LITTERATURE BOOK FOR STUDY from GREECE LITERATURE BOOK greek suggestion | Page 2
Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written in or before 441 BC.
It is the third of the three Theban plays chronologically, but was the first
written. The play expands on the Theban legend that predated it and picks up
where Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes ends.
Antigone picks up in the same (uber-dismal) place that Oedipus at
Colonus leaves off. Oedipus has just passed away in Colonus, and Antigone
and her sister decide to return to Thebes with the intention of helping their
brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, avoid a prophecy that predicts they will kill
each other in a battle for the throne of Thebes.
But upon her arrival in Thebes, Antigone learns that both of her brothers are
dead. Eteocles has been given a proper burial, but Creon, Antigone's uncle
who has inherited the throne, has issued a royal edict banning the burial of
Polyneices, who he believes was a traitor. Antigone defies the law, buries her
brother, and is caught. When Creon locks her away in prison, she kills herself.
Meanwhile, not realizing Antigone has taken her own life, the blind prophet
Teiresias, Creon's son and Antigone's fiancé Haemon, and the Chorus plead
with Creon to release her. Creon finally relents, but in an instance of too-late-
timing, finds her dead in her jail cell. Out of despair, Haemon and Creon’s wife
have by now also killed themselves, and Creon is left in distress and sorrow.