Sophocles (497-406 BCE) dedicated three plays to the story of Oedipus, who kills his father and marries his mother, not knowing they are his parents, after which his family is cursed for three generations: Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex), Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. As I have already treated Oedipus Rex in my discussion of the opera Stravinsky wrote about this play, in which the composer closely followed the original, I will here discuss Antigone which is just as famous.
[Antigone in front of the dead Polynices
by Nikiforos Lytras, 1865]
Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and his mother Jocasta. In Oedipus the King Sophocles describes how Oedipus unwittingly marries his own mother, the queen consort of Thebes. Oedipus grew up in Corinth under the assumption that he was the biological son of Polybus and his wife. Hearing rumors about his parentage, he consulted the Delphic Oracle and was informed that he was fated to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus therefore fled from Corinth before he could commit these sins. During his travels, Oedipus then happened to encounter his real father Laius on a narrow mountain pass. After a heated argument regarding right-of-way, Oedipus killed Laius, unknowingly fulfilling the first half of the prophecy. Oedipus continued his journey to Thebes and discovered that the city was being terrorized by the sphinx. He solved the sphinx's riddle, and the grateful city, along with the acting regent Creon, elected Oedipus as its new king. Oedipus accepted the throne and married Laius' widowed queen Jocasta, his actual mother, thereby fulfilling the second half of the prophecy. Jocasta bore her son four children: two girls, Antigone and Ismene, and two twin boys, Eteocles and Polynices.
When his city is afterward struck by a plague, Oedipus learns that it is divine punishment for his patricide and incest. Hearing this news, Jocasta hangs herself, and Oedipus gouges out his eyes and goes into exile with his daughter Antigone (described in Oedipus at Colonus).
Oedipus' two sons, the twins Eteocles and Polynices, next lead opposite sides in Thebes' civil war, and die fighting each other for the throne - even killing each other. Creon, the new ruler of Thebes and brother of the former Queen Jocasta, has decided that Eteocles fought on the "good side" as a "patriot" and will be honored and Polynices who was on the "wrong side" as a "traitor" will be held in public shame. The rebel brother's body will not be sanctified by holy rites and must lie unburied on the battlefield outside the city walls, prey for vultures and jackals.
This is where the present play starts. Antigone wants to bury her brother Polynices anyway, considering it her religious duty as a close family member, and asks her sister Ismene to help her. The more lawful and obedient Ismene is startled,
refuses and tries to dissuade Antigone from her decision. Antigone has a strong and bold character and decides to defy Creon's decree despite the consequences she may face, in order to honor her deceased brother.
Creon then
hears from a sentry that Polynices' body has been given funeral rites
and a symbolic burial with a thin covering of earth. Antigone is arrested near the grave and she does not deny her actions. She argues unflinchingly with Creon about the immorality of the edict and the morality of her actions - she is observing a higher law of religious observance and familial duty. Haemon, Creon's son, enters to pledge allegiance to his father, even
though he is engaged to Antigone. He initially seems willing to forsake
Antigone, but when Haemon gently tries to persuade his father to spare
Antigone, claiming that "under cover of darkness the city mourns for the
girl", the discussion deteriorates, and the two men are soon bitterly
insulting each other. When Creon threatens to execute Antigone in front
of his son, Haemon leaves, vowing never to see Creon again.
King Creon then orders Antigone buried alive in a cave. By not killing her directly, he hopes to pay minimal respects to the gods. But Creon’s mind is changed by the blind prophet Tiresias, who advises that leaving Polynices unburied is an insult to the gods, whose anger is to be feared. He manages to convince Creon, but is too late to save the impetuous Antigone, who has already hanged herself in her tomb-cave. This leads Creon’s son to commit suicide as well and follow his beloved in death. The chain of deaths continues when Queen Eurydice, the wife of Creon, also commits suicide, cursing Creon whom she blames for her son's death. Plagued with guilt, Creon abdicates the throne, crushed by the tragic chain of events that he had unwittingly set in motion. He can be seen as a tragic hero, losing everything for upholding what he believed was right. After Creon condemns himself, the leader of the chorus closes by saying that although the gods punish the proud, punishment brings wisdom.
In the person of Creon, Sophocles exposes the dangers of the absolute ruler, or autocrat, to whom few will speak freely and openly their true opinions, and who therefore commits grievous errors. Creon initially says he is working on behalf of all citizens, but later with a slip of the tongue he tells his son Haemon that he owns the city of Thebe. It goes without saying that Antigone is unfortunately still very relevant in our times of growing autocracy.
Antigone has been often adapted: as a modern play by Jean Cocteau (1922), Jean Anouilh (1944) and Bertolt Brecht (1948) - by these last two in the political context of anti-fascism. In classical music, Felix Mendelssohn wrote a suite of incidental music for a German version by Ludwig Tieck (1841); operas were composed by Arthur Honegger (1927) and Carl Orff (1949). The best cinema adaptation was made in 1961 by Greek director Yiorgos Tzavellas with Irene Papas as a powerful Antigone.
In conclusion a few words about Sophocles (497/6-496/5). Sophocles was born into a wealthy family and he was highly educated. Sophocles' first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those of Aeschylus; and earlier than, or contemporary with, those of Euripides. Sophocles wrote over 120 plays, but only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax, Antigone, Women of Trachis, Oedipus Rex, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. For almost fifty years, Sophocles was the most celebrated playwright in the dramatic competitions of the city-state of Athens which took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. He competed in thirty competitions, won twenty-four, and was never judged lower than second place. Aeschylus won thirteen competitions, and was sometimes defeated by Sophocles; Euripides won four. The most famous tragedies of Sophocles feature Oedipus and Antigone: they are generally known as the Theban plays, though each was part of a different trilogy (the other members of which are now lost). Sophocles influenced the development of drama, most importantly by adding a third actor, thereby reducing the importance of the chorus. He also developed his characters to a greater extent than earlier playwrights. Sophocles died at the age of 90 or 91 in the winter of 406/5 BC, having seen, within his lifetime, both the Greek triumph in the Persian Wars, and the bloodletting of the Peloponnesian War.
I have read the translation by Robert Fagles in Penguin Classics.
Open access verse translation by Robin Bond.
My synopsis copies some parts of the English Wikipedia article on Antigone. Illustration from Wikipedia.
Greatest Plays of All Time