Antigone

ANTIGONE

The major characters are:

Antigone - oldest daughter or King Oedipus

Ismene - youngest daughter of King Oedipus

Creon - King of Thebes

Antigone and Ismene lost both of their brothers in a battle against the City of Thebes. Eteocles is the younger of the two and Polyneices. Eteocles claimed his kingship after his father, King Oedipus was exiled from the City of Thebes for incest and patricide. He also exiled his brother. Polyneices was angered by these actions and decided to declare battle against the City of Thebes. In this battle, the brothers killed each other. Once the battle ceased, the new King of Thebes, Creon, decreed that Eteocles was to be buried with a hero's honor while Polyneices was to be buried in disgrace; his body was to rot away and eaten by dogs. When Antigone heard of this decree, she became upset and was persistent in her oldest brother's body being buried so that "his spirit can be at peace." Her sister, Ismene advised her against pursuing this issue and to abide by the King's decree. Antigone ignored her sister's advice and heads to the battlefield where her oldest brother lay and began burial rites. After learning of this disobedience, King Creon incarcerates Antigone and Ismene setting an execution for both sisters. King Creon then changes his mind after learning from Antigone that Ismene had nothing to do with the burial; he sets Ismene free and sends Antigone to a cave to starve to death. Because of this harsh sentencing, along with the burial refusal of Polyneices, the profit Teiresas visits King Creon with a message from the gods that they are angered because of these acts and as a result King Creon's son, Haemon will die. King Creon ignores the prophet's message. Later, he becomes concerned for his son because the Chorus of Theban (the elders) people tells him that Theibus is never wrong.

King Creon tried to correct his mistakes by giving Polyneices a proper burial and freeing Antigone from the cave. It was too late for Antigone because she committed suicide by hanging.

In general, seeing a play gives pleasure to the audience because of the anticipation of what is to be expected and the interaction between the performers and audience. Stimulating the intensity of reaction is definitely fulfilled in this play because of the performance of the characters. For example, King