LITERARY

ANALYSIS
OF ANTIGONE
BY SOPHOCLES

BY

JADE A. BALBON
 Antigone by Sophocles
Antigone is a play that was written by an ancient Greek playwright called Sophocles in 441
BCE. It forms the third installment of the Oedipus trilogy and is narratively preceded by Oedipus
Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. Like many ancient Greek plays, Sophocles’ Antigone was
performed at the Dionysia theatre festival in Athens, where it won first prize.

Sophocles Biography
Sophocles lived from 496 to 406 BCE. Along Aeschylus and Euripides, Sophocles is considered
today to have been one of the great tragedians of ancient Greece. Sophocles’ plays won at least
20 theatre competitions during his exceptionally long career. Sophocles’ main innovation in
theatre was to add a third actor to his tragedies, when previously two actors and a chorus had
been standard. While historians know that Sophocles wrote around 120 plays, only seven have
survived fully intact. Of these, Antigone is probably the earliest, though the dates of some of the
plays are unknown.

SUMMARY
Ghandi once said “Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless
or corrupt. And a citizen who barters with such a state shares in its corruption and lawlessness”.
She chooses to disobey the law and bury her brother because she believes he has every right to it.
First off, Oedipus was the king of Thebes and passed the throne to his two sons, Eteocles and
Polyneices, upon his death. The two brothers ruled Thebes until they quarreled, at which point
Eteocles expelled Polyneices and a civil war broke out with each brother fighting for the throne.
Both brothers died in the battle, allowing Creon, Oedipus uncle, to become the king. Creon’s
claim to the throne is legitimate: it comes directly from Oedipus in Oedipus Rex. It is in this
challenging political situation that Antigone opens.
Antigone begins with its titular character and her sister Ismene discussing news from Creon, the
king of Thebes. Both of their brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles, have just died in the battle.
Creon has decreed that Eteocles, will be buried, but that Polyneices will not receive any burial
rites because he was fighting for the opposing side at that time of his death. Creon’s choice
actually goes against the religious rules of Thebes, but he feels his choice is justified because of
Polyneices’ betrayal.
Ismene and Antigone are deeply upset by this news, but Ismene does not believe that there is
anything that they can do, as they are women with little power. Antigone disagrees: she has
already decided to defy the law and go and bury Polyneices’ body is not to be buried, but a guard
arrives and tells him that the burial has already been accomplished. Antigone is swiftly caught
and brought before Creon.
Rather than deny what she has done, Antigone fully admits to having buried her brother and
argues that Creon’s law is unjust. She follows the rules of the gods, she says, not the rule of
arrogant kings. One of the most famous Antigone quotes is when Antigone tells Creon: “what
greater glory could I find than giving my own brother’s funeral?” Both Antigone and Ismene are
sentenced to death for Antigone’s actions and are taken to prison.
Haemon, Creon’s son and Antigone’s bethrothed, goes to his father to try and change the mind.
He tells him that Thees is mourning Antigone’s sentencing. Creon is unmoved by his son’s pleas,
saying that he will not lose this fight to a woman. However, after Haemon leaves, Creon pardons
Ismene and releases her. The next person to try and persuade Creon that he is mistaken is
Tiresias, a famous seer. Again, Creon refuses to change his decision even when Tiresias tells him
that he is disappointing the gods.
It is only when Creon addresses the chorus, a group of characters in ancient Greek plays who
advise characters and often represent the people or the audience that he finally sees that he has
made mistake. He orders Antigone released. Unfortunately, he is too late: Antigone hanged
herself rather than allow Creon to dictate her fate. Haemon has also killed himself out of grief for
his lost love. Creon’s wife Eurydice also kills herself and curses Creon for the death of her son.
Creon is left alone, devastated.
 ANALYSIS
In a place, there should be a law and order. A law that mandates all the people to do well and
know what is just and order that states their obligations to fulfill their responsibilities for them to
have an organized and well- disciplined country. If the countrymen does not value the word
obedience, the awful picture of the country emerges and if one engages and visionalize a lawless
country, he is a citizen who embraces his own desire rather than imagining the welfare of his
country and people.
All the scenes take put before the regal royal residence at Thebes (adjusting to the conventional
sensational rule of solidarity of put) and the occasions unfurl in small more than twenty-four
hours. A disposition of instability wins in Thebes within the period of uneasy calm taking after
the Theban gracious war and, as the wrangle about between the two central figures propels, the
components of premonition and impending fate prevail within the air. The arrangement of
passing at the conclusion of the play, be that as it may, takes off a last impression of catharsis
and a purging of all feeling, with all interests went through.
The idealistic character of Antigone consciously risks her life through her actions, concerned
only with obeying the laws of the gods and the dictates of familial loyalty and social decency.
Creon, on the other hand, regards only the requirement of political expediency and physical
power, although he too is unrelenting in his stance. Much of the tragedy lies in the fact that
Creon’s realization of his folly and rashness comes too late, and he pays a heavy price, left alone
in his wretchedness. The character of the sentry is also unusual for the time of the play, in that he
speaks in more natural, lower-class language, rather than the stylized poetry of the other
characters. Interestingly, there is very little mention of the gods throughout the play, and the
tragic events are portrayed as the result of human error, and not divine intervention.
However, if the law and order of the country is sometimes not fair. There’s a circumstance that
will threaten your obligation as a citizen in the country and your love to the people who has the
same blood as yours. You will certainly put yourself in risks and sacrifice your own good and
sake. In the play, Antigone sacrificed her own just to bury her brother formally.
Furthermore, the play explore themes such as the following:
a. State Control - the right of the individual to reject society’s infringement on personal
freedoms and obligations
b. Natural Law vs. Man-Made Law- Creon advocates obedience to man-made laws, while
Antigone stresses the higher laws of duty to the gods and one’s family
c. Civil Disobedience- Antigone believes that state law is not absolute, and that civil
disobedience is justified in extreme cases
d. Citizenship- Creon‘s decree that Polynices should remain unburied suggests that
Polynices’ treason in attacking the city effectively revokes his citizenship and the rights
that go with it – ”citizenship by law” rather than “citizenship by nature”
e. Family- for Antigone, the honour of the family outweighs her duties to the state
f. Blindness- Antigone demonstrates the thematic strand of blindness in the same way as it
is presented in Oedipus Rex. Both, Oedipus and Creon, do not see their inner blindness
 because of their ego or pride. They do not accept or think that they could be wrong.
Creon is furious at Antigone for defying the city law and preferring the divine law to
perform burial rites of her slain brother. When things cross limits, Creon berates Tiresias
and becomes the victim of his own pride, again believes that he cannot commit a mistake.
He has to pay the price of his arrogant blindness resulting in the death of his son as well
as his wife
g. Political Loyalty and Family Loyalty- The play demonstrates the theme of political
loyalty and family fidelity through the characters of Creon, Antigone, and Polynices.
Although Polynices knows well that he is fighting against his maternal uncle, yet he goes
into the war. Creon is politically loyal to Thebes and so are Ismene and Antigone.
However, when it comes to performing final rites, only Antigone comes forward and
goes for it despite having political consequences. This is the family loyalty that she
performs burial rites of her brother despite the staunch opposition of Creon and her own
sister
h. Arrogance- Antigone shows the theme of arrogance as a hubris of the main character,
Creon. Creon has enacted a law that the rebel does not deserve a burial. However,
Antigone contends that it is a divine law and the divine law must be upheld over every
other man-made law. When Creon insists and behaves too arrogantly to give reason a
chance, the results are harrowing for him too that his own son kills himself, and then his
wife follows suit. And this happens even though Tiresias also warns him of his blunder
but his arrogance does not let him listen to any sane voice
i. Femininity- The thematic strand of femininity resides in the title of the play, and in the
individual character of Antigone. Ismene shows true and passive femininity when she
advises her sister that she should not violate the Creon-made state law of not performing
proper burial of the rebel, be it their brother. However, femininity asserts through
Antigone who defies the state laws on the logic of complying with the divine laws. She
goes on to perform the burial rites of her brother, Polynices
j. Free Will and Fate- The play shows the theme of free will and fate through the characters
of Antigone and Creon. Creon is bound to enact the city laws but is free to let the violater
has his reason. Antigone, on the other hand, is also bound to comply with the divine law
and does not care about the consequences of violating the state laws. It seems that though
Creon has the choice to leave his niece, yet he goes against it and tries her for violating
the laws and faces repercussions which is his fate, while the compliance obduracy is his
free will
k. Tyranny- The theme of tyranny is obvious in the character of Creon, who has become a
towering personality after banishing Oedipus from the city. However, when he insists on
the city law to enact against Antigone for upholding the divine law of performing the
burial rites of Polynices, the Thebans first become baffled at his obduracy and later
withdraw their consent for making him a ruler, as he has shown a clear proclivity toward
tyranny strongly resisted by the city
l. Power- The play shows the use of power through the characters of Creon as well as
Tiresias and Creon’s son, Haemon. Creon uses his state power to curb the rebellious spirit
of Antigone but she uses her femininity as well as sanguinity to rise against him. Tiresias
 uses his power of soothsaying to warn Creon, while Creon’s son uses his will to show his
father that he can resist him by dying
Moreover, the literary devices that this play is being used are as follows.
a. Action: The main action of the novel comprises Antigone’s defiance to the Theban laws
enacted by her uncle, Creon. The rising action occurs when Creon threatens her for
violating the law punishable to death. The falling action occurs when Creon decides to
free Antigone but she has already hanged herself after Haemon kills himself.
b. Antagonist: Antigone shows the character of Creon, as the main antagonist on account of
his arrogance and miscalculation about the law and for his obstruction of Antigone in
performing the rightful burial rites of her brother.
c. Conflict: There are two types of conflicts in the play, Antigone. The first one is the
external conflict that is going on between man and the world order as Antigone shows
through her defiance. Another conflict is in the mind of Antigone as a sister whether she
should perform the burial of her brother or not.
d. Characters: Antigone presents both static as well as dynamic characters. The young girl,
Antigone, is a dynamic character as she goes through a transformation during her growth
in the play from an obedient to a disobedient girl. However, the rest of the characters do
not see any change in their behavior, as they are static characters such as Creon, Ismene,
Haemon, and even Tiresias.
e. Climax: The climax takes place when Creon decides to forgive Antigone for defying his
law but he arrives too late and she has committed suicide, while Haemon attacks him,
though, he fails.
f. Dramatic Irony: The play shows dramatic irony through the character of Tiresias.
Although he is physically blind, yet he can see through this mind’s eyes the future of the
people of Thebes. He has advised Oedipus and now he is advising Creon but both think
that he is a blind soothsayer.
g. Hyperbole: Hyperbole or exaggeration occurs in the play in the first episode.
h. Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses
i. Metaphor: Antigone shows good use of various metaphors
j. Mood: The play, Antigone, shows a very serious and somber mood from the very
beginning and turns to tragic and ironic by the end.
k. Motif: Most important motifs of the play, Antigone, are the tomb, the bridal bed and
death
l. Symbols: The play shows symbols through characters such as Creon is the symbol of
tyranny, Antigone a symbol of defiance, and Ismene a symbol of resignation.
m. Setting: The setting of the play, Antigone, is the front of the palace of Thebes.
n. Simile: The novel shows good use of various similes.
o. Protagonist: Antigone is the protagonist of the play. The play starts with the entry of
Antigone and Ismene on the stage and ends with her.
p. Rhetorical Questions: The play shows a good use of rhetorical questions at several places.
q. Paradox: The play shows the examples of a paradox.
This will conclude that love is purer than anything else in this world. Even life could be
sacrificed and forgotten but not the way we care and love our family. The laws and order of the
country is just a centimeter compare to your mile respect and love for your family.
 REFERENCES
https://ancient-literature.com/greece_sophocles_antigone.html
https://literarydevices.net/antigone/