Antigone ( Sophocles play ) - wikipedia Antigone ( Sophocles play ) This article is about play by Sophocles. For the main character in the play, see Antigone. Antigone Antigone in front of the dead Polyneices by Nikiforos Lytras 1865 Written by Sophocles Chorus Theban Elders Characters Antigone Ismene Creon Eurydice Haemon Tiresias Sentry Leader of the Chorus First Messenger Second Messenger Mute Two guards A boy Date premiered c. 441 BC Place premiered Athens Original language Ancient Greek Genre Tragedy Advertising artwork for a contemporary production featuring Antigone sprinkling dirt ( part of the burial ritual ), while also `` drawing a line in the sand '' and defying the king 's orders. Antigone ( / ænˈtɪɡəni / ann - TIG - ə - nee ; Ancient Greek : Ἀντιγόνη ) is a tragedy by Sophocles written in or before 441 BC. It is the third of the three Theban plays chronologically, but was the first written. The play expands on the Theban legend that predated it and picks up where Aeschylus ' Seven Against Thebes ends. Contents 1 Synopsis 1.1 Characters 2 Historical context 3 Notable features 4 Significance and interpretation 4.1 The problem of the second burial 5 Themes 5.1 Civil disobedience 5.2 Natural law and contemporary legal institutions 5.3 Fidelity 5.4 Portrayal of the gods 5.5 Love for family 6 Modern adaptations 6.1 Drama 6.2 Cinema 6.3 Television 7 Translations and adaptations 8 Notes 9 Further reading 10 External links Synopsis Prior to the beginning of the play, brothers Eteocles and Polyneices, leading opposite sides in Thebes ' civil war, died fighting each other for the throne. Creon, the new ruler of Thebes, brother of the former Queen Jocasta, has decided that Eteocles will be honored and Polyneices will be in public shame. The rebel brother 's body will not be sanctified by holy rites and will lie unburied on the battlefield, prey for carrion animals like worms and vultures, the harshest punishment at the time. Antigone and Ismene are the sisters of the dead Polyneices and Eteocles. In the opening of the play, Antigone brings Ismene outside the palace gates late at night for a secret meeting : Antigone wants to bury Polyneices ' body, in defiance of Creon 's edict. Ismene refuses to help her, not believing that it will actually be possible to bury their brother, who is under guard, but she is unable to stop Antigone from going to bury her brother herself. Antigone 's family tree Creon enters, along with the Chorus of Theban Elders. He seeks their support in the days to come and in particular, wants them to back his edict regarding the disposal of Polyneices ' body. The Leader of the Chorus pledges his support out of deference to Creon. A Sentry enters, fearfully reporting that the body has been given funeral rites and a symbolic burial with a thin covering of earth, though no one saw who had actually committed the crime. Creon, furious, orders the Sentry to find the culprit or face death himself. The Sentry leaves, and the Chorus sings about honouring the gods, but after a short absence, he returns, bringing Antigone with him. The Sentry explains that the watchmen uncovered Polyneices ' body and then caught Antigone as she did the funeral rituals. Creon questions her after sending the Sentry away, and she does not deny what she has done. She argues unflinchingly with Creon about the immorality of the edict and the morality of her actions. Creon becomes furious, and, thinking Ismene must have known of Antigone 's plan, seeing her upset, summons the girl. Ismene tries to confess falsely to the crime, wishing to die alongside her sister, but Antigone will not have it. Creon orders that the two women be temporarily imprisoned. Haemon, Creon 's son, enters to pledge allegiance to his father, even though he is engaged to Antigone. He initially seems willing to forsake Antigone, but when Haemon gently tries to persuade his father to spare Antigone, claiming that ' under cover of darkness the city mourns for the girl ', the discussion deteriorates, and the two men are soon bitterly insulting each other. When Creon threatens to execute Antigone in front of his son, Haemon leaves, vowing never to see Creon again. Creon decides to spare Ismene and to bury Antigone alive in a cave. By not killing her directly, he hopes to pay the minimal respects to the gods. She is brought out of the house, and this time, she is sorrowful instead of defiant. She expresses her regrets at not having married and dying for following the laws of the gods. She is taken away to her living tomb, with the Leader of the Chorus expressing great sorrow for what is going to happen to her. Tiresias, the blind prophet, enters. Tiresias warns Creon that Polyneices should now be urgently buried because the gods are displeased, refusing to accept any sacrifices or prayers from Thebes. Creon accuses Tiresias of being corrupt. Tiresias responds that because of Creon 's mistakes, he will lose `` a son of ( his ) own loins '' for the crimes of leaving Polyneices unburied and putting Antigone into the earth ( he does not say that Antigone should not be condemned to death, only that it is improper to keep a living body underneath the earth ). All of Greece will despise Creon, and the sacrificial offerings of Thebes will not be accepted by the gods. The Leader of the Chorus, terrified, asks Creon to take Tiresias ' advice to free Antigone and bury Polyneices. Creon assents, leaving with a retinue of men. The Chorus delivers a choral ode to the god Dionysus ( god of wine and of the theater ; this part is the offering to their patron god ). A Messenger enters to tell the Leader of the Chorus that Antigone has killed herself. Eurydice, Creon 's wife and Haemon 's mother, enters and asks the Messenger to tell her everything. The Messenger reports that Creon saw to the burial of Polyneices. When Creon arrived at Antigone 's cave, he found Haemon lamenting over Antigone, who had hanged herself. After unsuccessfully attempting to stab Creon, Haemon stabbed himself. Having listened to the Messenger 's account, Eurydice disappears into the palace. Creon enters, carrying Haemon 's body. He understands that his own actions have caused these events and blames himself. A Second Messenger arrives to tell Creon and the Chorus that Eurydice has killed herself. With her last breath, she cursed her husband. Creon blames himself for everything that has happened, and, a broken man, he asks his servants to help him inside. The order he valued so much has been protected, and he is still the king, but he has acted against the gods and lost his children and his wife as a result. After Creon condemns himself, the Leader of the Chorus closes by saying that although the gods punish the proud, punishment brings wisdom. Characters Antigone, compared to her beautiful and docile sister, is portrayed as a heroine who recognizes her familial duty. Her dialogues with Ismene reveal her to be as stubborn as her uncle. In her, the ideal of the female character is boldly outlined. She defies Creon 's decree despite the consequences she may face, in order to honor her deceased brother. Ismene serves as a foil for Antigone, presenting the contrast in their respective responses to the royal decree. Considered the beautiful one, she is more lawful and obedient to authority. She hesitates to bury Polyneices because she fears Creon. Creon is the current King of Thebes, who views law as the guarantor of personal happiness. He can also be seen as a tragic hero, losing everything for upholding what he believed was right. Even when he is forced to amend his decree to please the gods, he first tends to the dead Polyneices before releasing Antigone. Eurydice of Thebes is the Queen of Thebes and Creon 's wife. She appears towards the end and only to hear confirmation of her son Haemon 's death. In her grief, she commits suicide, cursing Creon whom she blames for her son 's death. Haemon is the son of Creon and Eurydice, betrothed to Antigone. Proved to be more reasonable than Creon, he attempts to reason with his father for the sake of Antigone. However, when Creon refuses to listen to him, Haemon leaves angrily and shouts he will never see him again. He commits suicide after finding Antigone dead. Koryphaios is the assistant to the King ( Creon ) and the leader of the Chorus. He is often interpreted as a close advisor to the King, and therefore a close family friend. This role is highlighted in the end when Creon chooses to listen to Koryphaios ' advice. Tiresias is the blind prophet whose prediction brings about the eventual proper burial of Polyneices. Portrayed as wise and full of reason, Tiresias attempts to warn Creon of his foolishness and tells him the gods are angry. He manages to convince Creon, but is too late to save the impetuous Antigone. The Chorus, a group of elderly Theban men, is at first deferential to the king. Their purpose is to comment on the action in the play and add to the suspense and emotions, as well as connecting the story to myths. As the play progresses they counsel Creon to be more moderate. Their pleading persuades Creon to spare Ismene. They also advise Creon to take Tiresias 's advice. Historical context Antigone was written at a time of national fervor. In 441 BC, shortly after the play was performed, Sophocles was appointed as one of the ten generals to lead a military expedition against Samos. It is striking that a prominent play in a time of such imperialism contains little political propaganda, no impassioned apostrophe, and, with the exception of the epiklerate ( the right of the daughter to continue her dead father 's lineage ), and arguments against anarchy, makes no contemporary allusion or passing reference to Athens. Rather than become sidetracked with the issues of the time, Antigone remains focused on the characters and themes within the play. It does, however, expose the dangers of the absolute ruler, or tyrant, in the person of Creon, a king to whom few will speak freely and openly their true opinions, and who therefore makes the grievous error of condemning Antigone, an act which he pitifully regrets in the play 's final lines. Athenians, proud of their democratic tradition, would have identified his error in the many lines of dialogue which emphasize that the people of Thebes believe he is wrong, but have no voice to tell him so. Athenians would identify the folly of tyranny. Notable features The Chorus in Antigone departs significantly from the chorus in Aeschylus ' Seven Against Thebes, the play of which Antigone is a continuation. The chorus in Seven Against Thebes is largely supportive of Antigone 's decision to bury her brother. Here, the chorus is composed of old men who are largely unwilling to see civil disobedience in a positive light. The chorus also represents a typical difference in Sophocles ' plays from those of both Aeschylus and Euripides. A chorus of Aeschylus ' almost always continues or intensifies the moral nature of the play, while one of Euripides ' frequently strays far from the main moral theme. The chorus in Antigone lies somewhere in between ; it remains within the general moral and the immediate scene, but allows itself to be carried away from the occasion or the initial reason for speaking. Significance and Interpretation Antigone deals with three main questions : whether Polyneices ought to be given burial rituals whether someone who buried him in defiance of state ought to be punished whether Creon 's actions are just or thoughtless Creon was perfectly justified in issuing the edict which deprived funeral rites to Polyneices, who led a foreign army to lay siege to his own city. Creon, as head of the state, viewed exemplary punishment as appropriate. Antigone had a right to assert that in defying Creon 's edict she was loyal to an unwritten law which had a higher sanction. Once the initial premises behind the characters in Antigone have been established, the action of the play moves steadily and inevitably towards the outcome. Once Creon has discovered that Antigone buried her brother against his orders, the ensuing discussion of her fate is devoid of arguments for mercy because of youth or sisterly love from the Chorus, Haemon or Antigone herself. Most of the arguments to save her center on a debate over which course adheres best to strict justice. Both Antigone and Creon claim divine sanction for their actions ; but Tiresias the prophet supports Antigone 's claim that the gods demand Polyneices ' burial. It is not until the interview with Tiresias that Creon transgresses in act and is guilty of sin. He had had no divine intimation before that his edict was displeasing to the Gods and against their will. He is here warned that it is, but he defends it and insults the prophet of the Gods. This is his sin, and it is this which leads to his punishment. The terrible calamities, then, which overtake Creon are not the result of his exalting the law of the state over the unwritten and divine law which Antigone vindicates, but his intemperance which led him to disregard the warnings of Tiresias until it was too late. This is emphasized by the Chorus in the lines which conclude the play. This section needs expansion with : a summary of Heidegger 's reading of Antigone and its importance. You can help by adding to it. ( May 2017 ) The German poet Friedrich Hölderlin, whose translation of the play would have strong impact on the reading of the play by the philosopher Martin Heidegger, brings out a more subtle reading of the play : he focuses on Antigone 's legal and political status within the palace, her privilege to be the hearth ( according to the legal instrument of the epiklerate ) and thus protected by Zeus. According to the legal practice of classical Athens, Creon is obliged to marry his closest relative ( Haemon ) to the late king 's daughter in an inverted marriage rite, which would oblige Haemon to produce a son and heir for his dead father in law. Creon would be deprived of grandchildren and heirs to his lineage -- a fact which provides a strong realistic motif for his hatred against Antigone. This modern perspective has remained submerged for a long time. The problem of the second burial An important issue still debated regarding Sophocles ' Antigone is the problem of the second burial. When she poured dust over her brother 's body, Antigone completed the burial rituals and thus fulfilled her duty to him. Having been properly buried, Polyneices ' soul could proceed to the underworld whether or not the dust was removed from his body. However, Antigone went back after his body was uncovered and performed the ritual again, an act that seems to be completely unmotivated by anything other than a plot necessity so that she could be caught in the act of disobedience, leaving no doubt of her guilt. More than one commentator has suggested that it was the gods, not Antigone, who performed the first burial, citing both the guard 's description of the scene and the chorus 's observation. Richard Jebb suggests that the only reason for Antigone 's return to the burial site is that the first time she forgot the Choaí ( libations ), and `` perhaps the rite was considered completed only if the Choaí were poured while the dust still covered the corpse. '' Gilbert Norwood explains Antigone 's performance of the second burial in terms of her stubbornness. His argument says that had Antigone not been so obsessed with the idea of keeping her brother covered, none of the deaths of the play would have happened. This argument states that if nothing had happened, nothing would have happened, and does n't take much of a stand in explaining why Antigone returned for the second burial when the first would have fulfilled her religious obligation, regardless of how stubborn she was. This leaves that she acted only in passionate defiance of Creon and respect to her brother 's earthly vessel. Tycho von Wilamowitz - Moellendorff justifies the need for the second burial by comparing Sophocles ' Antigone to a theoretical version where Antigone is apprehended during the first burial. In this situation, news of the illegal burial and Antigone 's arrest would arrive at the same time and there would be no period of time in which Antigone 's defiance and victory could be appreciated. J.L. Rose maintains that the solution to the problem of the second burial is solved by close examination of Antigone as a tragic character. Being a tragic character, she is completely obsessed by one idea, and for her this is giving her brother his due respect in death and demonstrating her love for him and for what is right. When she sees her brother 's body uncovered, therefore, she is overcome by emotion and acts impulsively to cover him again, with no regards to the necessity of the action or its consequences for her safety. Bonnie Honig uses the problem of the second burial as the basis for her claim that Ismene performs the first burial, and that her pseudo-confession before Creon is actually an honest admission of guilt. Themes Civil disobedience A well established theme in Antigone is the right of the individual to reject society 's infringement on her freedom to perform a personal obligation. Antigone comments to Ismene, regarding Creon 's edict, that `` He has no right to keep me from my own. '' Related to this theme is the question of whether Antigone 's will to bury her brother is based on rational thought or instinct, a debate whose contributors include Goethe. The contrasting views of Creon and Antigone with regard to laws higher than those of state inform their different conclusions about civil disobedience. Creon demands obedience to the law above all else, right or wrong. He says that `` there is nothing worse than disobedience to authority '' ( An. 671 ). Antigone responds with the idea that state law is not absolute, and that it can be broken in civil disobedience in extreme cases, such as honoring the gods, whose rule and authority outweigh Creon 's. Natural law and contemporary legal institutions In Antigone, Sophocles asks the question, which law is greater : the gods ' or man 's. Sophocles votes for the law of the gods. He does this in order to save Athens from the moral destruction which seems imminent. Sophocles wants to warn his countrymen about hubris, or arrogance, because he believes this will be their downfall. In Antigone, the hubris of Creon is revealed. Creon 's decree to leave Polyneices unburied in itself makes a bold statement about what it means to be a citizen, and what constitutes abdication of citizenship. It was the firmly kept custom of the Greeks that each city was responsible for the burial of its citizens. Herodotus discussed how members of each city would collect their own dead after a large battle to bury them. In Antigone, it is therefore natural that the people of Thebes did not bury the Argives, but very striking that Creon prohibited the burial of Polyneices. Since he is a citizen of Thebes, it would have been natural for the Thebans to bury him. Creon is telling his people that Polyneices has distanced himself from them, and that they are prohibited from treating him as a fellow - citizen and burying him as is the custom for citizens. In prohibiting the people of Thebes from burying Polyneices, Creon is essentially placing him on the level of the other attackers -- the foreign Argives. For Creon, the fact that Polyneices has attacked the city effectively revokes his citizenship and makes him a foreigner. As defined by this decree, citizenship is based on loyalty. It is revoked when Polyneices commits what in Creon 's eyes amounts to treason. When pitted against Antigone 's view, this understanding of citizenship creates a new axis of conflict. Antigone does not deny that Polyneices has betrayed the state, she simply acts as if this betrayal does not rob him of the connection that he would have otherwise had with the city. Creon, on the other hand, believes that citizenship is a contract ; it is not absolute or inalienable, and can be lost in certain circumstances. These two opposing views -- that citizenship is absolute and undeniable and alternatively that citizenship is based on certain behavior -- are known respectively as citizenship ' by nature ' and citizenship ' by law. ' Fidelity Antigone 's determination to bury Polyneices arises from a desire to bring honor to her family, and to honor the higher law of the gods. She repeatedly declares that she must act to please `` those that are dead '' ( An. 77 ), because they hold more weight than any ruler, that is the weight of divine law. In the opening scene, she makes an emotional appeal to her sister Ismene saying that they must protect their brother out of sisterly love, even if he did betray their state. Antigone believes that there are rights that are inalienable because they come from the highest authority, or authority itself, that is the divine law. While he rejects Antigone 's actions based on family honor, Creon appears to value family himself. When talking to Haemon, Creon demands of him not only obedience as a citizen, but also as a son. Creon says `` everything else shall be second to your father 's decision '' ( `` An. '' 640 -- 641 ). His emphasis on being Haemon 's father rather than his king may seem odd, especially in light of the fact that Creon elsewhere advocates obedience to the state above all else. It is not clear how he would personally handle these two values in conflict, but it is a moot point in the play, for, as absolute ruler of Thebes, Creon is the state, and the state is Creon. It is clear how he feels about these two values in conflict when encountered in another person, Antigone : loyalty to the state comes before family fealty, and he sentences her to death. Portrayal of the gods In Antigone as well as the other Theban Plays, there are very few references to the gods. Hades is the god who is most commonly referred to, but he is referred to more as a personification of Death. Zeus is referenced a total of 13 times by name in the entire play, and Apollo is referenced only as a personification of prophecy. This lack of mention portrays the tragic events that occur as the result of human error, and not divine intervention. The gods are portrayed as chthonic, as near the beginning there is a reference to `` Justice who dwells with the gods beneath the earth. '' Sophocles references Olympus twice in Antigone. This contrasts with the other Athenian tragedians, who reference Olympus often. Love for family Antigone 's love for family is shown when she buries her brother, Polyneices. Haemon was deeply in love with his cousin and fiancée Antigone, and he killed himself in grief when he found out that his beloved Antigone had hanged herself. Modern adaptations Drama Felix Mendelssohn composed a suite of incidental music for Ludwig Tieck 's staging of the play in 1841. It includes an overture and seven choruses. French playwright Jean Anouilh 's tragedy Antigone was inspired by both Sophocles ' play and the myth itself. Anouilh 's play premièred in Paris at the Théâtre de l'Atelier in February 1944, during the Nazi occupation of France. Right after World War II, Bertolt Brecht composed an adaptation, Antigone, which was based on a translation by Friedrich Hölderlin and was published under the title Antigonemodell 1948. The Haitian writer and playwright Félix Morisseau - Leroy translated and adapted Antigone into Haitian Creole under the title, Antigòn ( 1953 ). Antigòn is noteworthy in its attempts to insert the lived religious experience of many Haitians into the content of the play through the introduction of several Loa from the pantheon of Haitian Vodou as voiced entities throughout the performance. Antigone inspired the 1967 Spanish - language novel La tumba de Antígona ( English title : Antigone 's Tomb ) by María Zambrano. Puerto Rican playwright Luis Rafael Sánchez 's 1968 play La Pasión según Antígona Pérez sets Sophocles ' play in a contemporary world where Creon is the dictator of a fictional Latin American nation, and Antígona and her ' brothers ' are dissident freedom fighters. In 1977, Antigone was translated into Papiamento for an Aruban production by director Burny Every together with Pedro Velásquez and Ramon Todd Dandaré. This translation retains the original iambic verse by Sophocles. In 2004, theatre companies Crossing Jamaica Avenue and The Women 's Project in New York City co-produced the Antigone Project written by Tanya Barfield, Karen Hartman, Chiori Miyagawa, Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and Caridad Svich, a five - part response to Sophocles ' text and to the US Patriot Act. The text was published by NoPassport Press as a single edition in 2009 with introductions by classics scholar Marianne McDonald and playwright Lisa Schlesinger. There are four operas : Antigone ( 1977 ) by Dinos Constantinides, on an English libretto by Fitts and Fitzgerald, Antigone ( 1986 ) by Marjorie S. Merryman, Antigone ( 1988 ) with music by Vassily Lobanov and libretto ( in Russian ) by Alexey Parin and the fourth -- The Burial at Thebes ( 2007 -- 2008 ) by Dominique Le Gendre and libretto by Seamus Heaney, based on his translation for the normal spoken theatre. The production features conductor William Lumpkin, stage director Jim Petosa, and six singers and ten instrumentalists. Bangladeshi director Tanvir Mokammel in his 2008 film Rabeya ( The Sister ) also draws inspiration from Antigone to parallel the story to the martyrs of the 1971 Bangladeshi Liberation War who were denied a proper burial. In 2000, Peruvian theatre group Yuyachkani and poet José Watanabe adapted the play into a one - actor piece which remains as part of the group 's repertoire. An Iranian absurdist adaptation of Antigone was written and directed by Homayoun Ghanizadeh and staged at the City Theatre in Tehran in 2011. Roy Williams 's 2014 adaptation of Antigone for the Pilot Theatre relocates the setting to contemporary street culture. Syrian playwright Mohammad Al - Attar adapted Antigone for a 2014 production at Beirut, performed by Syrian refugee women. `` Antigona, '' a 90 - minute flamenco version, performed by Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca, with Barrio as Antigona. Martín Santangelo, Artistic Director and Producer, with Choreography by Soledad Barrio and additional choreography by Isabel Bayon ; Consulting Director, Lee Breuer ; Mask Design based on the work of Mary Frank ; Music by Eugenio Iglesias, Salva de Maria and Martín Santangelo. Presented at the West Park Presbyterian Church, 165 West 86th Street, New York, NY 10024, July 13 to August 15, 2015. In 2012, the Royal National Theatre adapted Antigone to modern times. Directed by Polly Findlay, the production transformed the dead Polyneices into a terrorist threat and Antigone into a `` dangerous subversive. '' Cinema Yorgos Tzavellas adapted the play into a 1961 film which he also directed. It featured Irene Papas as Antigone. Liliana Cavani 's 1970 I Cannibali is a contemporary political fantasy based upon the Sophocles play, with Britt Ekland as Antigone and Pierre Clémenti as Tiresias. A 2011 Hungarian film version starred Kamilla Fátyol as Antigone, Zoltán Mucsi as Creon and Emil Keres as Tiresias. Television In 1986, Juliet Stevenson starred as Antigone with John Shrapnel as Creon and Sir John Gielgud as Tiresias in the BBC 's The Theban Plays. Antigone at the Barbican was a 2015 filmed - for - TV version of a production at the Barbican directed by Ivo van Hove ; the translation was by Anne Carson and the film starred Juliette Binoche as Antigone and Patrick O'Kane as Kreon. Other TV adaptations of Antigone have starred Irene Worth ( 1949 ) and Dorothy Tutin ( 1959 ), both broadcast by the BBC. Translations and adaptations 1839 -- Johann Jakob Christian Donner, German verse 1865 -- Edward H. Plumptre, verse ( Harvard Classics Vol. VIII, Part 6. New York : P.F. Collier & Son, 1909 -- 14 ) ; full text 1888 -- Sir George Young, verse ( Dover, 2006 ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 486 - 45049 - 0 ) 1899 -- G.H. Palmer, verse ( Boston : Houghton and Mifflin, 1899 ) 1904 -- Richard C. Jebb, prose : full text 1911 -- Joseph Edward Harry, verse ( Cincinnati : Robert Clarke, 1911 ) 1912 -- F. Storr, verse : full text 1931 -- Shaemas O'Sheel, prose 1938 -- Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald, verse : full text 1946 -- Jean Anouilh, ( modern French translation ) 1947 -- E.F. Watling, verse ( Penguin classics ) 1949 -- Robert Whitelaw, verse ( Rinehart Editions ) 1950 -- Theodore Howard Banks, verse 1950 -- W.J. Gruffydd ( translation into Welsh ) 1953 -- Félix Morisseau - Leroy ( translated and adapted into Haitian Creole ) 1954 -- Elizabeth Wyckoff, verse 1954 -- F.L. Lucas, verse translation 1956 -- Shahrokh Meskoob ( into Persian ) 1958 -- Paul Roche, verse 1962 -- H.D.F. Kitto, verse 1962 -- Michael Townsend, ( Longman, 1997 ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 8102 - 0214 - 6 ) 1973 -- Richard Emil Braun, verse 1982 -- Robert Fagles, verse with introduction and notes by Bernard Knox 1986 -- Don Taylor, prose ( The Theban Plays, Methuen Drama ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 413 - 42460 - 0 ) 1991 -- David Grene, verse 1994 -- Hugh Lloyd - Jones, verse ( Sophocles, Volume II : Antigone, The Women of Trachis, Philoctetes, Oedipus at Colonus, Loeb Classical Library No. 21, 1994 ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 674 - 99558 - 1 ) 1997 -- George Judy, adaptation for children ( Pioneer Drama, 1997 ) 1998 -- Ruby Blondell, prose with introduction and interpretive essay ( Focus Classical Library, Focus Publishing / R Pullins Company ; ISBN 0 - 941051 - 25 - 0 ) 2000 -- Marianne MacDonald, ( Nick Hern Books, 2000 ; ISBN 978 - 1 - 85459 - 200 - 2 ) 2001 -- Paul Woodruff, verse ( Hackett, 2001 ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 87220 - 571 - 0 ) 2003 -- Reginald Gibbons and Charles Segal, verse ( Oxford UP, 2007 ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 514310 - 2 ) 2004 -- Seamus Heaney, The Burial at Thebes -- verse adaptation ( Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005 ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 374 - 53007 - 5 ), also adapted as an opera in 2008 2005 -- Ian Johnston, verse ( modern English ) : full text 2006 -- George Theodoridis, prose : full text 2006 -- A.F. Th. van der Heijden, ' Drijfzand koloniseren ' ( `` Colonizing quicksand '' ), prose, adapting Antigone 's story using characters from the author 's ' Homo Duplex ' saga. 2009 -- Tanya Barfield, Karen Hartman, Lynn Nottage, Chiori Miyagawa, Caridad Svich, play adaptation ( NoPassport Press, 2009 ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 578 - 03150 - 7 ) 2011 - Diane Rayor, Sophocles ' Antigone : A New Translation. Cambridge University Press. 2012 -- Anne Carson, play adaptation ( Antigonick, New Directions Press, 2012 ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 811 - 21957 - 0 ) 2013 -- George Porter, verse ( `` Black Antigone : Sophocles ' tragedy meets the heartbeat of Africa '', ISBN 978 - 1 - 909 - 18323 - 0 ) 2014 -- Marie Slaight and Terrence Tasker, verse and art ( ' `` The Antigone Poems, Altaire Productions, 2014, ISBN 978 - 0 - 9806447 - 0 - 8 ) 2016 - Translation by Slavoj Zizek, with introduction by Hanif Kureishi, Pub. by Bloomsbury, New York 2017 - Kamila Shamsie ' Home Fire ' - novel. An adaptation in a contemporary context, Pub by Bloomsbury Circus, Great Britain. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4088 - 8677 - 9 2017 - Brad Poer ' Antigone : Closure ', play adaptation ( contemporary American prose adaptation set post-fall of United States government ) 2017 - Griff Bludworth ' ANTIGONE ( born against ). ' A contemporary play adaptation that addresses the theme of racial discrimination Notes Jump up ^ Sophocles ( 1986 ). The Three Theban Plays : Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus. Translated by Robert Fagles. New York : Penguin. p. 35. Jump up ^ Sophocles ( 1947 ). Sophocles : The Theban Plays ( Penguin Classics ). Translated by E.F. Watling. The Penguin Group. ^ Jump up to : McDonald, Marianne ( 2002 ), Sophocles ' Antigone ( PDF ), Nick Hern Books ^ Jump up to : Bates, Alfred, ed. ( 1906 ). The Drama : Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, Vol. 1. London : Historical Publishing Company. pp. 112 -- 123. Jump up ^ Rosenfield, Kathrin H. ( 2010 ). Antigone : Sophocles ' Art, Hölderlin 's Insight. Translated by Charles B. Duff. Aurora, Colorado : The Davies Group, Publishers. pp. 1 -- 22. ISBN 978 - 1934542224. Jump up ^ Letters, F.J.H. ( 1953 ). The Life and Work of Sophocles. London : Sheed and Ward. pp. 147 -- 148. Jump up ^ Letters, p. 156. ^ Jump up to : Collins, J. Churtin ( 1906 ). `` The Ethics of Antigone ''. Sophocles ' Antigone. Translated by Robert Whitelaw. Oxford : Clarendon Press. Jump up ^ Else, Gerald F. ( 1976 ). The Madness of Antigone. Heidelberg : Carl Winter Universitätsverlag. p. 43. Jump up ^ Letters, p. 147. Jump up ^ Rosenfield, p. 99 -- 121. Jump up ^ Ferguson, John ( 2013 ). A Companion to Greek Tragedy. University of Texas Press. p. 173. ISBN 9780292759701. Jump up ^ Jebb, Sir Richard C. ( 1900 ). `` Verse 429 ''. Sophocles : The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part III : The Antigone. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. ^ Jump up to : Rose, J.L. ( March 1952 ). `` The Problem of the Second Burial in Sophocles ' Antigone ''. The Classical Journal. 47 ( 6 ) : 220 - 221. JSTOR 3293220. Jump up ^ Honig, Bonnie ( 2011 ). `` ISMENE 'S FORCED CHOICE : SACRIFICE AND SORORITY IN SOPHOCLES ' ANTIGONE '' ( PDF ). Arethusa. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 44 : 29 -- 68. ^ Jump up to : Levy, Charles S. ( 1963 ). `` Antigone 's Motives : A Suggested Interpretation ''. Transactions of the American Philological Association. 94 : 137 -- 44. doi : 10.2307 / 283641. JSTOR 283641. Jump up ^ Sophocles ( 1991 ). Sophocles : Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone. Translated by David Grene. University of Chicago Publishers. p. Line 48. ISBN 978 - 0 - 226 - 30792 - 3. ^ Jump up to : MacKay, L. ( 1962 ). `` Antigone, Coriolanus, and Hegel ''. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. 93 : 178 -- 179. JSTOR 283759. Jump up ^ Medrek, T.J. ( November 6, 1999 ). `` BU Opera fest 's ' Antigone ' is a lesson in excellence ''. Boston Herald. p. 22. Retrieved March 8, 2010. Jump up ^ Press Trust of India ( March 11, 2010 ). `` Bangla director dedicates new film to 1971 war martyrs ''. NDTV Movies. New Delhi : NDTV Convergence Limited. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Jump up ^ Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani : Antígona ( Yuyachkani Cultural Group : Antigone ). Scalar ( in Spanish ). 11 March 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2018. Jump up ^ `` نگاهی به نمایش `` آنتیگونه '' نوشته و کار `` همایون غنی‌زاده '' '' ( Take a look at the `` Antigone '' display of Homayoun Ghanizadeh ). Irani Art ( in Persian ). February 1389. Retrieved 24 March 2018. Jump up ^ Hickling, Alfred ( September 23, 2014 ). `` Antigone Review -- engaging Gangland Sophocles ''. The Guardian. Jump up ^ Fordham, Alice ( December 13, 2014 ). `` Syrian Women Displaced By War Make Tragedy Of ' Antigone ' Their Own ''. National Public Radio. Jump up ^ `` Antigone : Cast & creative ''. National Theatre. The Royal National Theatre. Archived from the original on 31 August 2012. Jump up ^ Billington, Michael ( 31 May 2012 ). `` Antigone -- review ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 5 December 2015. Further reading Butler, Judith ( 2000 ). Antigone 's Claim : Kinship Between Life and Death. New York : Columbia University Press. ISBN 0 - 231 - 11895 - 3. Heaney, Seamus ( December 2004 ). `` The Jayne Lecture : Title Deeds : Translating a Classic '' ( PDF ). Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 148 ( 4 ) : 411 -- 426. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 2011 - 10 - 18. Heidegger, Martin ; Gregory Fried ; Richard Polt ( 2000 ). An Introduction to Metaphysics. New Haven : Yale University Press. pp. 156 -- 176. ISBN 978 - 0 - 300 - 08328 - 6. Heidegger, Martin ; McNeill, William ; Davis, Julia ( 1996 ). Hölderlin 's Hymn `` The Ister ''. Bloomington : Indiana University Press. Lacan, Jacques ( 1992 ). The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book VII : The Ethics of Psychoanalysis. Dennis Porter, translator. New York : W.W. Norton. pp. 240 -- 286. ISBN 0 - 393 - 31613 - 0. Miller, Peter ( 2014 ). `` Helios, vol. 41 no. 2, 2014 © Texas Tech University Press 163 Destabilizing Haemon : Radically Reading Gender and Authority in Sophocles ' Antigone ''. Helios. 41 ( 2 ) : 163 -- 185. Retrieved 25 January 2017. Segal, Charles ( 1999 ). Tragedy and Civilization : An Interpretation of Sophocles. Norman, OK : University of Oklahoma Press. p. 266. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8061 - 3136 - 8. Steiner, George ( 1996 ). Antigones : How the Antigone Legend Has Endured in Western Literature, Art, and Thought. New Haven : Yale University Press. ISBN 0 - 300 - 06915 - 4. External links Wikisource has original text related to this article : Antigone Wikimedia Commons has media related to Antigone. Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article : Ἀντιγόνη Antigone -- study guide, themes, quotes, and teacher resources Sophocles ' Antigone -- Open Access ( CC - BY ) verse translation by Robin Bond Antigone public domain audiobook at LibriVox Plays by Sophocles Extant plays Ajax Antigone Women of Trachis Oedipus Rex Electra Philoctetes Oedipus at Colonus Fragmentary plays Amphiaraus Epigoni Ichneutae Odysseus Acanthoplex Tereus Triptolemos Kings of Thebes Kings Calydnus Ogyges Cadmus Pentheus Polydorus Nycteus ( regent for Labdacus ) and Lycus I ( regent for Labdacus ) Labdacus Lycus I ( regent for Laius ) Laius Amphion and Zethus Laius ( second rule ) Creon Oedipus Creon ( second rule ) ( regent for Eteocles and Polynices ) Polynices and Eteocles Creon ( third rule ) ( regent for Laodamas ) Lycus II ( usurper ) Laodamas Thersander Peneleos ( regent for Tisamenus ) Tisamenus Autesion Damasichthon Ptolemy Xanthos In literature Antigone Antigone ( Euripides ) The Bacchae Herakles Iliad Oedipus Oedipus at Colonus Oedipus Rex The Phoenician Women Seven Against Thebes The Thebans Related articles Thebes Necklace of Harmonia Book : Theban Kings Category : Theban kings Portal : Ancient Greece Oedipus Titles and lineage Theban kings in Greek mythology Laius ( biological father ) Polybus of Corinth ( adoptive father ) Merope ( adoptive mother ) Jocasta / Epicaste ( biological mother / wife ) Creon ( Jocasta 's brother / Laius ' successor ) Antigone ( half sister / daughter ) Eteocles ( half brother / son ) Polynices ( half brother / son ) Ismene ( half sister / daughter ) Euryganeia ( 2nd wife ) Astymedusa ( later wife ) Theban plays Antiquity Aeschylus : Seven Against Thebes Sophocles : Antigone Oedipus Rex Oedipus at Colonus Euripides : Antigone Oedipus The Phoenician Women Seneca : Oedipus Other ( Oedipus ) Oedipus ( Dryden & Lee ) Oedipus ( Voltaire ) The Infernal Machine Greek The Gospel at Colonus Other ( Antigone ) Antigone ( Cocteau ) Antigone ( Anouilh ) The Burial at Thebes Operas Antigona Œdipe à Colone Oedipus rex Œdipe Greek Films Oedipus Rex ( 1957 ) Antigone ( 1961 ) Oedipus Rex ( 1967 ) Oedipus the King ( 1968 ) Funeral Parade of Roses ( 1969 ) Night Warning ( 1982 ) Voyager ( 1991 ) Oedipus Mayor ( 1996 ) Other works Oedipodea Thebaid Theban Cycle Lille Stesichorus The Gods Are Not To Blame Oedipus Tex Related Oedipus complex Electra complex Feminism and the Oedipus complex Hamlet and Oedipus Jocasta complex Phaedra complex BNF : cb120084056 ( data ) GND : 4120039 - 1 LCCN : n82036703 SUDOC : 028424328 VIAF : 182663414 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antigone_(Sophocles_play)&oldid=840152267 '' Categories : Books in political philosophy Civil disobedience Death customs Plays by Sophocles Plays set in ancient Greece Political philosophy in ancient Greece Theban mythology Greek plays adapted into films Hidden categories : CS1 Spanish - language sources ( es ) CS1 Persian - language sources ( fa ) Articles containing Ancient Greek - language text Articles to be expanded from May 2017 All articles to be expanded Articles using small message boxes Commons category with local link different than on Wikidata Articles with LibriVox links Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikisource Alemannisch Беларуская Български Boarisch Bosanski Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto فارسی Français Frysk Galego 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano Kurdî Latina Lietuvių Limburgs Magyar Македонски Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Occitan Polski Português Română Русский Slovenčina Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська Walon 中文 38 more Edit links This page was last edited on 8 May 2018, at 02 : 04. 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Question: who does creon initially blame for the burial of polyneices
Answer: Ismene