Antigone
Dionysus & Dithyramb
The theatre of ancient Greece evolved
from ancient cult of Dionysus, god of
human and agricultural fertility.
 Practiced ritual celebrations
 Chorus performed “dithyramb,” ode to
Dionysus
 Began as religious ceremony, like hymn,
evolved into theatre
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Amphitheatres
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Words theatre and
ampitheatre evolved from
Greek word theatron,
describing wooden stands
like bleachers. Modern day
stadiums mimic these.
In 534 BC Dionysus worship
became mainstream,
festivals lost religious
relevance, and the ruler of
Athens created a Dionysian
theatre festival
Tragedy
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Greek tragedies came from
the Greek words tragos
(goat) and ode (song).
Took the place of a sacrifice.
Told a story that taught a
religious lesson, mainly
about those who tempted or
tried to deny fate.
The tragic protagonist
refuses to play by life’s, or
‘fate’s,’ rules, and is
therefore punished.
Sophocles
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Won competition in 468 BC.
Added third actor to tragic tradition, focused
on drama between humans, rather than
between humans and gods.
Sophocles’ plays usually ironic.
Plays focus on arrogance of man and wisdom
of accepting fate.
Aristotle used his plays in his The Poetics, an
analysis of drama.
The Poetics by Aristotle
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The hero is noble with
virtuous intentions
The hero makes a
choice (or choices) that
causes him/her to suffer
because of arrogance
The hero comes to a
realization before
his/her end and grows
from it.
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Tragic Hero -- A
character, usually of
high birth, neither
totally good nor totally
evil, whose downfall is
brought about by some
weakness or error in
judgment
Oedipus
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Laius and Jocasta want a son
Laius offended the gods - his son would one day kill
him and marry Jocasta
Shepherd gives Oedipus to King of Corinth
Oracle warns Oedipus of his fate (marry mother kill
father)
Upset by oracle Oedipus leaves and along the way
bumps into his real father’s chariot (Laius dies), solves
the riddle of a sphinx and Creon gives Oedipus his
sister Jocasta’s hand in marriage
Oedipus
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Becomes ruler of Thebes
Have children: Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone and
Ismene
Goes to Teiresias, the prophet, who tells Oedipus he
killed his father and married his mother
Jocasta hangs herself; Oedipus blinds himself
Eteocles and Polynices
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Ashamed of their
father - treat him
poorly
curse that they
should divide their
inheritance by their
sword
Oedipus dies
agree to alternate
years of ruling
Thebes
Eteocles and Polynices
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Eteocles is older so
rules first
won’t give up - claims
Polynices has a violent
temper
Polynices leaves,
recruits a foreign army
and kills Eteocles in a
battle
Creon (Antigone’s
uncle) is now ruler of
Thebes
Divine Law Vs. Human/State Law
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Divine law, or the law of the gods, dictated that
“Burial of the dead was an inescapable duty of the
living. To deny burial was to deny eternal rest. To
deny burial was to deny an ancient and unwritten law
of the gods.”
Creon, now King of Thebes, creates a law that forbids
burial of Polynices, traitor to the kingdom. Anyone
who breaks this law will be executed.
Antigone is torn between the law of the gods she has
always believed in, and the human law Creon has
decreed.
Antigone makes her choice…
Enter Antigone
 Antigone must make a choice regarding
loyalty to her family, or loyalty to the
state and its laws.
 Antigone faces the consequences…