she has done.
To be seen…