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Analysis of Sophocles’ Antigone

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 29, 2020 • ( 0 )

Within this single drama—in great part, a harsh critique of Athenian society and the Greek city-state in general—Sophocles tells of the eternal struggle between the state and the individual, human and natural law, and the enormous gulf between what we attempt here on earth and what fate has in store for us all. In this magnificent dramatic work, almost incidentally so, we find nearly every reason why we are now what we are.

—Victor D. Hanson and John Heath, Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom

With Antigone Sophocles forcibly demonstrates that the power of tragedy derives not from the conflict between right and wrong but from the confrontation between right and right. As the play opens the succession battle between the sons of Oedipus—Polynices and Eteocles—over control of Thebes has resulted in both of their deaths. Their uncle Creon, who has now assumed the throne, asserts his authority to end a destructive civil war and decrees that only Eteocles, the city’s defender, should receive honorable burial. Polynices, who has led a foreign army against Thebes, is branded a traitor. His corpse is to be left on the battlefield “to be chewed up by birds and dogs and violated,” with death the penalty for anyone who attempts to bury him and supply the rites necessary for the dead to reach the underworld. Antigone, Polynices’ sister, is determined to defy Creon’s order, setting in motion a tragic collision between opposed laws and duties: between natural and divine commands that dictate the burial of the dead and the secular edicts of a ruler determined to restore civic order, between family allegiance and private conscience and public duty and the rule of law that restricts personal liberty for the common good. Like the proverbial immovable object meeting an irresistible force, Antigone arranges the impact of seemingly irreconcilable conceptions of rights and responsibilities, producing one of drama’s enduring illuminations of human nature and the human condition.

Antigone is one of Sophocles’ greatest achievements and one of the most influential dramas ever staged. “Between 1790 and 1905,” critic George Steiner reports, “it was widely held by European poets, philosophers, [and] scholars that Sophocles’ Antigone was not only the fi nest of Greek tragedies, but a work of art nearer to perfection than any other produced by the human spirit.” Its theme of the opposition between the individual and authority has resonated through the centuries, with numerous playwrights, most notably Jean Anouilh, Bertolt Brecht, and Athol Fugard grafting contemporary concerns and values onto the moral and political dramatic framework that Sophocles established. The play has elicited paradoxical responses reflecting changing cultural and moral imperatives. Antigone, who has been described as “the first heroine of Western drama,” has been interpreted both as a heroic martyr to conscience and as a willfully stubborn fanatic who causes her own death and that of two other innocent people, forsaking her duty to the living on behalf of the dead. Creon has similarly divided critics between censure and sympathy. Despite the play’s title, some have suggested that the tragedy is Creon’s, not Antigone’s, and it is his abuse of authority and his violations of personal, family, and divine obligations that center the drama’s tragedy. The brilliance of Sophocles’ play rests in the complexity of motive and the competing absolute claims that the drama displays. As novelist George Eliot observed,

It is a very superficial criticism which interprets the character of Creon as that of hypocritical tyrant, and regards Antigone as a blameless victim. Coarse contrasts like this are not the materials handled by great dramatists. The exquisite art of Sophocles is shown in the touches by which he makes us feel that Creon, as well as Antigone, is contending for what he believes to be the right, while both are also conscious that, in following out one principle, they are laying themselves open to just blame for transgressing another.

Eliot would call the play’s focus the “antagonism of valid principles,” demonstrating a point of universal significance that “Wherever the strength of a man’s intellect, or moral sense, or affection brings him into opposition with the rules which society has sanctioned, there is renewed conflict between Antigone and Creon; such a man must not only dare to be right, he must also dare to be wrong—to shake faith, to wound friendship, perhaps, to hem in his own powers.” Sophocles’ Antigone is less a play about the pathetic end of a victim of tyranny or the corruption of authority than about the inevitable cost and con-sequence between competing imperatives that define the human condition. From opposite and opposed positions, both Antigone and Creon ultimately meet at the shared suffering each has caused. They have destroyed each other and themselves by who they are and what they believe. They are both right and wrong in a world that lacks moral certainty and simple choices. The Chorus summarizes what Antigone will vividly enact: “The powerful words of the proud are paid in full with mighty blows of fate, and at long last those blows will teach us wisdom.”

As the play opens Antigone declares her intention to her sister Ismene to defy Creon’s impious and inhumane order and enlists her sister’s aid to bury their brother. Ismene responds that as women they must not oppose the will of men or the authority of the city and invite death. Ismene’s timidity and deference underscores Antigone’s courage and defiance. Antigone asserts a greater allegiance to blood kinship and divine law declaring that the burial is a “holy crime,” justified even by death. Ismene responds by calling her sister “a lover of the impossible,” an accurate description of the tragic hero, who, according to scholar Bernard Knox, is Sophocles’ most important contribution to drama: “Sophocles presents us for the first time with what we recognize as a ‘tragic hero’: one who, unsupported by the gods and in the face of human opposition, makes a decision which springs from the deepest layer of his individual nature, his physis , and then blindly, ferociously, heroically maintains that decision even to the point of self-destruction.” Antigone exactly conforms to Knox’s description, choosing her conception of duty over sensible self-preservation and gender-prescribed submission to male authority, turning on her sister and all who oppose her. Certain in her decision and self-sufficient, Antigone rejects both her sister’s practical advice and kinship. Ironically Antigone denies to her sister, when Ismene resists her will, the same blood kinship that claims Antigone’s supreme allegiance in burying her brother. For Antigone the demands of the dead overpower duty to the living, and she does not hesitate in claiming both to know and act for the divine will. As critic Gilbert Norwood observes, “It is Antigone’s splendid though perverse valor which creates the drama.”

Before the apprehended Antigone, who has been taken in the act of scattering dust on her brother’s corpse, lamenting, and pouring libations, is brought before Creon and the dramatic crux of the play, the Chorus of The-ban elders delivers what has been called the fi nest song in all Greek tragedy, the so-called Ode to Man, that begins “Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man.” This magnificent celebration of human power over nature and resourcefulness in reason and invention ends with a stark recognition of humanity’s ultimate helplessness—“Only against Death shall he call for aid in vain.” Death will test the resolve and principles of both Antigone and Creon, while, as critic Edouard Schuré asserts, “It brings before us the most extraordinary psychological evolution that has ever been represented on stage.”

When Antigone is brought in judgment before Creon, obstinacy meets its match. Both stand on principle, but both reveal the human source of their actions. Creon betrays himself as a paranoid autocrat; Antigone as an individual whose powerful hatred outstrips her capacity for love. She defiantly and proudly admits that she is guilty of disobeying Creon’s decree and that he has no power to override divine law. Nor does Antigone concede any mitigation of her personal obligation in the competing claims of a niece, a sister, or a citizen. Creon is maddened by what he perceives to be Antigone’s insolence in justifying her crime by diminishing his authority, provoking him to ignore all moderating claims of family, natural, or divine extenuation. When Ismene is brought in as a co-conspirator, she accepts her share of guilt in solidarity with her sister, but again Antigone spurns her, calling her “a friend who loves in words,” denying Ismene’s selfless act of loyalty and sympathy with a cold dismissal and self-sufficiency, stating, “Never share my dying, / don’t lay claim to what you never touched.” However, Ismene raises the ante for both Antigone and Creon by asking her uncle whether by condemning Antigone he will kill his own son’s betrothed. Creon remains adamant, and his judgment on Antigone and Ismene, along with his subsequent argument with his son, Haemon, reveals that Creon’s principles are self-centered, contradictory, and compromised by his own pride, fears, and anxieties. Antigone’s challenge to his authority, coming from a woman, is demeaning. If she goes free in defiance of his authority, Creon declares, “I am not the man, she is.” To the urging of Haemon that Creon should show mercy, tempering his judgment to the will of Theban opinion that sympathizes with Antigone, Creon asserts that he cares nothing for the will of the town, whose welfare Creon’s original edict against Polynices was meant to serve. Creon, moreover, resents being schooled in expediency by his son. Inflamed by his son’s advocacy on behalf of Antigone, Creon brands Haemon a “woman’s slave,” and after vacillating between stoning Antigone and executing her and her sister in front of Haemon, Creon rules that Antigone alone is to perish by being buried alive. Having begun the drama with a decree that a dead man should remain unburied, Creon reverses himself, ironically, by ordering the premature burial of a living woman.

Antigone, being led to her entombment, is shown stripped of her former confidence and defiance, searching for the justification that can steel her acceptance of the fate that her actions have caused. Contemplating her living descent into the underworld and the death that awaits her, Antigone regrets dying without marriage and children. Gone is her reliance on divine and natural law to justify her act as she equivocates to find the emotional source to sustain her. A husband and children could be replaced, she rationalizes, but since her mother and father are dead, no brother can ever replace Polynices. Antigone’s tortured logic here, so different from the former woman of principle, has been rejected by some editors as spurious. Others have judged this emotionally wrought speech essential for humanizing Antigone, revealing her capacity to suffer and her painful search for some consolation.

The drama concludes with the emphasis shifted back to Creon and the consequences of his judgment. The blind prophet Teiresias comes to warn Creon that Polynices’ unburied body has offended the gods and that Creon is responsible for the sickness that has descended on Thebes. Creon has kept from Hades one who belongs there and is sending to Hades another who does not. The gods confirm the rightness of Antigone’s action, but justice evades the working out of the drama’s climax. The release of Antigone comes too late; she has hung herself. Haemon commits suicide, and Eurydice, Creon’s wife, kills herself after cursing Creon for the death of their son. Having denied the obligation of family, Creon loses his own. Creon’s rule, marked by ignoring or transgressing cosmic and family law, is shown as ultimately inadequate and destructive. Creon is made to realize that he has been rash and foolish, that “Whatever I have touched has come to nothing.” Both Creon and Antigone have been pushed to terrifying ends in which what truly matters to both are made starkly clear. Antigone’s moral imperatives have been affirmed but also their immense cost in suffering has been exposed. Antigone explores a fundamental rift between public and private worlds. The central opposition in the play between Antigone and Creon, between duty to self and duty to state, dramatizes critical antimonies in the human condition. Sophocles’ genius is his resistance of easy and consoling simplifications to resolve the oppositions. Both sides are ultimately tested; both reveal the potential for greatness and destruction.

24 lectures on Greek Tragedy by Dr. Elizabeth Vandiver.

Introduction of Antigone

Antigone was written by Sophocles, the great Grecian playwright, and is known as the most popular of the Theban plays trilogy. The play was probably written around 442BC. It is also stated that it was written after the other two plays yet the story of the play occurs before them. It links the storyline of Antigone with that of the play Seven Against Thebes written by Aeschylus, a contemporary of Sophocles. The storyline of the play deals with the issue of the burial of Polynices, the brother of Antigone, who has become the victim of Creon’s enacted law against the burial of a rebel of the state. Antigone buries him and faces the consequences of her act of disobedience to the state laws.

Summary of Antigone

The storyline of the play begins when the invasion by the forces of Argos has been routed out of the city of Thebes. However, it happens that Eteocles and Polynices, the two sons of the famous Oedipus. Eteocles and Polynices were supposed to take turns in ruling the city but Eteocles refuses to step down. They have met their ends in this war from different warring parties. Following the route of the invading army, Creon takes reigns of the city in his hands, issuing a decree that Polynices, as a rebel of the city, does not deserve to be given a proper burial, leaving him to rot in the open, whereas Eteocles was given an honorable burial. He has stated that it will serve as a warning to the traitors of the city. He further adds that no one would try to perform his burial against the state laws and the offenders of this law will invite a death sentence .

On the other hand, both the daughters of Oedipus, Ismene, and Antigone, are aggrieved. They are witnessing the loss of both of their brothers in the war. However, Antigone goes against the laws enacted by the incumbent ruler, Creon. She states that it is an unwritten divine law that death should be given a proper burial. Therefore, a man-made law cannot overrule it. Therefore, she vows that she would violate this man-made law and perform the burial rites of the dead body of her brother, Polynices. However, the sanguine sister, Ismene is aware of Creon’s authority and implores her sister not to defy the city law, though, without any success.

When finally Antigone musters up the courage to fulfill her words about performing the burial rights of her brother’s dead body, she is caught in the middle of the act. The city ruler, Creon, who happens to be her uncle too, becomes infuriated at this insolence and orders to bring Antigone before him. However, she also becomes defiant and argues that she has obeyed the divine laws against the state law but Creon insists that she must face the legal injunctions enacted in this connection. Meanwhile, her sister, Ismene reaches there and pleas Creon to spare her. It is because she is going to be her daughter-in-law due to her being the fiancée of Haemon, Creon’s son. Ismene tells him that she was also involved in the violation of the law hoping she would be punished alongside her sister but Antigone rejects her and says she doesn’t deserve to die. Creon spares Isemene, yet, he stays adamant to punish Antigone and the fact that the city law must be enforced at every cost come what may .

When Haemon comes to know about his father’s obduracy, he also arrives to request him to reconsider the question of his would-be wife stating that “under cover of darkness the city mourns for the girl” On the other hand, the Thebans also consider it a ruler’s intervention instead of the will of God and express sympathy with Antigone for burying her brother. When Creon sees his own son requesting him, he becomes too much angry and reprimands him for interfering in the state matters, though, Haemon argues that it is injustice. Seeing Creon not moving at this, Haemon threatens another death but still, Creon stays adamant.

When Antigone faces the law, she refuses to submit to Creon’s demand. Tiresias, the soothsayer, warns Creon of grave consequences for working against the divine injunctions. Tiresias warns that Polynices require a proper burial and now to punish Antigone for doing the right thing by executing her, will only anger the Gods and bring wrath upon the City of Thebes. But exactly similar to Oedipus, Creon also berates Tiresias for false prophesy and bribery at which Tiresias predicts the death of his son for taking the life of Antigone. Antigone was immured as against the admonition of Tiresias by confining her under the Earth alive and leaving her to die. Antigone reflects on her wrongdoing and regrets her actions for going against the laws of the King and hangs herself. Meanwhile, a messenger reaches the palace to inform Creon about Haemon’s suicide. Haemon commits suicide by stabbing himself and lays in a pool of blood next to Antigone. When Creon’s wife, Eurydice, inquires, the messenger relates the whole story of how Haemon has found Antigone hanging at which he has also committed suicide. When Creon sees the dead body of his son, he becomes much aggrieved but feels more heartbroken when he hears the news of the suicide of his wife, Eurydice, too. Eurydice curses her husband for the loss of their children. In the end, Creon blames himself for how others’ lives were depended on the life of Antigone and how they’d have lived if he wasn’t rash and adamant in following the duties of rule.

Major Themes in Antigone

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.
Natural Law: Antigone shows the difference between man-made law and natural law through the character of Creon and Antigone. Antigone is well aware of the difference and knows that the state is behind Creon and Creon is after the man-made law, the reason for his insistence that it must be adhered to in performing burial rights of Polynices. However, Antigone does not care and goes for the natural laws in defiance to Creon, or better to say, the state. When Creon goes beyond the limits after he sees Antigone disrespects it, he suffers the consequences of violating the natural laws.
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.
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 .
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.
Civil Disobedience: The play shows the theme of civil disobedience in two characters; the first is Antigone and the second is Haeman, the son of Creon. When Creon enacts this law that a rebel does not deserve a proper burial, he knows little that it would be violated by his family members. Antigone, despite a warning from Isemen, violates this law and starts civil disobedience, while Haemon, too, goes for civil disobedience knowing full well his headstrong father, the king. The king, later, laments this mass civil disobedience at his own home.
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.
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.
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.

Major Characters in Antigone

Antigone: The main character as well as the protagonist , Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and his sister born to Jocasta. In the play, she has been shown a defiant girl who does not consider her sister, Ismene’s advice that her brother Polynices’s dead body should stay lying in the open to comply with the state laws enacted by her uncle and now king, Creon. She, therefore, openly defies and abides by the divine laws that his dead body should be given a proper burial. Her heroic and righteous confrontation against Creon’s hotheaded argumentative force wins her readers’ sympathies following the ignominy of the girls from their father’s side.
Ismene: Although Ismene is a secondary character after her sister, Antigone, she also seems reasonable in her suggestion which is not only rational but also pragmatic. She knows that Creon would not stop short of enacting the laws that mean the death of Antigone and she has already suffered much; her father was banished, her brother has been killed in the opposite camps and her mother committed suicide. Although she does not help her, she loves her family very much and stands by her sister’s decision.
Creon: Creon is the third most important character in the play after both sisters. He assumes charge of the city-state of Thebes after banishing Oedipus. However, he has lately become reckless and makes his own law after the fierce battle that the rebels of the city will not be given proper burial rites. Yet, Antigone defies this law saying that it is a man-made law and that divine laws permit all human beings to be given proper burial without any discrimination. Therefore, Creon becomes rash, arrogant, and irrational after he comes to know about this non-compliance to his law from Antigone. Consequently, he suffers for it as his own son commits suicide for sentencing Antigone, his wife, while his mother and Creon’s wife, too, kills herself.
The Chorus : The Chorus comprises the Theban elders who appear in unison and voice their opinion about what does not seem rational and sanguine in the existing circumstances. When Creon does not accept any rational argument , the Chorus cautions Creon that arrogance has already cost the city dearly. They comment on the mistakes of all parties involved and express sympathy and pity over the prevalent situation.
Haemon: Haemon’s role in Antigone is very important on account of his being the fiancé of Antigone. He not only stands by her but also proves his words of dying for her, defying his father to prove him wrong. When he commits suicide after his failed attempt to kill his father, Creon still does not believe until his wife, too, goes on the same path.
Tiresias: The blind soothsayer appears in all the Greek plays. His task comprises making predictions and stating the words of the Oracle in simple words to make his audience understand the wish of the gods. When he tries to make Creon understand, like Oedipus, Creon also alleges that he is scheming against him but Tiresias stays calm and cool and predicts that by staying arrogant and pig-headed, Creon will cause the death of his family members. And this happens when Haemon commits suicide followed by his mother.
Watchman: The role of the watchman is significant in that he arrests Antigone during the act of the burial of her brother, Polynices. He speaks on the occasion which shows his concern about his own life instead of showing his concern about laws and their compliance.
Eurydice : Her character in Antigone is critical in that she is Creon’s wife and mother of Haemon. When she sees that her son is no more, she also follows him and commits suicide, causing a severe blow to the hotheadedness of Creon.
First Messenger: The messenger does his job of relaying the reports of the suicides to the people and the audiences and leaves after that.
Second Messenger : The second messenger reports the death of Eurydice and leaves the stage.

Writing Style of Antigone

The writing style of Antigone is marked with dignity, grandeur, and sublimity. Although according to H. D. F. Kitto, the translator of the text used in this analysis, it is very difficult to use the same iambic pentameter in English as was used in ancient Greek, it is easy to preserve its rhythm as it is clear from its smooth and melodic reading. The play starts with the usual prologue and becomes highly tragic and serious in tone , while at times, it turns out sarcastic toward Creon and tragic toward Antigone. The end of the play is ultimately tragic and cathartic.

Analysis of Literary Devices in Antigone

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.
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.
Allusion : There are various examples of allusions given in the novel. A few examples are given below, i. Driving him back, for hard it is to Strive with the sons of a Dragon. For the arrogant boast of an impious man Zeus hateth exceedingly. (124-128) ii. And then, when Oedipus maintained our state, And when he perished, round his sons you rallied, Still firm and steadfast in your loyalty. (167-169) iii. ‘Is Man. Against Death alone He is left with no defence. But painful sickness he can cure By his own skill. (361-364) iv. Time Thou art strong and ageless, In thy own Olympus Ruling in radiant splendor. (607-610) The first two allusions are related to the Grecian mythology, the third to Oedipus, the fifth to death, and the last again to mythology.
Conflict : The 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.
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.
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.
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.
Foreshadowing : The play shows the following example of foreshadowing , i. How many miseries our father caused! And is there one of them that does not fall On us while yet we live? (1-3) These lines of the play show that something tragic is going to happen with the daughters of Oedipus.
Hyperbole : Hyperbole or exaggeration occurs in the play in the first episode as given in the example below, Antigone: If you keep silent and do not proclaim it. Ismene. Your heart is hot upon a wintry work! (87-88) Here Ismene exaggerates things saying that her heart is hot because of the work of winter which is an exaggeration.
Imagery : Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, i. Welcome, light of the Sun, the fairest Sun that ever has dawned upon Thebes, the city of seven gates! At last thou art arisen, great Orb of shining day, pouring Light across the gleaming water of Dirke. (100-105) ii. Close he hovered above our houses, Circling around our seven gates, with Spears that thirsted to drink our blood. (116-118) iii. Angry accusations Flew up between us; each man blamed another, And in the end it would have come to blows, For there was none to stop it. (258-262). The above lines from the play show that Sophocles has used different images such as the images of light, sound, color, and again sound.
Metaphor : Antigone shows good use of various metaphors as given the examples below, i. Angry accusations Flew up between us; each man blamed another. (259-260) ii. For money opens wide the city-gates To ravishers, it drives the citizens To exile , it perverts the honest mind. (296-299) iii. She raised a bitter cry, as will a bird Returning to its nest and finding it Despoiled, a cradle empty of its young. (422-425) iv. But Death comes once again With blood-stained axe, and hews The sapling down; and Frenzy lends her aid, and vengeful Madness. (601-603) The first metaphor shows the accusations compared to birds, the second shows money compared to something magical, and the third shows the cry compared to a bird. The last one shows death compared to an axe.
Mood : The play, Antigone , shows a very serious and somber mood from the very beginning and turns to tragic and ironic by the end.
Motif : Most important motifs of the play, Antigone, are the tomb, the bridal bed and death.
Paradox : The play shows the examples of a paradox as given in the below examples, i. Our brother’s burial.—Creon has ordained Honour for one, dishonour for the other. (21-23) ii. You cannot: you chose life, and I chose death. (555) This example shows the use of paradox as honor and dishonor has been used in the same verse . The second example shows the life and death used in the same sentence.
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.
Rhetorical Questions : The play shows a good use of rhetorical questions at several places as given in the examples below, i. I knew it; therefore I have brought you here, Outside the doors, to tell you secretly. Ismene. What is it? Some dark shadow is upon you. (17-20) ii. What can I do, either to help or hinder? 40 Antigone. Will you join hands with me and share my task? Ismene. What dangerous enterprise have you in mind? Antigone. Will you join me in taking up the body? Ismene. What? Would you bury him, against the law? (40-45) iii. One time it said ‘You fool! Why do you go to certain punishment?’ Another time ‘What? Standing still, you wretch? (225-227) The above excerpts show the use of rhetorical questions posed by different characters; the first by Antigone, the second by Ismene, and the third by Creon.
Setting : The setting of the play, Antigone , is the front of the palace of Thebes.
Simile : The novel shows good use of various similes. For example, i. He brought them against our land; And like some eagle screaming his rage From the sky he descended upon us, With his armour about him, shining like snow , With spear upon spear. (111-115) ii. Under your threats That lashed me like a hailstorm, I’d have said I would not quickly have come here again. (390-393) iii. You, lurking like a serpent in my house, Drinking my life-blood unawares; nor did I know that I was cherishing two fiends. (531-533) These are similes as the use of the word “like” shows the comparison between different things. The first shows the rage compared to a screaming eagle and then armor’s shine compared to snow. The second shows the threats likened to a hailstorm and the third one shows the person compared to a snake .
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.

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An Analysis of Power, Authority and Truth in Antigone, a Play by Sophocles

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Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Antigone

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1 Salustius, in his Argument to this play (p. 5), notices that the fortunes of the sisters were differently related by other writers. Mimnermus (c. 620 B.C.) spoke of Ismene having been slain at Thebes by Tydeus, one of the Argive chiefs. Ion of Chios (c. 450 B.C.) said that both sisters were burned in the Theban temple of Hera by Laodamas, son of Eteocles, when Thebes was taken in the later war of the Epigoni. Here, then, we have an Ionian contemporary of Sophocles who did not know the legend of Antigone's deed,—another indication that the legend was of Attic growth.

2 Pind. Ol. 6.15 ; Nem. 9. 24 .

3 Paus. 9.18.3 .

4 With regard to this trilogy, see Introd. to the Oedipus Tyrannus , p. xvi.

5 See note on v. 1044 .

6 See note on v. 1115 .

7 i.e., an effigy. The deuteragonist, who had acted Haemon, had been on the stage, as Messenger, up to v. 1256, and had still to come on as Second Messenger at v. 1278 .

8 In his first, or friendly, speech to Creon ( 998-1032 ) Teiresias says not a word concerning Antigone. Possibly he may be conceived as thinking that the burial of Polyneices would imply, as a consequence, the release of Antigone; though it is obvious that, from Creon's point of view, such an inference would be illogical: Antigone was punished because she had broken the edict; not because the burying of Polyneices was intrinsically wrong.

9 This point might be illustrated by contrast with an able romance, of which the title is borrowed from this play of Sophocles. ‘The New Antigone’ declined the sanction of marriage, because she had been educated by a father who had taught her to regard that institution as wrongful. Such a case was not well suited to do dramatically what the Antigone of Sophocles does,—to raise the question of human law against private conscience in a general form,—because the institution concerned claims to be more than a human ordinance, and because, on the other hand, the New Antigone's opinion was essentially an accident of perverted conscience. The author of the work was fully alive to this, and has said ( Spectator , Nov. 5, 1887 ) that his choice of a title conveyed ‘a certain degree of irony.’

10 Religionsphilosophie , II. 114.

11 El. 1487 ff.

12 Plut. Thes. 29.

13 Aelian Var. Hist. 12. 27.

14 Il. 24.411 ff.

15 Ai. 1332 ff.

16 Paus. 9.32.6 .

17 Mr Long's beautiful picture, ‘Diana or Christ,’ will be remembered by many,— and the more fitly, since it presents a counterpart, not only for Antigone, but also for Creon and for Haemon.

18 From the Niobe of Aeschylus (fr. 157): “ οἱ θεῶν ἀγχίσποροι , ι οἱ Ζηνὸς ἐγγύς : οἷς κατ᾽ ᾿Ιδαῖον πάγον ι Διὸς πατρῴου βωμός ἐστ᾽ ἐν αἰθέρι , ι κοὔπω νιν ἐξίτηλον αἶμα δαιμόνων ”.

19 v. 839 .

20 C. Taylor's translation.

21 Quoted by M. Patin in his Études sur les Tragiques grecs , vol. II., p. 271.

“ πάντας δ᾽ ἐλέγξας καὶ διεξελθὼν φίλους , πατέρα , γεραιάν θ᾽ ἥ σφ᾽ ἔτικτε μητέρα , οὐχ ηὗρε πλὴν γυναικὸς ὅστις ἤθελε θανεῖν πρὸ κείνου μηδ᾽ ἔτ᾽ εἰσορᾶν φάος . ” vv. 15 ff.

23 See especially the note on 1044 .

24 All that we know as to the plot is contained in the first Argument to this play: ‘The story has been used also by Euripides in his Antigone ; only there she is detected with Haemon, and is given in marriage, and bears a son Maion.’ In the scholia at the end of L we also read, ‘this play differs from the Antigone of Euripides in the fact that, there, she was detected through the love of Haemon, and was given in marriage; while here the issue is the contrary’ (i.e. her death). That this is the right rendering of the scholiast's words— “ φωραθεῖσα ἐκείνη διὰ τὸν Αἵμονος ἔρωτα ἐξεδόθη πρὸς γάμον ”—seems probable from a comparison with the statement in the Argument; though others have understood, ‘she was detected, and, owing to the love of Haemon, given in marriage.’ She was detected, not, as in the play of Sophocles, directly by Creon's guards, but (in some way not specified) through the fact that Haemon's love for her had drawn him to her side. Welcker ( Griech. Trag. II. pp. 563 ff.) has sought to identify the Antigone of Euripides with the plot sketched by Hyginus in Fab. 72 . Antigone having been detected, Haemon had been commissioned by Creon to slay her, but had saved her, conveying her to a shepherd's home. When Maion, the son of their secret marriage, had grown to man's estate, he visited Thebes at a festival. This was the moment (Welcker thinks) at which the Antigone of Euripides began. Creon noted in Maion a certain mark which all the offspring of the dragon's seed (“ σπαρτοί ”) bore on their bodies. Haemon's disobedience was thus revealed; Heracles vainly interceded with Creon; Haemon slew his wife Antigone and then himself. But surely both the author of the Argument and the scholiast clearly imply that the marriage of Antigone was contained in the play of Euripides, and formed its conclusion. I therefore agree with Heydemann ( Über eine nacheuripideische Antigone , Berlin, 1868 ) that Hyginus was epitomising some otherwise unknown play. M. Patin ( Études sur les Tragiques grecs , vol. II. p. 277 ) remarks that there is nothing to show whether the play of Euripides was produced before or after that of Sophocles. But he has overlooked a curious and decisive piece of evidence. Among the scanty fragments of the Euripidean Antigone are these lines ( Eur. fr. 165, Nauck ); —“ ἄκουσον : οὐ γὰρ οἱ κακῶς πεπραγότες ι σὺν ταῖς τύχαισι τοὺς λόγους ἀπώλεσαν ”. This evidently glances at the Antigone of Sophocles, vv. 563 f. , where Ismene says, “ οὐδ᾽ ὃς ἂν βλάστη μένει ι νοῦς τοῖς κακῶς πράσσουσιν , ἀλλ᾽ ἐξίσταται ”. (For similar instances of covert criticism, see n. on O. C. 1116 .)

25 Eur. fr. 160, 161, 162 (Nauck) . The most significant is fr. 161, probably spoken by Haemon:—“ ἤρων : τὸ μαίνεσθαι δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἦν ἔρως βροτοῖς ”.—Another very suggestive fragment is no. 176, where the speaker is evidently remonstrating with Creon:— ‘Who shall pain a rock by thrusting at it with a spear? And who can pain the dead by dishonour, if we grant that they have no sense of suffering?’ This is characteristic of the difference between the poets. Sophocles never urges the futility of Creon's vengeance, though he does touch upon its ignobleness ( v. 1030 ).

“ quantum ipse feroci Virtute exsuperas , tanto me impensius aecum est Consulere atque omnes metuentem expendere casus . ” Verg. Aen. 12. 19

“ iamiam nec maxima Iuno Nec Saturnius haec oculis pater aspicit aequis . ” Aen. 4. 371

27 Stat. Theb. 12. 679 .

28 Denkmäler , pp. 83 f.

29 From Gerhard, Ant. Bildw. Taf. 73.

30 Mon. Inst. X. 27.

31 Ann. Inst. 176, 1876.

32 See footnote above, p. xxxviii, note 1 (3rd paragraph).

33 “ Περὶ εἰκόνος Ἀντιγόνης κατὰ ἀρχαῖον ὄστρακον , μετὰ ἀπεικονίσματος ”. I am indebted to the kindness of Professor D'Ooge, late Director of the American School at Athens, for an opportunity of seeing this letter.

34 On March 25, 1845, Mendelssohn wrote to his sister:—‘See if you cannot find Punch for Jan. 18 [1845]. It contains an account of Antigone at Covent Garden, with illustrations,—especially a view of the Chorus which has made me laugh for three days.’ In his excellent article on Mendelssohn in the Dictionary of Music , Sir G. Grove has justly deemed this picture worthy of reproduction.

35 Mr George Wotherspoon, who has practically demonstrated the point by setting the Greek words to the music for the Parodos ( vv. 100-161 ). It is only in the last antistrophe, he observes, that the ‘phrasing’ becomes distinctly modern, and less attentive to the Greek rhythms than to harmonic effects.

36 The Greek life of Sophocles says that he served as general ‘in the war against the Anaeans’ (“ ἀναίους ”). Anaea was a place on the mainland, near Prienè. Boeckh supposes that the first expedition was known as ‘the Anaean war,’ and that Sophocles took part in it as well as in the second expedition. To me, I confess, there seems to be far more probability in the simple supposition that “ ἀναίους ” is a corruption of “ σαμίους ”.

37 p. 603 E. Miller, Frag. Hist. II. 46.

38 Arguments against the genuineness have been brought, indeed, by Ritter Fr.( Vorgebliche Strategie d. Sophokles gegen Samos: Rhein. Mus., 1843, pp. 187 ff. ). (1) Ion represents Sophocles as saying,—“ Περικλῆς ποιεῖν με ἔφη , στρατηγεῖν δ᾽ οὐκ ἐπίστασθαι ”. Sophocles (Ritter argues) would have said “ φησί ”, not “ ἔφη ”, if Pericles had been alive. The forger of the fragment intended it to refer to the revolt of Lesbos in 428 B.C.,—forgetting that Sophocles would then be 78. But we reply:—The tense, “ ἔφη ”, can obviously refer to the particular occasion on which the remark was made: ‘Pericles said so [when I was appointed, or when we were at Samos together].’ (2) Ion says of Sophocles, “ οὐ ῥεκτήριος ἦν ”. This (says Ritter) implies that Sophocles was dead; who, however, long survived Ion. [Ion was dead in 421 B.C., Aristoph. Pax 835 .] But here, again, the tense merely refers to the time at which the writer received the impression. We could say of a living person, ‘he was an agreeable man’—meaning that we found him so when we met him.

39 See Curtius, Hist. Gr. II. 472 (Eng. tr.).

40 This fragment of Androtion has been preserved by the schol. on Aristeides, vol. 3, p. 485 (Dind.). Müller, Frag. Hist. IV. 645. The names of two of the ten generals are wanting in the printed texts, but have since been restored, from the MS., by Wilamowitz, De Rhesi Scholiis , P. 13 (Greifswald, 1877). I have observed a remarkable fact in regard to Androtion's list, which ought to be mentioned, because it might be urged against the authenticity of the list, though (in my opinion) such an inference from it would be unfair. Androtion gives (1) the names, (2) the demes of the Generals, but not their tribes. The regular order of precedence for the ten Cleisthenean tribes was this:— 1. Erectheis. 2. Aegeis. 3. Pandionis. 4. Leontis. 5. Acamantis. 6. Oeneis. 7. Cecropis. 8. Hippothontis. 9. Aeantis. 10. Antiochis. Now take the demes named by Androtion. His list will be found to follow this order of the ten tribes,— with one exception, and it is in the case of Sophocles. His deme, Colonus, belonged to the Antiochis, and therefore his name ought to have come last. But Androtion puts it second. The explanation is simple. When the ten tribes were increased to twelve, by the addition of the Antigonis and Demetrias (in or about 307 B.C.), some of the demes were transferred from one tribe to another. Among these was the deme of Colonus. It was transferred from the Antiochis, the tenth on the roll, to the Aegeis, the second on the roll. Hence Androtion's order is correct for his own time (c. 280 B.C.), but not correct for 440 B.C. It is quite unnecessary, however, to infer that he invented or doctored the list. It is enough to suppose that he re-adjusted the order, so as to make it consistent in the eyes of his contemporaries.

41 The Argument to this play, and the “ Βίος Σοφοκλέους ”, have already been cited. See also (1) Strabo 14. p. 638 “ Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ ... πέμψαντες στρατηγὸν Περικλέα καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ Σοφοκλέα τὸν ποιητὴν κακῶς διέθηκαν ἀπειθοῦντας τοὺς Σαμίους ”. (2) Schol. on Aristoph. Pax 696 “ λέγεται δὲ ὅτι ἐκ τῆς στρατηγίας τῆς ἐν Σάμῳ ἠγυρίσατο ” (“ ὁ Σοφοκλῆς ”). (3) Suidas s.v. “ Μέλητος ” [but referring to the Samian “ Μέλισσος ”: cp. Diog. L. 9. 24 ] “ ὑπὲρ Σαμίων στρατηγήσας ἐναυμάχησε πρὸς Σοφοκλῆν τὸν τραγικόν , ὀλυμπιάδι πδ́ ” (Ol. 84 = 444-441 B.C.).—The theory that Sophocles the poet was confused with Sophocles son of Sostratides, strategus in 425 B.C. ( Thuc. 3.115 ), is quite incompatible with the ancient evidence.

42 See Introduction to the Oed. Col. , § 18, p. xli. J. S. III.3

43 Dem. or. 4 § 26 .

44 One of Aelian's anecdotes ( Var. Hist. 3. 8) is entitled, “ ὅτι ὁ Φρύνιχος διά τι ποίημα στρατηγὸς ᾑρέθη ”. Phrynichus, he says, ‘having composed suitable songs for the performers of the war-dance (“ πυρριχισταῖς ”) in a tragedy, so captivated and enraptured the (Athenian) spectators, that they immediately elected him to a military command.’ Nothing else is known concerning this alleged strategia. It is possible that Phrynichus, the tragic poet of c. 500 B.C., was confounded by some later anecdote-monger with the son of Stratonides, general in 412 B.C. ( Thuc. 8.25 ), and that the story was suggested by the authentic strategia of Sophocles. At any rate, the vague and dubious testimony of Aelian certainly does not warrant us in using the case of Phrynichus as an illustration.

45 “ λέλεκται δὲ τὸ δρᾶμα τοῦτο τριακοστὸν δεύτερον ”. Bergk ( Hist. Gr. Lit. III. p. 414) proposes to read, “ δεδίδακται δὲ τὸ δρᾶμα τοῦτο τριακοστόν : δεύτερος ἦν ”. He assumes that Sophocles gained the second prize, because, according to the Parian Chronicle (60), the first prize was gained by Euripides in the archonship of Diphilus (442/1 B.C.). He adds that the word “ εὐδοκιμήσαντα ”, applied to Sophocles in the Argument, would suit the winner of the second prize,—as Aristophanes says of his own “ Δαιταλεῖς ”, which gained the second prize, “ ἄριστ᾽ ἠκουσάτην ” （ Nub. 529) . But two things are wanting to the probability of Bergk's conjecture, viz., (1) some independent reason for thinking that the Antigone was the 30th, rather than the 32nd, of its author's works; and (2) some better ground for assuming that it gained the second prize.

46 See Introd. to Oed. Col. p. xxi. § 3.

47 See Oed. Col. 1405-1413 , and 1770-1772 .

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Antigone struggled between the loyalty to her brother and Creon’s decree. She wanted to give her brother a proper burial so he could have a peaceful afterlife. However, Creon demanded that no one bury Antigone’s brother. I can relate to Antigone because I have wanted to help my friend when she got herself in trouble. However, my parents said I was not allowed to contact her because she was a negative influence. I believe that Antigone has the right to […]

Antigone and MLK Compare and Contrast Essay: Unveiling the Timeless Essence of Justice Across Eras

Dive into the entwined narratives of Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr., two distinct eras yet interconnected by the tenacity of justice. Their tales, though ages apart, share a familiar chord—the relentless pursuit of what's right. Let's embark on a journey of comparison and contrast, where these two figures, separated by centuries, become our guides in exploring justice's myriad facets and how it evolves across time. Antigone's defiance against the edicts of power resounds with a fervor echoing through history. […]

Antigone and Creon: a Comparative Analysis of Moral Justice and Personal Duty

Clashing Beliefs of Antigone and Creon In Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone, each character had a striking personality and powerful beliefs. The two main characters of the tragedy are Antigone and Creon. Both had strong and different ideas about what was wrong and what was right, leading to much conflict between them throughout the tragedy. The heroine, Antigone, had some of the strongest beliefs of them all. Antigone was willing to sacrifice her own life and well-being to honor her fallen brother, […]

Decoding the Authorship of Antigone: a Deep Dive into Sophocles’ Legacy

Have you ever wondered about the genius behind the timeless Greek tragedy "Antigone"? Sure, if you ask anyone familiar with Greek literature, they’ll probably throw the name Sophocles at you. But let’s be real: the story of who penned "Antigone" is more than just a straightforward credit to Sophocles. It’s a journey through the heart of ancient Greek drama, packed with layers of history and a bit of scholarly detective work. Sophocles, this guy was not just anybody. Born around […]

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How To Write an Essay About Antigone

Understanding the play 'antigone'.

Before diving into writing an essay about "Antigone," it is crucial to have a thorough understanding of the play. "Antigone" is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, and it deals with themes such as individual vs. state, family loyalty, and moral integrity. Familiarize yourself with the plot, characters, and the historical and cultural context in which Sophocles wrote. Understanding the play’s background, including the mythological story of Oedipus and its impact on Antigone’s life, is essential. This foundational knowledge will provide a solid base for your essay.

Choosing a Focus and Developing a Thesis

Once you have a comprehensive understanding of the play, the next step is to choose a specific focus for your essay. This could be an analysis of a particular theme, character, or a specific aspect of Sophocles' writing style. Develop a clear thesis statement that will guide the direction of your essay. Your thesis should be arguable and not merely a statement of fact. For example, you might argue how Antigone represents the conflict between personal conviction and state law. This thesis will shape your analysis and give your essay a clear direction.

Gathering Evidence from the Text

After establishing your thesis, gather evidence from the text to support your arguments. This involves close reading of "Antigone" to find quotes, dialogues, and instances in the play that align with your thesis. For instance, if you're discussing Antigone’s defiance as a form of civil disobedience, find parts of the dialogue that showcase her reasoning and moral stance. This step is critical because solid evidence from the text will strengthen your arguments and give credibility to your essay.

Analyzing and Interpreting the Text

The next part of your essay should be devoted to analyzing and interpreting the evidence you have gathered. Discuss how your selected quotes and examples support your thesis. This section should not just summarize the play but offer a deeper insight into the themes, characters, and stylistic elements of Sophocles' writing. For example, explore how Sophocles uses dramatic irony or how the character of Creon contrasts with Antigone. Your analysis should be thoughtful and demonstrate a deeper understanding of the text.

Concluding Your Essay

Conclude your essay by summarizing the main points of your analysis and restating your thesis in the light of the evidence and discussion provided. Your conclusion should tie all the elements of your essay together and reinforce your overall argument. It could also provide a broader comment on the significance of the play in contemporary times or its relevance in the context of Greek tragedy. A strong conclusion will leave the reader with a lasting impression of your insights into the play.

Final Touches: Review and Edit

After completing your essay, it's important to review and edit your work. Check for clarity, coherence, grammar, and spelling errors. Ensure that your essay flows logically and that your arguments are well-supported with evidence from the text. It might also be helpful to get feedback from others, perhaps classmates or a teacher, who can provide a fresh perspective. A well-polished essay will communicate your ideas more effectively and demonstrate your understanding and analysis of "Antigone."

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by Sophocles

Antigone essay questions.

Why does Ismene object to Antigone's plan to bury Polyneices?

Possible Answer:

Ismene believes the men who rule Thebes must not be disobeyed because men are stronger and their will must be respected.

How does Antigone demonstrate pre-feminist ethics?

Antigone believes that a woman's duty is not to the men who rule a domain, but rather to her own instincts and her own sense of right and wrong. She believes that the gods do not dictate through a ruler, but rather through individual beliefs.

When does Creon become apologetic for his actions?

Creon never apologizes for his actions. Instead, he simply orders Antigone to be freed because he knows that Teiresias is never wrong - and therefore that his own life is at risk. However, he never truly believes that his order to imprison her was the wrong course of action.

What is the seeming reason for Haemon's suicide? Does he kill himself only out of desperate love for the dead Antigone?

Haemon's suicide seems to have two motivations - first out of anguish over Antigone's death, but also because he is so furious with his father for having betrayed his trust. Early in the play, Haemon tells his father that as long as he offers wisdom, Haemon will follow him. But now it is clear that his father led him astray, and for that Haemon believes that one of them must die.

Why isn't Creon killed by the plague that befalls him at the play's end?

Creon's punishment is to suffer without a family, and to suffer the guilt of knowing he destroyed the lives of innocents to preserve obsolete traditions and a misconceived legacy of misogynist rule.

What is Creon's tragic flaw?

Creon's tragic flaw is that he believes that men have the right to interpret divine will and impose absolute power in their name. As a result, a simple belief - men cannot be wrong in the face of women - is elevated to law and thus leads to multiple (unnecessary) deaths.

Is Antigone ever apologetic for burying Polyneices?

Though Antigone bemoans her fate and believes death is a cruel and unnecessary punishment for burying Polyneices, she is never apologetic for actually covering his body. She believes until the end that she did the right thing.

Why does Antigone not allow Ismene to join her in her death sentence?

Antigone does not want her sister laying claim to an act that was solely hers for two reasons: one, because she wants her sister to remain alive, and two, because she wants her sister to feel the shame of abandoning her principles for the sake of staying alive and being subservient to men.

What is the role of the Chorus?

The Chorus is meant to reflect the conscience of Thebes - they are the elders who expect Creon to guide them towards wisdom. As they lead him astray, they begin to sense this and reflect their feelings in their choral poems.

What is unusual about the Watchman's speech?

Unlike the other characters, the Watchman's speech is written in more natural rhythms and dialect.

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Antigone Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Antigone is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

How does the play begin?What impact does this technique or beginning have on the audience?

In her very first speech, Antigone only briefly alludes to her and her sister's circumstances, but a Greek audience would have quickly filled in the gaps created by this 'in media res' device (meaning that Sophocles begins the story 'in the middle...

demonstration of pre feminist ethics in sophocles antigone

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...

Whose rights should assume priority - Creon's to legislate and punish, or Antigone's to bury her brother? Is there any way to resolve the competing claims of Creon and Antigone?

I like Antigone. Some critics see Antigone as too self-righteous, even alienating, but others claim her as a seminal feminist, determined to do what is right even in defiance of patriarchal law. Indeed, Antigone captured the public imagination...

Study Guide for Antigone

Antigone study guide contains a biography of Sophocles, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

About Antigone
Antigone Summary
Character List
Lines 001-241 Summary and Analysis

Essays for Antigone

Antigone essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Antigone by Sophocles.

Influence of Antigone on A Doll's House
The Use of Light and Dark Images in Antigone
Batman and Creon: Denied the Glory?
Relativist Justice in Antigone
Hubris in Antigone and Oedipus

Lesson Plan for Antigone

About the Author
Common Core Standards
Introduction to Antigone
Relationship to Other Books
Notes to the Teacher
Related Links
Antigone Bibliography

E-Text of Antigone

Antigone e-text contains the full text of Antigone by Sophocles.

Wikipedia Entries for Antigone

Introduction
Historical context
Notable features
Significance and interpretation

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‘Chelsea’ Asked for Nude Pictures. Then the Sextortion Began.

Young men are being tricked into sending naked pictures to scammers pretending to be women — who then demand money. The consequences can be devastating.

On an urban waterfront, a single figure wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, faces toward the water.

By Sarah Maslin Nir

The Instagram message popped up from a girl named Chelsea: “Howdy.”

David didn’t know anyone named Chelsea, but he clicked through her profile: She had brown hair and a nice smile; under her name was a quote from the Bible. He thought it was sort of weird that she was messaging him, a stranger, in the middle of a workday, but her pouty selfies made that easy to ignore.

He was hesitant when she asked him to chat, but soon her flirty messages escalated to a volley of explicit pictures, and David, a 32-year-old pharmacy technician, got carried away. When she asked him for a nude, he hardly thought twice, he said. He slipped into the bathroom at the New Jersey hospital where he works, took a picture and hit send.

Within seconds, the threats began.

David’s phone lit up with messages: pictures he had sent with his genitals exposed alongside screenshots of his Instagram followers with whom he shares a last name — his family. “She said: I’m demanding $500, if not I’m going to send it to all of these people,” said David, who asked that only his middle name be used to protect his privacy. “Then she started a countdown.”

But there was no Chelsea. The real person behind the account, David said, was a man who, over the course of three fraught days, inadvertently revealed he was in Nigeria as he demanded hundreds of dollars to keep David’s pictures private. As he paid up, David joined the thousands of people cowed under a new scam that has exploded over the past three years to become the fastest-growing cybercrime, according to both the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security.

Called financial sextortion, it is a uniquely modern riff on the romance scams of yesteryear in which the lonely were seduced into parting with their money by people posing as suitors. In other versions of the scheme that focus on women and girls, explicit images are typically coerced for sexual gratification or to be sold as pornography. This new iteration preys on young men and teenage boys, and the images are held as ransom — often for as little as a few hundred dollars, to be paid typically through cryptocurrency or even gift cards from the sender.

But cybercrime agencies caution not to be deceived by the seemingly small stakes. Many victims caught in this scam are minors — of the 13,000 reports of financial sextortion the F.B.I. received between October 2021 to March 2023, a vast majority of them involved boys. And though David’s dealings with “Chelsea” cost him $750 (as well as spiraling anxiety and a deep sense of humiliation), the consequences for young boys can be devastating. According to the F.B.I., between January 2021 and July 2023, at least 20 teenagers, when faced with the threat that an embarrassing photo would ruin their lives, have killed themselves.

“They can’t understand temporary versus forever,” said Mary Rodee, the mother of Riley Basford, a 15-year-old from Potsdam, N.Y., who in 2021 killed himself just hours after he was enticed by a scammer who posed as a girl his age on Facebook. After Riley sent nude photos of himself, the scammer demanded $3,500 to have them returned. Since her son’s death, Ms. Rodee, an elementary schoolteacher, has become an outspoken educator about sextortion.

She also has joined the ranks of parents and cybersecurity experts lobbying for better protections from the social media that the scammers use. “It is really hard to just live with knowing that these people who did this to Riley continue to get away with it,” Ms. Rodee said. “I just can’t understand, how can the tech companies not immediately stop them? Because they could.”

Sextortion tips for scammers

In a co-working space in New Haven, Conn., Paul Raffile , a cyberintelligence analyst, put up shades to mask his work computer screen — it was filled with the social media profiles of sextorters sharing their spoils on TikTok. Last year, Mr. Raffile was introduced to sextortion when a friend contacted him for help with a humiliating problem.

He was stunned by how open the scammers were about their exploits, bragging about their marks (whom they refer to as “clients”) and comparing best practices on public message boards and social media accounts. Since then, Mr. Raffile has made it the focus of his work at the Network Contagion Research Institute , an independent organization that identifies and forecasts online threats.

“It was extremely shocking, the number of people — especially young people — being targeted by the scam on a daily basis,” he said. “It was insane to see just how cavalier they were being, and how public and open they were about sextorting victims.”

He learned how they typically work. First, a scammer located in, say, Ivory Coast, will create an attractive female avatar. To find targets, he may trawl a high school football team’s social media account and “friend” all the players; those who accept the friend request are sent flirtatious messages. Once the person has obtained a photo — one that shows both genitals and face, for more leverage — the scammer will use that list of people as well as the victim’s online friend list as a weapon, threatening to send the compromising picture to teammates, coaches and teachers.

On his screen, Mr. Raffile pulled up what amounts to a school for sextorters: online marketplaces on TikTok, YouTube and Scribd, a popular repository of documents, where you can browse through libraries of extortion scripts, known in the trade as “formats.” These are step-by-step guides on how to blackmail, or in the shorthand of the scammers, “BM.” The scripts, some of which are for sale on the site, include things like the best words and phrases to seduce a victim into handing over a picture, and even instructions on how to instill the right amount of panic.

The method has become so common that when a different New Jersey man was duped into sending a scammer nude photos, the man immediately raced to a drugstore to follow the scammer’s directions: load $1,000 onto as many gift cards as necessary and send the redemption codes. At the register, the store manager took one look at the gift cards and tried to stop him, the man said; the manager had seen this before.

The man, who asked not to be named, said he was too afraid to heed the advice. He sent the money anyway.

‘Your world is not over.’

Financial sextortion emerged on law enforcement radar about five years ago, according to Mike Prado, the deputy assistant director of the Homeland Security Investigations Cyber Crimes Center. Known as C3, the center is a hub based in Fairfax, Va., about 30 minutes west of Washington. In a hulking office building with hallway wallpaper meant to evoke binary code, forensic analysts sift through the digital footprints of online criminals, including sextorters.

From 2022 to 2023, about 2,300 sextortion cases came into C3, Mr. Prado said; since October 2023, there have been 8,000. But even that notable jump is most likely an undercount, he said, because of the shame many victims feel. As an example of the potential scope: Last year, the parent company of Snapchat conducted a survey of over 1,000 teenagers and young adults that found nearly half had been recently approached sexually across different social media by strangers. Nearly half of those who shared explicit pictures were met with sextortion attempts.

“The consequences of this could not be more serious,” Mr. Prado said. “It is inordinately affecting children, and young boys in particular.”

U.S. law enforcement has gone after scammers abroad successfully a few times: After a Michigan teenager named Jordan DeMay shot himself following the scam in 2022, two Nigerian brothers, Samuel Ogoshi, 22, and Samson Ogoshi, 20, were arrested in Lagos this past summer following an F.B.I. investigation and extradited to Michigan.

In April both pleaded guilty to conspiring to exploit teenage boys — there were hundreds of other victims, according to the F.B.I. — which entails a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.

But in most instances, Homeland Security’s investigation begins and ends in the center in Fairfax. While there have been some arrests made abroad, the United States has no formal extradition agreement with many of the countries where the scammers are. Ivory Coast, which analysts at the Cyber Crime Center have located as the primary location of financial sextortion cases, has no such agreement.

“It absolutely is a source of frustration, which is why we have switched tactics to a certain degree, and are really focusing on the prevention and education piece,” Mr. Prado said. For victims, he said, “It is important to note your world is not over.”

A push for digital guardrails

Ms. Rodee is haunted by the fact that her son, Riley, didn’t realize he had options once he hit send. Part of her work now, she said, is changing the longstanding messaging to children that the internet is forever, an approach that advocates and law enforcement have also begun to take.

But she and others lay most of the blame on social media companies that she says are not doing enough to block the scam accounts. Ms. Rodee has become a regular at the U.S. Capitol, lobbying Congress to pass laws that would require tech companies to install stronger digital guardrails for minors, among other reforms. This week, President Biden signed into law the REPORT Act, which requires social media platforms to report crimes involving enticement of children, which they are not currently required to do.

“Even though I’m sick and sad, I can’t stop trying or give up,” Ms. Rodee said.

In early April, Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, announced it would be testing an optional security feature to both block unwanted nude images and remind senders to think twice before sharing their own. It is developing new tech to identify potential sextortion accounts, among other measures.

“This is a highly adversarial space,” Antigone Davis, the global head of safety for Meta, said in a statement. “Determined scammers and criminals evolve their tactics to try and evade our protections.”

Others want to hold tech accountable not for future incidents but for past negligence: Brandon Guffey ’s teenage son, Gavin, killed himself in 2022 after falling prey to a sextortion scam. In January, Mr. Guffey, a South Carolina state representative, sued Meta for what he claims is the tech company’s failure to provide adequate child protections.

“You are allowing someone from outside this country to contact minors, and they exchange child pornography through their channels, and yet they try to claim that it is not their problem,” Representative Guffey said in an interview. “They put profit over people, and sad to say, one of those people was my son,” he said.

The cybersecurity researcher, Mr. Raffile, agreed with the assessment that tech companies have much more to do to address a problem of which they are fully aware, despite recent moves to cooperate with law enforcement and roll out new safety features.

On Reddit, victims on one sextortion forum share encouragement and empathy with distraught newcomers. There is hard-won advice from Reddit commenters — don’t pay; the pictures won’t actually ruin your life — and links to resources like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children , a nonprofit clearinghouse for crimes involving children, where the crime can be reported, and which offers methods for getting pictures exposed online removed.

This is the tack the Department of Homeland Security is taking. In April it announced a nationwide rollout of awareness campaigns that will include signs at Major League Baseball games and NASCAR rallies, as well as partnerships with groups like the Boy Scouts of America. Special agents will visit schools to inform teenagers of the crime and how to avoid falling victim.

On a recent afternoon, at one such presentation in the auditorium of Preston High, a Catholic girls’ school in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx, several hundred students sat before a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations in New York, half-listening as he told them about the perils of sextortion.

As he spoke, at least a third of the students appeared to drift off.

Sarah Maslin Nir is a Times reporter covering anything and everything New York ... and sometimes beyond. More about Sarah Maslin Nir

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Antigone Essay Examples: Topics, Hooks, Thesis Ideas
Essay grade: Good. 3 pages / 1645 words. In Sophocles' Antigone, Creon, the King of Thebes, is entrusted to care for Antigone and Ismene, the daughters of the deceased Theban King Oedipus. However, Creon and the strong-willed Antigone clash on the issue of the burial of Antigone and Ismene's brother Polyneices.
What is a good thesis statement for an essay about Sophocles' play
The following thesis statement once upon a time served me well: A major theme of Antigone is the conflict between religious law and man-made law. Antigone believes in the supremacy of religious ...
Analysis of Sophocles' Antigone
Analysis of Sophocles' Antigone By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 29, 2020 • ( 0). Within this single drama—in great part, a harsh critique of Athenian society and the Greek city-state in general—Sophocles tells of the eternal struggle between the state and the individual, human and natural law, and the enormous gulf between what we attempt here on earth and what fate has in store for us all.
Antigone
Introduction - Who wrote Antigone. "Antigone" is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, written around 442 BCE. Although it was written before Sophocles ' other two Theban plays, chronologically it comes after the stories in "Oedipus the King" and "Oedipus at Colonus", and it picks up where Aeschylus ' play ...
Antigone Analysis
In Antigone, the leader of the chorus is a character rather than a background figure. Antigone Study Tools ... What is a good thesis statement for an essay about Sophocles' play Antigone?
Antigone Critical Essays
Antigone is a complex play, one that defies ready interpretation. It is a study of human actions, with complex emotions. Each character represents a moral ideal, a moral argument, and the play ...
Antigone
The writing style of Antigone is marked with dignity, grandeur, and sublimity. Although according to H. D. F. Kitto, the translator of the text used in this analysis, it is very difficult to use the same iambic pentameter in English as was used in ancient Greek, it is easy to preserve its rhythm as it is clear from its smooth and melodic reading. The play starts with the usual prologue and ...
Antigone Study Guide
Antigone study guide contains a biography of Sophocles, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. ... Essays for Antigone. Antigone essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Antigone by Sophocles.
An Analysis of Power, Authority and Truth in Antigone, a Play by
In Sophocles' play Antigone, Kreon, the warrior King may overrule Antigone, a mere woman's, struggle for political power, but can he match Antigone's... read full [Essay Sample] for free. ... Related Essays. Hubris In Antigones Creon Analysis Essay. 2 pages / 859 words. Antigone's Trip to Wwii France Essay.
Antigone Themes
Creon says that the laws enacted by the leader of the city "must be obeyed, large and small, / right and wrong." In other words, Creon is arguing that the law is the basis for justice, so there can be no such thing as an unjust law. Antigone, on the other hand, believes that there are unjust laws, and that she has a moral duty to disobey a law ...
The Internet Classics Archive
Antigone By Sophocles Written 442 B.C.E Translated by R. C. Jebb. Dramatis Personae daughters of Oedipus: ANTIGONE ISMENE CREON, King of Thebes EURYDICE, his wife HAEMON, his son TEIRESIAS, the blind prophet GUARD, set to watch the corpse of Polyneices FIRST MESSENGER SECOND MESSENGER, from the house CHORUS OF THEBAN ELDERS Scene The same as in ...
Thesis For Antigone
A play written by Sophocles circa 445 B.C., Antigone, depicts the tragedy of a young woman who stands firm against an obstinate new ruling force-her uncle Creon, in what was right by her family and her gods in antithesis to that which was better for her country. The altercation involves the burial of her brother, Polyneices after staging a coup ...
Why is Antigone more justified than Creon in their tragic collision
A possible thesis to explain why Antigone is justified in disobeying Creon's law could be something like this:. Antigone is justified in disobeying Creon's law because she believes she is ...
Antigone Essays
Antigone. In his play Antigone, Sophocles portrays the character of Creon in a multitude of ways but particularly as proud and uncompromising. Because he is ruler of Thebes, many of his actions drive and shape the course of the drama. Significantly, it is... 2. Antigone essays are academic essays for citation.
Five thesis statement why Antigone is a tragic hero in the play
Five thesis statement why Antigone is a tragic hero in the play Antigone? This is for my essay. Asked by manpreet k #384990 on 9/11/2014 6:48 AM Last updated by Aslan on 9/11/2014 10:16 AM Answers 1 Add Yours. Answered by Aslan on 9/11/2014 10:16 AM I can't formulate five in this but here are a few for you:
Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Antigone
Taking the two primary facts—the veto, and Antigone's resolve— Sophocles has worked in a manner which is characteristically his own. Let us first trace the outline of the action. Analysis of the play. I. Prologue: 1-99. The scene is laid before the palace of Creon,—once that of Oedipus,—at Thebes.
Antigone Free Essay Examples And Topic Ideas
18 essay samples found. Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written in or before 441 BC, centering on the themes of loyalty, honor, and the consequences of defying the state's law. Essays on Antigone could explore the character analysis, thematic explorations, its relevance in the context of political dissent, and the ethical dilemmas ...
Antigone Essay Questions
Antigone study guide contains a biography of Sophocles, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. ... Essays for Antigone. Antigone essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Antigone by Sophocles.
Antigone Essays and Criticism
Source: George Eliot, "The Antigone and its Moral" (1856), in her Essays of George Eliot, edited by Thomas Pinney, Routledge, and Kegan Pau, 1963, pp. 261-65. Eliot was an English novelist ...
Thesis Statement For Antigone
A web page that provides a sample thesis statement for the play Antigone by Sophocles, along with an introduction and a body paragraph. The thesis statement argues that law should usually be followed, but there are certain circumstances such as love, morals and injustice.
'Chelsea' Asked for Nude Photos. Then the Extortion Began.
"This is a highly adversarial space," Antigone Davis, the global head of safety for Meta, said in a statement. "Determined scammers and criminals evolve their tactics to try and evade our ...