Antigone


In Greek mythology, Antigone was a Theban princess and a character in several ancient Greek tragedies. She was the daughter of Oedipus, king of Thebes; her mother/grandmother was either Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She was the sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.
Antigone appears in three 5th century BC tragic plays written by Sophocles, known collectively as the three Theban plays, with her being the protagonist of the eponymous tragedy Antigone. She makes a brief appearance at the end of Aeschylus' Seven against Thebes, and her story was also the subject of Euripides' now lost play of the same name. While Antigone may not have many appearances throughout Greek Myth, Sophocles' play has led to Antigone receiving a revered and long- lasting legacy.

In Sophocles

The story of Antigone was addressed by the fifth-century BC Greek playwright Sophocles in his Theban plays:

''Oedipus Rex''

Antigone and her sister Ismene are seen at the end of Oedipus Rex as Oedipus laments the "shame" and "sorrow" he is leaving his daughters to. He then begs Creon to watch over them, but in his grief reaches to take them with him as he is led away. Creon prevents him from taking the girls out of the city with him. Neither of them is named in the play.

''Oedipus at Colonus''

Antigone serves as her father's guide in Oedipus at Colonus, as she leads him into the city where the play takes place. Antigone resembles her father in her stubbornness and doomed existence. She stays with her father for most of the play, until she is taken away by Creon in an attempt to blackmail Oedipus into returning to Thebes. However, Theseus defends Oedipus and rescues both Antigone and her sister who was also taken prisoner.
At the end of the play, both Antigone and her sister mourn the death of their father. Theseus offers them the comfort of knowing that Oedipus has received a proper burial, but by his wishes, they cannot go to the site. Antigone then decides to return to Thebes.

''Antigone''

In her eponymous play, Antigone attempts to secure a respectable burial for her brother Polynices. Oedipus's sons, Eteocles and Polynices, had shared rule jointly until they quarreled, and Eteocles expelled his brother. In Sophocles' account, the two brothers agreed to alternate rule each year, but Eteocles decided not to share power with his brother after his tenure expired. Polynices left the kingdom, gathered an army and attacked the city of Thebes in the war of the Seven against Thebes. Both brothers were killed in the battle.
King Creon, who has ascended to the throne of Thebes after the death of the brothers, decrees that Polynices is not to be buried or even mourned, on pain of death by stoning. Antigone, Polynices' sister, defies the king's order and is caught.
Antigone is brought before Creon,
confessing her crime and foreknowledge of the king’s edict that Polynices neither be buried nor mourned,
claiming the superiority of divine law to human law. Antigone’s self-defense in defiance of Creon is passionate, courageous and determined. Creon orders Antigone buried alive in a tomb. Although Creon finally has a change of heart - due to a visit from soothsayer Tiresias - and tries to release Antigone, he finds she has hanged herself. Creon's son Haemon, who was engaged to Antigone, kills himself with a sword, and his mother Queen Eurydice also kills herself in despair over her sons’ deaths, which she attributes to Creon’s misrule and misjudgement. By her death Antigone ends up destroying the household of her adversary, Creon.

Other representations

In the oldest version of the story, the burial of Polynices takes place during Oedipus' reign in Thebes, before Oedipus marries his mother, Jocasta. However, in other versions such as Sophocles' tragedies Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone, it occurs in the years after the banishment and death of Oedipus and Antigone's struggles against Creon.

''Seven Against Thebes''

Antigone appears briefly in Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes. Antigone and Ismene mourn the deaths of their siblings and Antigone defies a herald's edict against the burial of Polynices.

Euripides's Lost Play

The dramatist Euripides also wrote a play called Antigone, which is lost, but some of the text was preserved by later writers and in passages in his Phoenissae. In Euripides, the calamity is averted by the intercession of Dionysus and is followed by the marriage of Antigone and Hæmon. Antigone also plays a role in the Phoenissae.

Appearances Elsewhere

Different elements of the legend appear in other places. The 4th century tragedian Astydamas wrote a play about Antigone that is now lost. A description of an ancient painting by Philostratus refers to Antigone placing the body of Polynices on the funeral pyre, and this is also depicted on a sarcophagus in the Villa Doria Pamphili in Rome. And in Hyginus's version of the legend, apparently founded on a tragedy by a follower of Euripides, Antigone, on being handed over by Creon to her lover Hæmon to be slain, is secretly carried off by him and concealed in a shepherd's hut, where she bears him a son, Maeon. When the boy grows up, he attends some funeral games at Thebes, and is recognized by the mark of a dragon on his body, which only appears on dependents of the Spartoi, the first people of Thebes. This leads to the discovery that Antigone is still alive. The demi-god Heracles then intercedes and unsuccessfully pleads with Creon to forgive Hæmon. Hæmon then kills Antigone and himself. The intercession by Heracles is also represented on a painted vase.References to Antigone can also be found in Seneca's Phoenissae and in Statius's ''Thebais.''

Genealogy

Cultural references

In modern times, Antigone is invoked as a symbol of heroism. The character of 'Ani' in True Detective season 2 is named after Antigone.

Adaptations

The story of Antigone has been a popular subject for books, plays, and other works, including:
In the works of Hegel, in particular in his discussion of Sittlichkeit in his Phenomenology of Spirit and his Elements of the Philosophy of Right, Antigone is figured as exposing a tragic rift between the so-called feminine "Divine Law," which Antigone represents, and the "Human Law," represented by Creon.
The Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain considers Antigone as the "heroine of the natural law:"
The psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan writes about the ethical dimension of Antigone in his Seminar VII, The Ethics of Psychoanalysis. Others who have written on Antigone include theorist Judith Butler, in their book Antigone's Claim, as well as philosopher Slavoj Žižek, in various works, including Interrogating the Real and The Metastases of Enjoyment.

Contemporary productions

A new translation of Antigone into English by the Canadian poet Anne Carson has been used in a production of the play at the Barbican directed by Ivo van Hove and featuring Juliette Binoche as Antigone. This production was broadcast as a TV movie on April 26, 2015. The play was transferred to the BAM Harvey Theatre at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, running from September 24 to October 4, 2015.