TI

—
IF,

t litJ1h
 CAST OF CHARACTERS

Antigone daughters of Oedipus, former king

Ismene of Thebes
Creon (krë’n’), king of Thebes, uncle of
Antigone and Ismene
Haemon (hë’m&i’), Creon’s son, engaged to
Antigone
Eurydice (yôó-ri’d”i-se), wife of Creon
Teiresias (tI-rë’së-s), a blind prophet
Chorus, made up of about 15 elders of Thebes
Choragus, leader of the chorus
a Sentry
a Messenger

— .. .4

.A
.( Bust of Sophocles. Museo
Lateranense, Vatican Museums,
Vatican City, Alinari / Art
Resource, New York.

Antigone contemplates her fate.

Culver Pictures.

Ruins of ancient theater

at Epidaurus, Greece.
Copyright © 1993
Barbara Ries / Photo
Researchers, Inc.

OPHOCLES
ANTIGONE 1021
 Key Standards Antigone (n-tXg’-ne)
‘ R3.1 Describe the purposes
and characteristics of different Drama by SOPHOCLES (sf’ -k1ëz’)
forms of drama.
R310 Identify and describe Translated by DUDLEY FITTS and ROBERT FITZGERALD
the function of dialogue, scene
designs, soliloquies, asides,
and character foils in drama.
R3.12 Analyze the way in <Connect to Your Life) or o6Jf±f4 f.
which a work of literature is 71/lq
A Matter of Principle Consider the principles
related to the themes and obedle4ce Eo cij
issues of its historical period.
listed to the right, and rank them in the order -J law
Other Standards Rio, R3.3, of their importance to you. Discuss your J
j Obse,-v2g
0’

R3.4 ranking and your reasoning with the class. ‘I law

Which of the principles might you be willing proec iio,
ocperso4aj
to fight for—or willing to uphold lilt meant :.i
making a sacrifice?
Or
c COfl4,i4±

Build Background
Basis in Legend Sophocles was one of the great dramatists of ancient
Greece, and his play Antigone is regarded as one of the finest examples
of classical Greek tragedy. The main characters in this play come into
conflict because they stand firmly behind their principles—principles that
are contradictory.
Most Greek tragedies are based on legends or myths that the
audience of ancient Greece was very familiar with. Antigone is based on
the legend of the family of Oedipus (d’e-pes), the doomed king of
Thebes. As the play begins, Antigone and her sister, Ismene Cis-me’në),
recall their dead father, Oedipus, who unknowingly killed his father and
then married his own mother. Upon discovering the truth, Oedipus
blinded himself and went into exile, where he was cared for by his two
daughters until his death. After his death, his sons, Eteocles (ë-tö’-kIêz’)
and Polyneices (pál’i-ni’sëz), agreed to share the kingship of Thebes,
ruling in alternate years. However, when Eteocles had served his first
term as king, he banished Polyneices from Thebes and refused to
relinquish the throne to him, claiming that Polyneices was unfit to rule.
Polyneices then enlisted an army from Argos, a
powerful city-state and a long-standing enemy of WORDS TO KNOW
Vocabulary Preview
Thebes, to fight his brother. In the course of
auspicious lamentation
battle, the brothers killed each other. Their uncle, compulsive lithe
Creon, has become king and faces the task of defile perverse
restoring order in Thebes. As the new king, he dirge sated
edict transgress
plans to honor one corpse and insult the other.

1018 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION

I
 Focus Your Reading
LITERARY ANALYSIS CLASSICAL DRAMA I Classical
drama arose in Athens, Greece, from religious
celebrations in honor of Dionysus (di’e-ni’sGs), the
god of wine and fertility. These celebrations included
ritual chants and songs performed by a group called a
chorus. Drama evolved from these celebrations during
the sixth century B.C., when individual actors began
entering into dialogue with the chorus to tell a story.
The Theater Greek drama was filled with the spectacle
and pageantry of a religious festival. Attended by
• thousands, plays were performed during the day in an
outdoor theater with seats built into a hillside. The
action of each play was presented at the foot of the
hill, often on a raised platform. A long building, called
the skene, served as a backdrop for the action and as
a dressing room. A spacious circular floor, the
orchestra, was located between the skene and the
audience.
,Actqrs and Chorus The actors—all men—wore elegant
robes, huge masks, and often elevated shoes, all of
;. which added to the grandeur of the spectacle.
Sophocles used three actors in his plays; between
scenes, they changed costumes and masks when they
needed to portray different characters. The chorus—a
group of about 15—commented on the action, and
the leader of the chorus, the choragus (kG-rã’gGs),
Participated in the dialogue. Between scenes, the
chorus sang and danced to musical accompaniment
In the orchestra, giving insights into the message of
the play. The chorus is often considered a kind of
ideal spectator, representing the response of ordinary
Citizens to the tragic events unfolding in the play.
[.1taqey and the Tragic Hero During Sophocles’
r lifetime, three playwrights were chosen each year to
enter a theatrical competition in the festival of
Dionysus. Each playwright would produce three
; tragj along with a satyr (sä’ter) play, a short
COifliC interlude. A tragedy is a drama that recounts
the downfall of a dignified, superior character who is
involved in historically or socially significant events.
The protagonist, or tragic hero, of the work is in
conflict with an opposing character or force, the
antagonist. The action builds from one event to the
next and finally to a catastrophe that leads to a
disastrous conclusion. Twists of fate play a key role in
the hero’s destruction.
Aristotle’s Theory of the Tragic Flaw
According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, a
tragic hero possesses a defect, or tragic flaw, that
brings about or contributes to his or her downfall.
This flaw may be poor judgment, pride, weakness,
or an excess of an admirable quality. The tragic
hero, noted Aristotle, recognizes his or her flaw and
its consequences, but only after it is too late to,
change the course of events.
•tIi4U STRATEGIES FOR READING Use the
ITf1iIItl CLASSICAL DRAMA following
strategies to help you read classical drama.
• Imagine the spectacle of the play as staged,
visualizing as you read.
• Try to understand the hero’s motivations and the
qualities that make him or her a noble figure.
• Pay close attention to the causes of the conflict
between the hero and his or her antagonist.
• Determine the circumstances or flaws that lead to
the hero’s downfall.
• Consider how the words and actions of minor
characters help you to understand the main
characters.
• Notice how the comments of the chorus interpret
the action and point to universal themes.
• Monitor your own reading strategies. Modify them
when your understanding breaks down by rereading,
using resources, and questioning.
LflJ READERS NOTEBOOK As you read Antigone,
record your answers to the questions printed in blue
alongside the play. Apply the strategies listed above,
and note any other thoughts, questions, and
comments that you have.
ANTIGONE 1019
 Scene: Before the palace of Creon, king of Thebes. A central
double
door, and two doors at the side. A platform extends the length
of the
stage, and from this platform three steps lead down into
the orches
tra, or chorus ground.
GUIDE FOR READING
Time: Dawn of the day after the repulse of the Argive army
from the repulse: an act of turning away
assault on Thebes beating back.
or

PROLOGUE
(Antigone and Ismene enter from the central door of the palace
.)
Antigone. Ismene, dear sister,
You would think that we had already suffered enough
For the curse on Oedipus:
I cannot imagine any grief
s That you and I have not gone through. And now—
Have they told you the new decree of our king Creon?
Ismene. I have heard nothing: I know
That two sisters lost two brothers, a double death
In a single hour; and I know that the Argive army
9 Argive: of Argos.
io Fled in the night; but beyond this, nothing.
Antigone. I thought so. And that is why I wanted you
To come out here with me. There is something we must do.
Ismene. Why do you speak so strangely?
Antigone. Listen, Ismene:
15 Creon buried our brother Eteocles
With military honors, gave him a soldier’s funeral,
And it was right that he should; but Polyneices,
Who fought as bravely and died as miserably—
They say that Creon has sworn
20 No one shall bury him, no one mourn for him,
20—22 The obligation to bury the
But his body must lie in the fields, a sweet treasure dead with appropriate burial rites1
For carrion birds to find as they search for food. was considered a sacred law
That is what they say, and our good Creon is coming here among the ancient Greeks. They
believed that the soul of someoflë-
To announce it publicly; and the penalty— left unburied would never find
25 Stoning to death in the public square! peace.
There it is,
And now you can prove what you are:
A true sister, or a traitor to your family.
Ismene. Antigone, you are mad! What coul
d I possibly do? 28—35 What contrast betWeet,
Antigone. You must decide whether you will Antigone and lsmefle is sugge5
help me or not.
by the conversation b
30 Ismene. I do not understand you.
Help you in what? them?
Antigone. Ismene, I am going to bury him. Will you come?

7022 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION

 Li ill

Ismene. Bury him! You have just said the

new law forbids it.
Aotigone. He is my brother. And he is your brother, too.
Ismene. But think of the danger! Think what
Creon will do!
Antigone. Creon is not strong enough
to stand in my way.
Ismene. Ah sister!
Oedipus died, everyone hating him
for what his own search brought to light, his eyes
39 Jocasta, the mother of Antigone
Ripped out by his own hand; and Jocasta died, and Ismene, hanged herself when
40 His mother and wife at once: she twisted the cords she realized the truth about her
That strangled her life; and our two brothers died, relationship with Oedipus.
Each killed by the other’s sword. And we are left:
But oh, Antigone,
Think how much more terrible than these
n
s Our own death would be if we should go against Creo
And do what he has forbidden! We are only wom en;
We cannot fight with men, Antigone!
The law is strong, we must give in to the law
In this thing, and in worse. I beg the dead
[ 50 To forgive me, but I am helpless: I must yield
ss
To those in authority. And I think it is dangerous busine
To be always meddling.
Antigone. If that is what you think,
I should not want you, even if you asked to come.
to be.
1ou have made your choice; you can be what you want
55—61 What do these lines reveal
ss But I will bury him; and if I must die, about Anigone’s ieelings for her
I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down brother and the gods’ laws?
With him in death, and I shall be as dear
To him as he to me.
It is the dead,
Not the living, who make the longest demands:
We die forever.
You may do as you like,
Since apparently the laws of the gods mean nothing to you.
Ismene. They mean a great deal to me; but I have no
strength
To break laws that were made for the public good.
Antigone. That must be your excuse, I suppose. But
as for me,
I will bury the brother I love.
Ismene. Antigone,
I am so afraid for you!
Antigone. You need not be:
You have yourself to consider, after all.

ANTIGONE 1023
 Ismene. But no one must hear of this; you must tell
no one!
I will keep it a secret, I promise!
Antigone. Oh tell it! Tell everyone!
70 Think how they’ll hate you when it all comes out
If they learn that you knew about it all the time!
Ismene. So fiery! You should be cold with fear.
Antigone. Perhaps. But I am doing only what I must.
Ismene. But can you do it? I say that you cannot.
75 Antigone. Very well: when my strength gives out, I
shall do no more.
Ismene. Impossible things should not be tried at all.
Antigone. Go away, Ismene:
I shall be hating you soon, and the dead will too,
For your words are hateful. Leave me my foolish plan:
80 I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death,
It will not be the worst of deaths—death without honor.
Ismene. Go then, if you feel that you must.
You are unwise,
But a loyal friend indeed to those who love you.
(Exit into the palace. Antigone goes off, left. Enters the Chorus,
with Choragus.)
PARODO5: The parodos is a
PARODOS that marks the entry of the chorus
Chorus. Now the long blade of the sun, lying which represents the leading
Level east to west, touches with glory citizens of Thebes.
Thebes of the Seven Gates. Open, unlidded
Eye of golden day! 0 marching light
5 Dirce’s tdQrsëz) stream: a strè1
s Across the eddy and rush of Dirce’s stream, flowing past Thebes. The stream
is .

Striking the white shields of the enemy named after a murdered

Thrown headlong backward from the blaze of morning! who was thrown into it.

Choragus. Polyneices their commander I

Roused them with windy phrases,
10 He the wild eagle screaming
Insults above our land,
His wings their shields of snow,
His crest their marshaled helms.
14—15 Thebes had seven
Chorus. Against our seven gates in a yawning ring which the ArgiVes
15 The famished spears came onward in the night; once.
But before his jaws were sated with our blood,

WORDS
TO sated (sã’tTd) ad]. satisfied fully sate V.

KNOW
1024
 Or pine fire took the garland of our towers,
He was thrown back; and as he turned, great Thebes—
No tender victim for his noisy power—
20 Rose like a dragon behind him, shouting war.
Choragus. For God hates utterly 21—26 Zeus, the king of the gods,
The bray of bragging tongues; threw a thunderbolt, which killed
the first Argive attacker. What type
And when he beheld their smiling, of conduct was Zeus punishing?
Their swagger of golden helms,
25 The frown of his thunder blasted
Their first man from our walls.

We heard his shout of triumph high in the air

Chorus.
Turn to a scream; far out in a flaming arc
He fell with his windy torch, and the earth struck him.
30 And others storming in fury no less than his
Found shock of death in the dusty joy of battle.
Choragus. Seven captains at seven gates 32—34 When the seven captains
Yielded their clanging arms to the god were killed, their armor was
offered as a sacrifice to Ares
That bends the battle line and breaks it.
tãr’ez), the god of war.
3s These two only, brothers in blood,
Face to face in matchless rage,
Mirroring each the other’s death,
Clashed in long combat.

But now in the beautiful morning of victory

Chorus.
40 Let Thebes of the many chariots sing for joy!
With hearts for dancing we’ll take leave of war:
Our temples shall be sweet with hymns of praise,
And the long night shall echo with our chorus.

ANTIGONE 1025
 Choral scene from a contemporary staging of a
Greek tragedy at Guthrie Theater Minneapolis,
Minnesota. Copyright © 1992 Michal Daniel.

‘a.:”
,

Terra-cotta mask (second century B.C.) found

at shrine of the goddess Artemis, Sparta,
Greece. Similar masks were used by actors in
ancient Greece. Musée de Picardie, Amiens,
France, Giraudon I Art Resource, New York.

Choragus. But now at last our new king is coming:

2 Menoeceus (mene’syôs).
Creon of Thebes, Menoeceus’ son.
In this auspicious dawn of his reign
What are the new complexities hwpafl
5 The Greeks believed that
That shifting Fate has woven for him? controlled by three ,:,..

destiny was
What is his counsel? Why has he summoned sisters called the Fates:
ClothQ’— fl
thread.Ot
The old men to hear him? (kIO’thö), who spun the
tlk’1T5l’ who
human life; Lachesis
(Enter Creon from the palace. He addresses the Chorus from determined its length;
and Atr0P
the top step.) three
(bt’re-pbs’), who cut the

WORDS
TO auspicious (ö-spish’es) adj. promising success; favorable
KNOW
1026
i creon. Gentlemen: I have the honor to inform you that our ship
state, which recent storms have threatened to destroy
, has come
of heaven.
of

safely to harbor at last, guided by the merciful wisdom

e I know that I
I have summoned you here this morning becaus
was absolute; 12 Laius 0’es): father of Oedipus.
can depend upon you: your devotion to King Laius
s; and
you never hesitated in your duty to our late ruler Oedipu
children.
when Oedipus died, your loyalty was transferred to his
Eteocl es and
(5 Unfortunately, as you know, his two sons, the princes
next in
Polyneices, have killed each other in battle; and I, as the
.
blood, have succeeded to the full power of the throne
ioy 18—30 According to Creon, vvhat
I am aware, of course, that no ruler can expect complete highest loyalty? How
Never deserves theabout
alty from his subjects until he has been tested in office. do you feel Creon’s
g but principles?
theless, I say to you at the very outset that I have nothin
er
contempt for the kind of governor who is afraid, for whatev
1 reason, to follow the course that he knows is best for the
state;
pub
and as for the man who sets private friendship above the
s
lic welfare—I have no use for him, either. I call God to witnes
afraid
25 that if I saw my country headed for ruin, I should not be
to speak out plainly; and I need hardly remind you that I would
one
never have any dealings with an enemy of the people. No
ber
values friendship more highly than I; but we must remem
real
that friends made at the risk of wrecking our ship are not
friends at all.
31—42 Do you think Creon is
These are my principles, at any rate, and that is why I have justified in treating Polyneices’
s:
made the following decision concerning the sons of Oedipu corpse in this way? What do you
a man should die, fightin g for his coun
Eteocles, who died as think his motive is?
try, is to be buried with full military honors , with all the cere
r
mony that is usual when the greatest heroes die; but his brothe
and
Polyneices, who broke his exile to come back with fire
’
sword against his native city and the shrines of his fathers
and
gods, whose one idea was to spill the blood of his blood
sell his own people into slavery—Polyneices, I say, is to have no
him;
40 burial: no man is to touch him or say the least prayer for
he shall lie on the plain, unburied; and the birds and the scav
enging dogs can do with him whatever they like.
This is my command, and you can see the wisdom behind
it.
honore d with the
As long as I am king, no traitor is going to be
is on
45 loyal man. But whoever shows by word and deed that he
t while he is liv
the side of the state—he shall have my respec
ing, and my reverence when he is dead.
Choragus. If that is your will, Creon son of Menoeceus,
You have the right to enforce it: we are yours.
50 Creon. That is my will. Take care that you do your part.

ANTIGONE 1027
 Choragus. We are old men: let the younger ones carry it out.
Creon. I do not mean that: the sentries have been appointed.
Choragus. Then what is it that you would have us do?
Creon. You will give no support to whoever breaks this law.
ss Choragus. Only a crazy man is in love with death!
Creon. And death it is; yet money talks, and the wisest
Have sometimes been known to count a few coins too many.
(Enter Sentry.)
Sentry. I’ll not say that I’m out of breath from running, King, because
every time I stopped to think about what I have to tell you, I felt
o like going back. And all the time a voice kept saying, “You fool,
don’t you know you’re walking straight into trouble?”; and then
another voice: “Yes, but if you let somebody else get the news to
Creon first, it will be even worse than that for you!” But good sense
won Out, at least I hope it was good sense, and here I am with a
65 story that makes no sense at all; but I’ll tell it anyhow, because, as
they say, what’s going to happen’s going to happen, and—
Creon. Come to the point. What have you to say?
Sentry. I did not do it. I did not see who did it. You must not pun
ish me for what someone else has done.
70 Creon. A comprehensive defense! More effective, perhaps,
If I knew its purpose. Come: what is it?
Sentry. A dreadful thing. .I don’t know how to put it—
.

Creon. Out with it!

Sentry. Well, then;
The dead man—
Polyneices—
(Pause. The Sentry is overcome, fumbles for words.
Creon waits impassively.)
out there—
someone—
zs New dust on the slimy flesh!
(Pause. No sign from Creon.)
Someone has given it burial that way, and
Gone.
(Long pause. Creon finally speaks with deadly control.)
Creon. And the man who dared do this? 78 Note that Creon assumes it
is a man who has tried to bury
Sentry. I swear I the body.
Do not know! You must believe me!

1028 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION

 Listen:
80 The ground was dry, not a sign of digging, no,
Not a wheel track in the dust, no trace of anyone.
It was when they relieved us this morning: and one of them,
The corporal, pointed to it.
There it was,
The strangest—
Look:
85 The body, just mounded over with light dust: you see? 85—88 Notice that the burial
Not buried really, but as if they’d covered it of Polyneices is symbolic and
ritualistic rather than actual.
Just enough for the ghost’s peace. And no sign
Of dogs or any wild animal that had been there.
And then what a scene there was! Every man of us
90 Accusing the other: we all proved the other man did it;
We all had proof that we could not have done it.
We were ready to take hot iron in our hands,
Walk through fire, swear by all the gods,
It was not I!
95 I do not know who it was, but it was not I!
(Creons rage has been mounting steadily, but the Sentry is too
intent upon his story to notice it.)
And then, when this came to nothing, someone said
A thing that silenced us and made us stare
Down at the ground: you had to be told the news,
And one of us had to do it! We threw the dice,
100 And the bad luck fell to me. So here I am,
No happier to be here than you are to have me:
Nobody likes the man who brings bad news.
Choragus. I have been wondering, King: can it be that the gods
have done this?
Creon (furiously). Stop! 104—109 Note how quickly Creon
105 Must you doddering wrecks rejects a reasonable question
Go Out of your heads entirely? “The gods!” posed by the choragus. Creon is
convinced that he knows how the
Intolerable! gods think.
The gods favor this corpse? Why? How had he served them?
Tried to loot their temples, burn their images,
Yes, and the whole state, and its laws with it!
Is it your senile opinion that the gods love to honor bad men?
A pious thought!—
No, from the very beginning
114 anarchists (n’er-ktsts):
There have been those who have whispered together persons favoring the overthrow
Stiff-necked anarchists, putting their heads together, of government.

ANTIGONE 1029
115 Scheming against me in alleys. These are the men,
And they have bribed my own guard to do this thing.
(sententiously) Money! 117 sententiously (Sen-ten
There’s nothing in the world so demoralizing as money. in a pompous, moralizing
manner.
Down go your cities, 117—121 What does Creon
assume
120 Homes gone, men gone, honest hearts corrupted, about the motives of those who
have disobeyed him?
Crookedness of all kinds, and all for money!
(to Sentry) But you—!
I swear by God and by the throne of God,
The man who has done this thing shall pay for it!
Find that man; bring him here to me, or your death
125 Will be the least of your problems: I’ll string you up
Alive, and there will be certain ways to make you
Discover your employer before you die;
And the process may teach you a lesson you seem to have
missed:
The dearest profit is sometimes all too dear.
130 That depends on the source. Do you understand me?
A fortune won is often misfortune.
Sentry. King, may I speak?
Creon. Your very voice distresses me.
Sentry. Are you sure that it is my voice, and not your conscience?
Creon. By God, he wants to analyze me now!
135 Sentry. It is not what I say, but what has been done, that hurts you.
Creön. You talk too much.
Sentry. Maybe; but I’ve done nothing.
Creon. Sold your soul for some silver: that’s all you’ve done.
Sentry. How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong!
Creon. Your figures of speech
140 May entertain you now; but unless you bring me the man,
You will get little profit from them in the end.
(Exit Creon into the palace.)
Sentry. “Bring me the man”—!
I’d like nothing better than bringing him the man!
But bring him or not, you have seen the last of me here.
145 At any rate, I am safe!
(Exit Sentry.)

1030 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION

oDE 1 ODE: An ode is a song chanted
by the chorus.
Chorus. Numberless are the world’s wonders, but none
More wonderful than man; the storm-grey sea
Yields to his prows; the huge crests bear him high;
Earth, holy and inexhaustible, is graven 4 graven: carved; engraved.

s With shining furrows where his plows have gone

Year after year, the timeless labor of stallions.

The light-boned birds and beasts that cling to cover,

The lithe fish lighting their reaches of dim water,
All are taken, tamed in the net of his mind;
io The lion on the hill, the wild horse windy-maned,
Resign to him; and his blunt yoke has broken
The sultry shoulders of the mountain bull.

Words also, and thought as rapid as air,

He fashions to his good use; statecraft is his,
is And his the skill that deflects the arrows of snow,
The spears of winter rain: from every wind
He has made himself secure—from all but one:
In the late wind of death he cannot stand.

0 clear intelligence, force beyond all measure!

20 0 fate of man, working both good and evil!
When the laws are kept, how proudly his city stands!
When the laws are broken, what of his city then?
Never may the anarchic man find rest at my hearth,
Never be it said that my thoughts are his thoughts. 24 What does this ode convey
about human greatness and
tragic limitation?

WORDS
TO lithe 111th) ad]. limber; physically flexible
KNOW
1031
 Theater at Epi cia u ru s,
Greece. The circular Iloor
is the orchestra. Coperi ght
© Fredericl Aver I Photo
Researchers. Inc.

(Reenter Sentry leading Antigone.)

Choragus. What does this mean? Surely this captive woman
Is the princess, Antigone. Why should she be taken?
Sentry. Here is the one who did it! We caught her
In the very act of burying him. Where is Creon?
Choragus. Just coming from the house.
(Enter Creon, centei)
Creon. What has happened?
Why have you come back so soon?

1032 UNIT SIX PART 1: IHF HFROI( TRAI)ITIC)N

 Sentry (expansively). 0 King, 7-13 Note the change in attitude
A man should never be too sure of anything: on the part of the sentry. How
might his statement “A man
I would have sworn should never be too sure of
That you’d not see me here again: your anger anything” apply to Creon?
Frightened me so, and the things you threatened me with;
But how could I tell then
That I’d be able to solve the case so soon?
No dice throwing this time: I was only too glad to come!
Here is this woman. She is the guilty one:
15 We found her trying to bury him.
Take her, then; question her; judge her as you will.
I am through with the whole thing now, and glad of it.
Creon. But this is Antigone! Why have you brought her here?
Sentry. She was burying him, I tell you!
Creon (severely). Is this the truth?

I 20 Sentry. I saw her with my own eyes. Can I say more?

Creon. The details: come, tell me quickly!
Sentry. It was like this:
After those terrible threats of yours, King,
We went back and brushed the dust away from the body.
The flesh was soft by now, and stinking,
(25 So we sat on a hill to windward and kept guard.
No napping this time! We kept each other awake.
But nothing happened until the white round sun
Whirled in the center of the round sky over us:
Then, suddenly,
(30 A storm of dust roared up from the earth, and the sky
Went out, the plain vanished with all its trees
In the stinging dark. We closed our eyes and endured it.
The whirlwind lasted a long time, but it passed;
And then we looked, and there was Antigone!
I have seen 35—45 How does the sentry’s
A mother bird come back to a stripped nest, heard speech create sympathy for
Antigone?
Her crying bitterly a broken note or two
For the young ones stolen. Just so, when this girl
Found the bare corpse, and all her love’s work wasted,
4 40 She wept, and cried on heaven to damn the hands
I That had done this thing.
And then she brought more dust
And sprinkled wine three times for her brother’s ghost.
We ran and took her at once. She was not afraid,

ANTIGONE 1033
 Not even when we charged her with what she had done.
s She denied nothing.
And this was a comfort to me,
And some uneasiness: for it is a good thing
To escape from death, but it is no great pleasure
To bring death to a friend.
Yet I always say
There is nothing so comfortable as your own safe skin!
o Creon (slowly, dangerously). And you, Antigone,
You with your head hanging—do you confess this thing?
Antigone. I do. I deny nothing.
Creon (to Sentry). You may go.
(Exit Sentry.)
(to Antigone) Tell me, tell me briefly:
Had you heard my proclamation touching this matter?
ss Antigone. It was public. Could I help hearing it?
Creon. And yet you dared defy the law.
Antigone. I dared.
It was not God’s proclamation. That final Justice 57—63 What law does Antigone
That rules the world below makes no such laws. recognize as the supreme one?
Your edict, King, was strong,
60 But all your strength is weakness itself against
The immortal unrecorded laws of God.
They are not merely now: they were, and shall be,
Operative forever, beyond man utterly.
I knew I must die, even without your decree: 64—70 What is Antigone’s attitude
65 I am only mortal. And if I must die toward death?
Now, before it is my time to die,
Surely this is no hardship: can anyone
Living, as I live, with evil all about me,
Think Death less than a friend? This death of mine
70 Is of no importance; but III had left my brother
Lying in death unburied, I should have suffered.
Now I do not.

F 1IIfl still from

the 1960 movie
Antgone. Antigone is
ue taken prisoner
about to
after sprinkling
dust and wine over her brother’s
Corpse Culver Pictures.

WORDS
TO edict të’dTkt’l n. an order put out by a person in authority
KNOW
1035
 You smile at me. Ah Creon,
Think me a fool, if you like; but it may well be
That a fool convicts me of folly.
75 Choragus. Like father, like daughter: both headstrong, deaf to
reason!
She has never learned to yield.
Creon. She has much to learn.
The inflexible heart breaks first, the toughest iron
Cracks first, and the wildest horses bend their necks
At the puil of the smallest curb.
Pride? In a slave?
so This girl is guilty of a double insolence,
Breaking the given laws and boasting of it.
Who is the man here, 82—83 Think about how Creon’s
She or I, if this crime goes unpunished? perception of Antigone as a threat
Sister’s child, or more than sister’s child, to his manhood heightens the
conflict.
ss Or closer in blood—she and her sister
yet

Win bitter death for this!

(to servants) Go, some of you,
Arrest Ismene. I accuse her equally.
Bring her: you will find her sniffling in the house there.
Her mind’s a traitor: crimes kept in the dark
90 Cry for light, and the guardian brain shudders;
But how much worse than this
Is brazen boasting of barefaced anarchy!
Antigone. Creon, what more do you want than my death?
Creon. Nothing.
That gives me everything.
Antigone. Then I beg you: kill me.
95 This talking is a great weariness: your words
Are distasteful to me, and I am sure that mine
Seem so to you. And yet they should not seem so:
I should have praise and honor for what I have done.
All these men here would praise me 99—104 What does Antigone
ioo Were their lips not frozen shut with fear of you. assume about the attitude of the
(bitterly) Ah the good fortune of kings, chorus? Do you think she is right?

Licensed to say and do whatever they please!

Creon. You are alone here in that opinion.
Antigone. No, they are with me. But they keep their tongues in leash.
105 Creon. Maybe. But you are guilty, and they are not.
Antigone. There is no guilt in reverence for the dead.

Confrontation between
Antigone and Creon in the
1036 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION 1960 film. photofeSt.
 Creon. But Eteocles—was he not your brother
too?
Antigone. My brother too.
Creon. And you insult his memory?
Antigone (softly). The dead man would not
say that I insult it.
110 Creon. He would: for you honor a traitor as mu
ch as him.
Antigone. His own brother, traitor or not, and
equal in blood.
Creon. He made war on his country. Eteocles
defended it.
Antigone. Nevertheless, there are honors due
all the dead.
Creon. But not the same for the wicked as for
the just.
us Antigone. Ah Creon, Creon,
115—116 Unlike Creon, Antigone
Which of us can say what the gods hold wicked
? holds that humans cannot
Creon. An enemy is an enemy, even dead. understand the thinking of the
gods.
Antigone. It is my nature to join in love, not hate
.
Creon (finally tosing patience). Go join them, then
; if you must have
your love,
120 find it in hell!
Choragus. But see, Ismene comes:
Enter Ismene, guarded.)
Those tears are sisterly; the cloud
That shadows her eyes rains down gentle sorrow.
Creon. You too, Ismene,
125 Snake in my ordered house, sucking my blood
Stealthily—and all the time I never knew
That these two sisters were aiming at my throne!
Ismene,
Do you confess your share in this crime or den
y it?
Answer me.
130 smene. Yes, if she will let me say so. I am
guilty.
Antigone (coldly). No, Ismene. You have no
right to say so. 131-143 What do you think of
You would not help me, and I will not have you
help me. Antigone’s treatment of her sister?
Ismene. But now I know what you meant;
and I am here
To join you, to take my share of punishment.
135 Antigone. The dead man and the gods who
rule the dead
Know whose act this was. Words are not friends
.
Ismene. Do you refuse me, Antigone? I want to
die with you:
I too have a duty that I must discharge to the dea
d.
Antigone. You shall not lessen my
death by sharing it.
140 Ismene. What do I care for life when
you are dead?
Antigone. Ask Creon. You’re always
hanging on his opinions.
1038 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION
 Ismene. You are laughing at me. Why, Antigone?
Antigone. It’s a joyless laughter, Ismene.
Ismene. But can I do nothing?
Antigone. Yes. Save yourself. I shall not envy you.
145 There are those who will praise you; I shall have honor too.
Ismene. But we are equally guilty!
Antigone. No, more, Ismene.
You are alive, but I belong to Death.
Creon (to the Chorus). Gentlemen, I beg you to observe these girls:
One has just now lost her mind; the other,
150 It seems, has never had a mind at all.
Ismene. Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver, King.
Creon. Yours certainly did, when you assumed guilt with the guilty!
Ismene. But how could I go on living without her?
Creon. You are.
She is already dead.
Ismene. But your own son’s bride! 154 Ismene’s line reveals a
complication in the plot: Creon’s
155 Creon. There are places enough for him to push his plow.
son, Haemon, is engaged to
I want no wicked women for my sons! Antigone. Creon’s love for his
Ismene. 0 dearest Haemon, how your father wrongs you! immediate family is now an issue
in his conflict with Antigone.
Creon. I’ve had enough of your childish talk of marriage!
155—156 How does Creon feel
Choragus. Do you really intend to steal this girl from your son? about the bond between Haemon
and Antigone?
160 Creon. No; Death will do that for me.
Choragus. Then she must die?
Creon. You dazzle me.
—But enough of this talk!
(to guards) You, there, take them away and guard them well:
For they are but women, and even brave men run
When they see Death coming.
(Exeunt Ismene, Antigone, and guards.)

ODE 2
Chorus. Fortunate is the man who has never tasted God’s vengeance!
Where once the anger of heaven has struck, that house is shaken
Forever: damnation rises behind each child
Like a wave cresting Out of the black northeast,
5 When the long darkness under sea roars up
And bursts drumming death upon the wind-whipped sand.

ANTIGONE 1039
 I have seen this gathering sorrow from time long past
Loom upon Oedipus’ children: generation from generation
Takes the compulsive rage of the enemy god.
10 So lately this last flower of Oedipus’ line
Drank the sunlight! but now a passionate word
And a handful of dust have closed up all its beauty.

What mortal arrogance

Transcends the wrath of Zeus?
15 Sleep cannot lull him, nor the effortless long months
Of the timeless gods: but he is young forever,
And his house is the shining day of high Olympus. 17 Olympus: a mountain in
All that is and shall be, northern Greece, home of the
And all the past, is his. gods and goddesses.
20 No pride on earth is free of the curse of heaven.

The straying dreams of men

May bring them ghosts of joy:
But as they drowse, the waking embers burn them;
Or they walk with fixed eyes, as blind men walk.
25 But the ancient wisdom speaks for our own time:
Fate works most for woe
With Folly’s fairest show.
Man’s little pleasure is the spring of sorrow. 28 Do you think this line could
apply to Creon?

WORDS
TO compulsive tkom-pi’siv) adj. having the ability to compel or force
KNOW
1040
 Painting on wine cup, showing the god Dionysus,
the patron of theater, in his ship (540 B.c.),
Exekias. Greek pottery often featured scenes from
\ mythology. Antikensammiung, Munich, Germany.
.\ Photo Copyright © Erich Lessing / Art Resource,
New York.

Theatrical masks on a fragment of a

Greek bowl, about 410 B.C.
The Granger Collection, New York.

Choragus. But here is Haemon, King, the last of all your Sons.
Is it grief for Antigone that brings him here,
And bitterness at being robbed of his bride?
(Enter Haemon.)
Creon. We shall soon see, and no need of diviners. 4 diviners: those who predict
—Son, the future.
s You have heard my final judgment on that girl:
Have you come here hating me, or have you come
With deference and with love, whatever I do?
Haemon. I am your son, Father. You are my guide.
You make things clear for me, and I obey you.

ANTIGONE 1041
 10 No marriage means more to me than your continuing wisdom.
Creon. Good. That is the way to behave: subordinate 11—19 What do Creon’s words
Everything else, my son, to your father’s will. suggest about his reIationsh
With
his son?
This is what a man prays for, that he may get
Sons attentive and dutiful in his house, I

15 Each one hating his father’s enemies,

Honoring his father’s friends. But if his sons
Fail him, if they turn out unprofitably,
What has he fathered but trouble for himself
And amusement for the malicious?
So you are right
20 Not to lose your head over this woman.
Your pleasure with her would soon grow cold, Haemon,
And then you’d have a hellcat in bed and elsewhere.
Let her find her husband in hell!
Of all the people in this city, only she
25 Has had contempt for my law and broken it.
Do you want me to show myself weak before the people? 26—44 What do Creon’s words tell
Or to break my sworn word? No, and I will not. you about his views of government
The woman dies. and his role as king?

I suppose she’ll plead “family ties.” Well, let her.

30 If I permit my own family to rebel,
How shall I earn the world’s obedience?
Show me the man who keeps his house in hand,
He’s fit for public authority.
I’ll have no dealings
With lawbreakers, critics of the government:
35 Whoever is chosen to govern should be obeyed—
Must be obeyed, in all things, great and small,
Just and unjust! 0 Haemon,
The man who knows how to obey, and that man only,
Knows how to give commands when the time comes.
40 You can depend on him, no matter how fast
The spears come: he’s a good soldier; he’ll stick it out.
Anarchy, anarchy! Show me a greater evil!
This is why cities tumble and the great houses rain down;
This is what scatters armies!
45 No, no: good lives are made so by discipline.
We keep the laws then, and the lawmakers,
And no woman shall seduce us. If we must lose, 47—48 Again Creon hints that he
Let’s lose to a man, at least! Is a woman stronger than we? feels his manhood is threatened.

Choragus. Unless time has rusted my wits,

1042 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION

so What you say, King, is said with point and dignity.
Haemon (boyishly earnest). Father: 51—60 In what ways does
Reason is God’s crowning gift to man, and you are right Haemon’s speech reflect the ideals
of democracy?
To warn me against losing mine. I cannot say—
I hope that I shall never want to say!—that you
ss Have reasoned badly. Yet there are other men
Who can reason, too; and their opinions might be helpful.
You are not in a position to know everything
That people say or do, or what they feel:
Your temper terrifies them—everyone
60 Will tell you only what you like to hear.
But I, at any rate, can listen; and I have heard them 61—68 Haemon suggests that
Muttering and whispering in the dark about this girl. Creon is causing the very thing he
most wants to prevent—anarchy.
They say no woman has ever, so unreasonably,
Died so shameful a death for a generous act:
65 “She covered her brother’s body. Is this indecent?
She kept him from dogs and vultures. Is this a crime?
Death? She should have all the honor that we can give her!”
This is the way they talk out there in the city.
- You must believe me:
70 Nothing is closer to me than your happiness.
What could be closer? Must not any son
Value his father’s fortune as his father does his?
I beg you, do not be unchangeable:
Do not believe that you alone can be right.
75 The man who thinks that,
The man who maintains that only he has the power
To reason correctly, the gift to speak, the soui—
A man like that, when you know him, turns out empty.
It is not reason never to yield to reason! 79—8S compare Haemon’s words
to creon with creon’s words to An
so In flood time you can see how some trees bend, tigone in Scene 2, beginning “The
And because they bend, even their twigs are safe, inflexible heart breaks first
. .

While stubborn trees are torn up, roots and all. (line 77, page 1036).
And the same thing happens in sailing:
Make your sheet fast, never slacken—and over you go,
ss Head over heels and under: and there’s your voyage.
Forget you are angry! Let yourself be moved!
I know I am young; but please let me say this:
the ideal condition
Would be, I admit, that men should be right by instinct;
90 But since we are all too likely to go astray,
The reasonable thing is to learn from those who can teach.

ANTIGONE 1043
 Choragus. You will do well to listen to him, King,
If what he says is sensible. And you, Haemon,
Must listen to your father. Both speak well.
95 You consider it right for a man of my years and experience
Creon.
To go to school to a boy?
Haemon. It is not right
III am wrong. But if I am young, and right,
What does my age matter?
Creon. You think it right to stand up for an anarchist?
100 Haemon. Not at all. I pay no respect to criminals.
Creon. Then she is not a criminal?
Haemon. The city would deny it, to a man.
Creon. And the city proposes to teach me how to rule?
Haemon. Ah. Who is it that’s talking like a boy now?
105 Creon. My voice is the one voice giving orders in this city!
Haemon. It is no city if it takes orders from one voice.
Creon. The state is the king!
Haemon. Yes, if the state is a desert.
(Pause)
Creon. This boy, it seems, has sold out to a woman.
Haemon. If you are a woman: my concern is only for you.
110 Creon. So? Your “concern”! In a public brawl with your father!
Haemon. How about you, in a public brawl with justice?
Creon. With justice, when all that I do is within my rights?
Haemon. You have no right to trample on God’s right.
Creon (completely out of control). Fool, adolescent fool! Taken in
by a woman!
115 Haemon. You’ll never see me taken in by anything vile.
Creon. Every word you say is for her!
Haemon (quietly, darkly). And for you.
And for me. And for the gods under the earth.
Creon. You’ll never marry her while she lives.
Haemon. Then she must die. But her death will cause another.
120 Creon. Another?
Have you lost your senses? Is this an open threat?
Haemon. There is no threat in speaking to emptiness.
Creon. I swear you’ll regret this superior tone of yours!

1044 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION

 You are the empty one!
Haemon. If you were not my father,
I’d say you were perverse.
Creon. You girl-struck fool, don’t play at words with me!
Haemon. I am sorry. You prefer silence.
Creon. Now, by God—!
I swear by all the gods in heaven above us,
You’ll watch it; I swear you shall!
(to the servants) Bring her out!
Bring the woman out! Let her die before his eyes,
Here, this instant, with her bridegroom beside her!
Haemon. Not here, no; she will not die here, King.
And you will never see my face again.
Go on raving as long as you’ve a friend to endure you.
(Exit Haemon.)
Choragus. Gone, gone.
Creon, a young man in a rage is dangerous!
Creon. Let him do, or dream to do, more than a man can.
He shall not save these girls from death.
Choragus. These girls?
You have sentenced them both?
Creon. No, you are right.
I will not kill the one whose hands are clean.
Choragus. But Antigone? 141—149 What do you make of
creons decision to bury a person
Creon (somberly). I will carry her far away, who is still alive when he has
Out there in the wilderness, and lock her steadfastly refused to bury a
Living in a vault of stone. She shall have food, dead one?
As the custom is, to absolve the state of her death.
And there let her pray to the gods of hell:
They are her only gods:
Perhaps they will show her an escape from death,
Or she may learn,
though late,
That piety shown the dead is pity in vain.
(Exit Creon.)

WORDS
TO perverse (per-vOrs’) adj. willfully determined to go against what is
expected or desired
KNOW
1045
 ODE 3
Chorus. Love, unconquerable
Waster of rich men, keeper
Of warm lights and all-night vigil
In the soft face of a girl:
5 Sea wanderer, forest visitor!
Even the pure immortals cannot escape you,
And mortal man, in his one day’s dusk,
Trembles before your glory.

Surely you swerve upon ruin

10 The just man’s consenting heart,
As here you have made bright anger
Strike between father and son—
And none has conquered but Love!
A girl’s glance working the will of heaven:
15 Pleasure to her alone who mocks us,
Merciless Aphrodite. 16 Aphrodite tf’re-di’tè): goddess
of love and beauty.
I

1046 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION

Coins used by Greek citizens
to gain admission to the
theater. Each letter marks a
different section of seats. A seat of honor for a magistrate or important
Andromeda Oxford Ltd. visitor at the theater of Priene, an imitation of
the theater at Athens. Andromeda Oxford Ltd.

SCENE 4
Choragus (as Antigone enters, guarded). But I can no longer stand
in awe of this,
Nor, seeing what I see, keep back my tears.
Here is Antigone, passing to that chamber
Where all find sleep at last.
s Antigone. Look upon me, friends, and pity me
Turning back at the night’s edge to say 9 Acheron (k’e-rön’): in Greek
mythology, one of the rivers
Good-bye to the sun that shines for me no longer; bordering the underworld, the
Now sleepy Death place inhabited by the souls of
Summons me down to Acheron, that cold shore: the dead.

ANTIGONE 1047
 10 There is no bride song there, nor any music.
Chorus. Yet not unpraised, not without a kin
d of honor,
You walk at last into the underworld;
Untouched by sickness, broken by no sword.
What woman has ever found your way to death?
15 Antigone. How often I have hea
rd the story of Niobe, 15—20 Niobe tni’e-be) was
Tantalus’ wretched daughter, how the stone a queen
of Thebes whose children were
Clung fast about her, ivy-close: and they say killed by the gods because
she had
The rain falls endlessly boasted that she was greater
than
a goddess. After their deaths,
And sifting soft snow; her tears are never done. she
was turned to stone but
20 I feel the loneliness of her death in mine. continued
to shed tears. Why might
Antigone’
Chorus. But she was born of heaven, and you compare hers&t to Niobe?
Are woman, woman-born. If her death is yours,
A mortal woman’s, is this not for you
Glory in our world and in the world beyond?
25 Antigone. You laugh at me. Ab,
friends, friends,
Can you not wait until I am dead? 0 Thebes,
0 men many-charioted, in love with Fortune,
Dear springs of Dirce, sacred Theban grove,
Be witnesses for me, denied all pity,
30 Unjustly judged! and think a word of love
For her whose path turns
Under dark earth, where there are no more tears.
Chorus. You have passed beyond human dar
ing and come at last
Into a place of stone where Justice sits.
35 I cannot tell
What shape of your father’s guilt appears in this
.
Antigone. You have touched it at last that
: bridal bed
Unspeakable, horror of son and mother minglin
g:
Their crime, infection of all our family!
40 0 Oedipus, father and brother!
Your marriage strikes from the grave to murder min
e.
I have been a stranger here in my own land:
All my life
The blasphemy of my birth has followed me.
44 blasphemy of my birth:
45 Chorus. Reverence is a virtue,
but strength Antigone is referring to her
Lives in established law: that must prevail. father’s marriage to his Own
You have made your choice; mother, an incestuous relationship
that resulted in her birth. This type
Your death is the doing of your conscious hand. of relationship was considered a
Antigone. Then let me go, since all you sin against the gods.
r words are bitter,
so And the very light of the sun is cold to me.

Irene Papas playing the title rolS

104$ UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION in the 1960
Culver P’
 Lead me to my vigil, where I must have
Neither love nor lamentation; no song, but silence.
(Creon interrupts impatiently.)
Creon. If dirges and planned lamentations cou
ld put off death,
Men would be singing forever.
(to the servants) Take her, go!
ss You know your orders: take her to the vault
And leave her alone there. And if she lives or dies,
That’s her affair, not ours: our hands are clean.
Antigone. 0 tomb, vaulted bride-bed in eternal
rock,
Soon I shall be with my own again
60 Where Persephone welcomes the thin ghosts undergrou
nd: 60 Persephone tpar-sbf’e-në):
And I shall see my father again, and you, Mother, of Hades (h’dêz) and queen
wife
of the
And dearest Polyneices— underworld.
dearest indeed
To me, since it was my hand
That washed him clean and poured the ritual wine:
65 And my reward is death before my time!
And yet, as men’s hearts know, I have done no wrong;
I have not sinned before God. Or if I have,
I shall know the truth in death. But if the guilt
Lies upon Creon who judged me, then, I pray,
70 May his punishment equal my own.
Choragus. 0 passionate heart,
Unyielding, tormented still by the same winds!
Creon. Her guards shall have good cause to reg
ret their delaying.
Antigone. Ah! That voice is like the voice of
death!
Creon. I can give you no reason to think you are
mistaken.
75 Antigone. Thebes, and you my fath
ers’ gods, 75—80 What do these lines suggest’
And rulers of Thebes, you see me now, the last about what Antigone values most? t’
Unhappy daughter of a line of kings,
Your kings, led away to death. You will remember
What things I suffe; and at what men’s hands,
80 Because I would not transgress the laws of heaven.
(to the guards, simply) Come: let us wai
t no longer.
(Exit Antigone, left, guarded.)

WORDS lamentation (lm’en-tä’shen) n. an expression of grief

To dirge (d0rj) n. a slow, mournful piece of music; a fune
ral hymn
KNOW transgress (trns-grs’) v to violate or break a law, com
mand, or moral code
1050
 ODE4
Chorus. All Danae’s beauty was locked away
In a brazen cell where the sunlight could not come:
A small room, still as any grave, enclosed her.
Yet she was a princess too,
s And Zeus in a rain of gold poured love upon her.
o child, child,
No power in wealth or war
Or tough sea-blackened ships
Can prevail against untiring Destiny!
io And Dryas’ son also, that furious king,
Bore the god’s prisoning anger for his pride:
Sealed up by Dionysus in deaf stone,
His madness died among echoes.
So at the last he learned what dreadful power
is His tongue had mocked:
For he had profaned the revels
And fired the wrath of the nine
Implacable sisters that love the sound of the flute.
And old men tell a half-remembered tale
20 Of horror done where a dark ledge splits the sea
And a double surf beats on the grey shores:
How a king’s new woman, sick
With hatred for the queen he had imprisoned,
Ripped out his two sons’ eyes with her bloody hands
25 While grinning Ares watched the shuttle plunge
Four times: four blind wounds crying for revenge,
Crying, tears and blood mingled. Piteously born,
Those sons whose mother was of heavenly birth!
Her father was the god of the north wind,
30 And she was cradled by gales;
She raced with young colts on the glittering hills
And walked untrammeled in the open light:
But in her marriage deathless Fate found means
To build a tomb like yours for all her joy.
1—5 Danae (dn’o-e’) was a
princess who was imprisoned by
her father because it had been
predicted that her son would one
day kill him. After Zeus visited
Danae in the form of a shower of
gold, she gave birth to his son
Perseus, who eventually did kill his
grandfather.
10—18 King Lycurgus tlT-kCir’ges),
son of Dryas (dri’as), was driven
mad and imprisoned in stone for
objecting to the worship of
Dionysus. The nine implacabLe
sisters are the Muses, the
goddesses who presided over
literature, the arts, and the
sciences. Once offended, they were
impossible to appease.
19—34 These lines refer to the
myth of King Phineus tfTn’yôás),
who imprisoned his first wife, the
daughter of the north wind, and
allowed his new wife to blind his
sons from his first marriage.
ANTIGONE 1051
 I

Two views of
Sophocles, who was
regarded by his
Greek admirers as
“the perfect man.”
Left, Museo
Gregoriano Profano,
Vatican Museums,
Vatican State,
Alinari / Art
‘Resource, New
York. Right, Museo
Lateranense, Vatican
Museums, Vatican
City, Alinari /
[ F
r

Art Resource, i.)

New York. L

(Enter blind Teiresias, led by a boy. The opening speeches of

Teiresias should be in singsong contrast to the realistic lines of
Creon.)
Teiresias. This is the way the blind man comes, princes, princes, 1—7 The blind Teiresias is physiCaIlY
Lock step, two heads lit by the eyes of one. blind but spiritually sighted. As a
prophet, he is an agent of the
Creon. What new thing have you to tell us, old Teiresias? gods in their dealings with
Teiresias. I have much to tell you: listen to the prophet, Creon. humans. His revelation of the truth
to Oedipus led Oedipus to leave
5 Creon. I am not aware that I have ever failed to listen. Thebes, which indirectly helped
Creon to become king.
Teiresias. Then you have done wisely, King, and ruled well.
Creon. I admit my debt to you. But what have you to say?

1052 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION

 Teiresias. This, Creon: you stand once more on the edge of fate.
Creon. What do you mean? Your words are a kind of dread.
10 Teiresias. Listen, Creon:
I was sitting in my chair of augury, at the place 11-17 The chair of augury is the
Where the birds gather about me. They were all a-chatter, place where Teiresias sits to hear
the birds, whose sounds reveal the
As is their habit, when suddenly I heard future to him. The fighting among
A strange note in their jangling, a scream, a the birds suggests that the anarchy
15 Whirring fury; I knew that they were fighting, infecting Thebes has spread even
to the world of nature.
Tearing each other, dying
In a whirlwind of wings clashing. And I was afraid.
I began the rites of burnt offering at the altar,
But Hephaestus failed me: instead of bright flame, 19 Hephaestus thi-fbs’tes): god
20 There was only the sputtering slime of the fat thigh-flesh of fire.

Melting: the entrails dissolved in grey smoke; 18—32 According to Teiresias, the
birds and dogs that have eaten the
The bare bone burst from the welter. And no blaze! corpse of Polyneices have become
This was a sign from heaven. My boy described it, corrupt, causing the gods to reject
Seeing for me as I see for others. the Thebans’ offerings and prayers.
What do these lines suggest about
25 I tell you, Creon, you yourself have brought how the gods view Creon’s refusal
This new calamity upon us. Our hearths and altars to allow Polyneices to be buied?
Are stained with the corruption of dogs and carrion birds
That glut themselves on the corpse of Oedipus’ son.
The gods are deaf when we pray to them; their fire
30 Recoils from our offering; their birds of omen
Have no cry of comfort, for they are gorged
With the thick blood of the dead.
0 my son,
These are no trifles! Think: all men make mistakes,
But a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong,
35 And repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.
Give in to the dead man, then: do not fight with a corpse—
What glory is it to kill a man who is dead?
Think, I beg you:
It is for your own good that I speak as I do.
40 You should be able to yield for your own good.
Creon. It seems that prophets have made me their especial province.
All my life long
I have been a kind of butt for the dull arrows
Of doddering fortunetellers! 44—48 What do these lines suggest
No, Teiresias: about Creon’s view of himself and
the gods?
45 If your birds—if the great eagles of God himself—
Should carry him stinking bit by bit to heaven,
I would not yield. I am not afraid of pollution:

ANTIGONE 1053
 No man can defile the gods.
Do what you will;
Go into business, make money, speculate 49—53 What does Creon
assume i
so In India gold or that synthetic gold from Sardis, the motive behind Teiresias’
Get rich otherwise than by my consent to bury him. prophecies?
Teiresias, it is a sorry thing when a wise man 50 Sardis tsar’dTs): the capital
of
Sells his wisdom, lets out his words for hire! ancient Lydia, where metal Coins
were first produced.
Teiresias. Ah Creon! Is there no man left in the world—
ss Creon. To do what? Come, let’s have the aphorism!
Teiresias. No man who knows that wisdom outweighs any wealth?
Creon. As surely as bribes are baser than any baseness.
Teiresias. You are sick, Creon! You are deathly sick!
Creon. As you say: it is not my place to challenge a prophet.
60 Teiresias. Yet you have said my prophecy is for sale.

Creon. The generation of prophets has always loved gold.

Teiresias. The generation of kings has always loved brass.
Creon. You forget yourself! You are speaking to your king.
Teiresias. I know it. You are a king because of me.
65 Creon. You have a certain skill; but you have sold out.
Teiresias. King, you will drive me to words that—
Creon. Say them, say them!
Only remember: I will not pay you for them.
Teiresias. No, you will find them too costly.
Creon. No doubt. Speak:
Whatever you say, you will not change my will.
70 Teiresias. Then take this, and take it to heart!
The time is not far off when you shall pay back
Corpse for corpse, flesh of your own flesh.
You have thrust the child of this world into living night;
You have kept from the gods below the child that is theirs:
75 The one in a grave before her death, the other,
Dead, denied the grave. This is your crime:
And the Furies and the dark gods of hell 77—78 Furies: three goddesses who•
Are swift with terrible punishment for you. avenge crimes, especially those
that violate family ties. How might
Do you want to buy me now, Creon?
this prophecy be fulfilled?
Not many days,
80 And your house will be full of men and women weeping,
And curses wiii be hurled at you from far

WORD S
TO defile (dT-fil’) v to make foul, dirty, unclean, or impute
KNOW
1054
 Cities grieving for sons unburied, left to rot before the walls of
Thebes.
These are my arrows, Creon: they are all for you.
(to boy) But come, child: lead me home.
s5 Let him waste his fine anger upon younger men.
Maybe he will learn at last
To control a wiser tongue in a better head.
(Exit Teiresias.)
Choragus. The old man has gone, King, but his words
Remain to plague us. I am old, too,
90 But I cannot remember that he was ever false.
Creon. That is true.. . It troubles me.
.

Oh it is hard to give in! but it is worse

To risk everything for stubborn pride.
Choragus. Creon: take my advice.
Creon. What shall I do?
• 95 Choragus. Go quickly: free Antigone from her vault
And build a tomb for the body of Polyneices.
Creon. You would have me do this?
Choragus. Creon, yes!
And it must be done at once: God moves
Swiftly to cancel the folly of stubborn men.
100 Creon. It is hard to deny the heart! But I
Will do it: I will not fight with destiny.
Choragus. You must go yourself; you cannot leave it to others.
Creon. I will go.
—Bring axes, servants:
Come with me to the tomb. I buried her; I
i0 Will set her free.
Oh quickly!
F. My mind misgives—
The laws of the gods are mighty, and a man must serve them
To the last day of his life!
(Exit Creon.)

ANTIGONE 7055
PAEAN PAEAN: A paean (pë’an) is
a hymn
God of many names appealing to the gods for
Choragus. assistance. In this paean, the
Chorus. 0 Iacchus chorus praises Dionysus, Or
Iacchus
tyä’kes), and calls on him to
come
to Thebes to show mercy and
of Cadmean Semele drive
out evil.
0 born of the thunder!
2 Cadmus was the legendary
guardian of the West founder of Thebes. Dionysus was
regent the son of Cadmus’ daughter
of Eleusis’ plain Semele tse-mè’Ie) and Zeus, who
is
referred to here as thunder.
0 prince of maenad Thebes
s 4—S These lines name locations
and the Dragon Field by rippling Ismenus:
near Athens and Thebes. The
maenads tmê’ndz’) were
Choragus. God of many names priestesses of Dionysus.
Chorus. the flame of torches
flares on our hills
the nymphs of Iacchus
dance at the spring of Castalia: 8—9 The spring of Castalia is on the
sacred mountain Parnassus. Grape
from the vine-close mountain
vines and ivy were symbols of
come ah come in ivy: Dionysus.
io Evohé evohé! sings through the streets of Thebes 10 evohé: hallelujah.

Choragus. God of many names

Chorus. Iacchus of Thebes
heavenly child
of Semele bride of the Thunderer!
The shadow of plague is upon us:
come
with clement feet
oh come from Parnassus
15 down the long slopes
across the lamenting water

Choragus. lo Fire! Chorister of the throbbing stars!

0 purest among the voices of the night!
Thou son of God, blaze for us!
Chorus. Come with choric rapture of circling Maenads
20 Who cry lo Iacche!
God of many names!

1056 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION

 EXODOS EXODOS: The exodos is the last
episode in the play. It is followed
(Enter Messenger.) by a final speech made by the
Messenger. Men of the line of Cadmus, you who live choragus and addressed directly to
the audience.
Near Amphion’s citadel:
I cannot say 2 Amphion: Niobe’s husband, who
built a wall around Thebes by
Of any condition of human life, “This is fixed, charming the stones into place
This is clearly good, or bad.” Fate raises up, with music.
s And Fate casts down the happy and unhappy alike:
No man can foretell his fate.
Take the case of Creon:
Creon was happy once, as I count happiness:
Victorious in battle, sole governor of the land,
Fortunate father of children nobly born.
io And now it has all gone from him! Who can say
That a man is still alive when his life’s joy fails?
He is a walking dead man. Grant him rich;
Let him live like a king in his great house:
If his pleasure is gone, I would not give
15 So much as the shadow of smoke for all he owns. 15 How does the messenger
compare with the sentry who
Choragus. Your words hint at sorrow: what is your news for us? appeared in Scenes 1 and 2?
Messenger. They are dead. The living are guilty of their death.
Choragus. Who is guilty? Who is dead? Speak!
Messenger. Haemon.
Haemon is dead; and the hand that killed him
20 Is his own hand.
Choragus. His father’s? or his own?
Messenger. His own, driven mad by the murder his father had done.
Choragus. Teiresias, Teiresias, how clearly you saw it all!
Messenger. This is my news: you must draw what conclusions you
can from it.
Choragus. But look: Eurydice, our queen:
25 Has she overheard us?
(Enter Eurydice from the palace, center.)
Eurydice. I have heard something, friends:
As I was unlocking the gate of Pallas’ shrine, 27 PalIas: Athena, the goddess of
wisdom.
For I needed her help today, I heard a voice
Telling of some new sorrow. And I fainted
30 There at the temple with all my maidens about me. 32 Megareus tma-gr’è-os), the
But speak again: whatever it is, I can bear it: older son of Eurydice and Creon,
Grief and I are no strangers. had died in the battle for Thebes.

ANTIGONE 1057
jj
 Messenger. Dearest lady,
I will tell you plainly all that I have seen.
I shall not try to comfort you: what is the use,
s Since comfort could lie only in what is not true?
The truth is always bests
I went with Creon
To the outer plain where Polyneices was lying,
No friend to pity him, his body shredded by dogs.
39—40 Hecate thk’e-tè) and P’uto:
We made our prayers in that place to Hecate
other names for Persephone and
40 And Pluto, that they would be merciful. And we bathed Hades, the goddess and god of the
The corpse with holy water, and we brought underworld.
Fresh-broken branches to burn what was left of it,
And upon the urn we heaped up a towering barrow 43—44 Note the contrast between
the barrow, or burial mound,
Of the earth of his own land. erected by Creon and the handful
When we were done, we ran of dirt used by Antigone to cover
s To the vault where Antigone lay on her couch of stone. her brother.
One of the servants had gone ahead,
And while he was yet far off he heard a voice
Grieving within the chamber, and he came back
And told Creon. And as the king went closer,
50 - The air was full of wailing, the words lost,
And he begged us to make all haste. “Am I a prophet?”
He said, weeping. “And must I walk this road,
The saddest of all that I have gone before?
My son’s voice calls me on. Oh quickly, quickly!
ss Look through the crevice there, and tell me
If it is Haemon, or deception of the gods!”
some

We obeyed; and the in farthest

cavern’s corner

We saw her lying:

She had made a noose her
of fine linen veil

hanged herself. Haemon lay beside her, 60 Note that this is the same way
60 And
in which Jocasta, Antigone’s
His arms about her waist, lamenting her, mother, killed herself.
His love lost underground, crying out
That his father had stolen her away from him.
When Creon saw him, the tears rushed to his eyes,
65 And he called to him: “What have you done, child? Speak to me.
What are you thinking that makes your eyes so strange?
0 my son, my son, I come to you on my knees!”
But Haemon spat in his face. He said not a word,
Staring—
and suddenly drew his sword
o And lunged. Creon shrank back; the blade missed, and the boy,
Desperate against himself, drove it half its length

7058 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION

 Into his own side and fell. And as he died,
He gathered Antigone close in his arms again,
Choking, his blood bright red on her white cheek.
s And now he lies dead with the dead, and she is his
At last, his bride in the houses of the dead.
(Exit Eurydice into the palace.)
Choragus. She has left us without a word. What can this mean?
Messenger. It troubles me, too; yet she knows what is best;
Her grief is too great for public lamentation,
go And doubtless she has gone to her chamber to weep
For her dead son, leading her maidens in his dirge.
Choragus. It may be so: but I fear this deep silence.
(Pause)
Messenger. I will see what she is doing. I will go in.
(Exit Messenger into the palace. Enter Creon with attendants,
bearing Haemon’s body.)
Choragus. But here is the king himself: oh look at him,
ss Bearing his own damnation in his arms.
Creon. Nothing you say can touch me any more.
My own blind heart has brought me
From darkness to final darkness. Here you see
The father murdering, the murdered son—
90 And all my civic wisdom!
Haemon my son, so young, so young to die,
I was the fool, not you; and you died for me.
Choragus. That is the truth; but you were late in learning it.
Creon. This truth is hard to bear. Surely a god
95 Has crushed me beneath the hugest weight of heaven,
And driven me headlong a barbaric way
To trample Out the thing I held most dear.
The pains that men will take to come to pain!
(Enter Messenger from the palace.)
Messenger. The burden you carry in your hands is heavy,
100 But it is not all: you will find more in your house.
Creon. What burden worse than this shalll find there?
Messenger. The queen is dead.
Creon. 0 port of death, deaf world,
Is there no pity for me? And you, angel of evil,
los I was dead, and your words are death again.

ANTIGONE 1059
 Is it true, boy? Can it be true?
Is my wife dead? Has death bred death?
Messenger. You can see for yourself.
(The doors are opened, and the body of Eurydice is disclosed within.)

IL
Creon. Oh pity!
110 All true, all true, and more than I can bear!
0 my wife, my son!
Messenger. She stood before the altar, and her heart
Welcomed the knife her own hand guided,
And a great cry burst from her lips for Megareus dead,
115 And for Haemon dead, her sons; and her last breath
Was a curse for their father, the murderer of her sons.
And she fell, and the dark flowed in through her closing eyes.
Creon. 0 God, I am sick with fear.
Are there no swords here? Has no one a blow for me?
120 Messenger. Her curse is upon you for the deaths of both.
Creon. It is right that it should be. I alone am guilty.
I know it, and I say it. Lead me in,
Quickly, friends.
I have neither life nor substance. Lead me in.
125 Choragus. You are right, if there can be right in so much wrong.
The
briefest way is best in a world of sorrow.
Creon. Let it come;
Let death come quickly and be kind to me.
I would not ever see the sun again.
130 Choragus. All that will come when it will; but we, meanwhile,
Have much to do. Leave the future to itself.
Creon. All my heart was in that prayer!
Choragus. Then do not pray any more: the sky is deaf.
Creon. Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish.
135 I have killed my son and my wife.
I look for comfort; my comfort lies here dead.
Whatever my hands have touched has come to nothing.
Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust.
(As Creon is being led into the house, the Choragus advances and
speaks directly to the audience.)
Choragus. There is no happiness where there is no wisdom;
140 No wisdom but in submission to the gods.
Big words are always punished,
And proud men in old age learn to be wise.

1060 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION

I

C1ect to the Literatire Literary Aiallysis

1. What Do You Think? Comprehension Check
CLASSICAL DRAMA Two aspects
How did you react What does Antigone do against
Creon’s wishes? of classical drama, or the theater of
to what happens at
How does Creon punish Antigone? ancient Greece, that ate frequently
the end of this play?
How does Antigone die? still debated today are the role of the
Share your thoughts
chorus and the concept of the
with a classmate.
tragic hero. Often, critics and
scholars disagree with one another
about how to interpret the comments
Tlliiik Crtkally of the chorus. Disagreement also
s
2. How much do you think Creon is to blame for the suicide arises about how to apply the
of Antigone, Haemon, and Eurydice? concept of the tragic hero.
Creon’s judgment of himself at the end Paired Activity Review the
• how Haemon and Eurydice feel
about Creon at information about classical drama
THINK
LABOUL the momen t of death on page 1019. Then discuss the
Creon’s failed effort to rescue Antigone following questions:
• Who do you think best fits the
3. What do you think is the main reason that Creon and definition of a tragic hero,
Antigone cannot resolve their conflict? Antigone or Creon?
the principles that motivate each character How do the chorus and its leader,
toward the gods the choragus, influence your
THINK • the attitude of each character
understanding of Antigone and
ABOJJ • any flaws or defects exhibited by each
Creon?
character • How do the choral odes
as, contribute to your understanding
4. How do the minor characters—such as Ismene, Teiresi
of the play’s themes?
Haemon, and Eurydice—help you to understand and
evaluate the actions of Antigone and Creon? Use evidence from the text to
support your answer.
STRATEGIES FOR READING Compare the
CLASSICAL DRAMA notes in your
r1ThRAMATIC IR11
ADEs NOTEBOOK with those of a classmate. Dramatic irony occurs when readers
Discuss which of the strategies listed on page 1019 were or viewers are aware of information
most useful. How did you modify your reading strategies that a character is unaware of. For
when your understanding broke down? example, Creon tells Antigone, “That
[her death] gives me evervthing’
Once you know the outcome of the
EXMll etatos play, you realize that Antigone’s death
5. The Writer’s Style Throughout Antigone, Sophocles makes will take from Creon all that is
allusions to myths that his original audience would have meaningful in his life. This contrast
been familiar with. With a partner, research the full story of beeen Creon’s limited knowledge

1 one of these myths. Then write an explanation of how the

myth relates to the story of Antigone and why you think
Sophocles included the allusion.
and your fuller understanding
generates dramatic irony.
With a small group of classmates,
ed find and explain other examples of
1. connect to life Which of the themes, or messages, convey dramatic irony in Antigone.
by Sophocles do you think is most relevant today?

A’c[if;c)\F 1061
 a woman. With a partner, research productions or create your own
Writing Options the typical role of noblewomen in original version. ART -

1. Letter to a Character Compare
the way you ranked the
principles listed in the Connect
to Your Life activity on page 1018
with the way you think Antigone,
Creon, or some other character
in the play would rank them.
Then write a letter to that
character, either in support of or
Athens during the fifth century B.C.
Working collaboratively, write a
short report on this topic. Place
the report in your Working
Portfolio.
Activities &
Explorations
3. Antigone on hhhm Watch the
video clip of the opening scene
of the play. How does the setting
compare with the way you
visualized the palace as you
read? Do Antigone and Ismene
play their roles as you imagined?
Discuss your views with a small
group of classmates. VIEWING -

in opposition to his or her

decisions and behavior.
2. Diary Entry Think about how
one of the minor characters—such
as Ismene, the sentry, or
Teiresias—might have viewed
what happened to Antigone.
Write a diary entry expressing the
thoughts and feelings of this
character.
3. Report on Athenian Women At
various times in Antigone, Creon’s
remarks show his attitude toward
having his authority challenged by
1. Readers Theater With a group of
classmates, perform a Readers
Theater production of a scene
from this play. Sit in chairs at the
front of the classroom and take
turns reading the parts. Choose
whether you want to present the
scene in the formal manner of the
ancient Greek theater or in a more
contemporary style. PERFORMING
-
2. Tragedy ask Create a mask to
be worn in a production of
Antigone. You may research the
masks worn in ancient Greek
AND REPRESENTING
V I D E 0
Side by Side: Literature in
Performance
Inquiry & Research
Comparin9 Translations Locate
one or two other translations of
Antigone. Choose a passage from
the play, and compare the
different versions. With a small
group of classmates, discuss
which translation you find most
effective and why.

Vocabulary in Action
EXERCISE: MEAWING CLUES Answer the questions
that follow.
7. Is a dirge a piece of music that is sad, joyful,
or complicated?
2. Are people who transgress a law those who
make it, break it, or enforce it?
3. Would a person’s appetite be sated by the
smell of food, a light snack, or a large meal?
4. Is an edict a request, a command, or a
question?
5. Would lamentation be most expected after a
tragedy, a dinner party, or a graduation?
6. Does a person defile a lake by photographing
it, polluting it, or stocking it with fish?
7. When is it most important to be lithe—while
competing in a spelling bee, lifting weights, or
performing gymnastics?
8. If people demonstrate compulsive behavior, is
what they do rude, sympathetic, or beyond
their control?
9. Is a person most likely to respond to
auspicious events by feeling encouraged,
frightened, or exhausted?
10. If a child was described to you as being
perverse, would you expect the child to be
angelic, disobedient, or shy?
Building Vocabulary
For an indepth lesson on connotation and
denotation, see page 494.

1062 UNIT SIX PART 2: THE HEROIC TRADITION

 Grammar in Context: Inverted Sentences
Notice where the translator of Antigone places the
subject and its verb in each of these excerpts.
Chorus. Numberless are the world’s wonders,
but none
More wonderful than man;..
Chorus. Fortunate is the man who has never
tasted God’s vengeance!
One way in which expert writers vary their sentences
to make their writing more interesting is by changing
the order of subjects and verbs. In most sentences
subjects come before verbs, but in the sentences
above, the verbs (in blue type) are placed before the
subjects (in red type). Sentences like these are called
inverted sentences. They can give a formal tone to
writing and can be used to create poetic effects.
Sophocles
496?—406 B.C.
Other Works
Ajax
Oedipus the King
Electra
Oedipus at Colonus
Trachinian Women
Philoctetes
Chorus Leader Born near Athens in the village of
Colonus, Sophocles was the son of a wealthy manu
facturer of armor. In his youth, he received a fine
education and was said to be skilled in wrestling,
dancing, and playing the lyre. These skills and a
handsome appearance apparently led to his being
chosen to lead a chorus in a celebration of the Greek
victory over the Persians at the Battle of Salamis.
I..
Festival Winner In 468 B.C., Sophocles defeated his
teacher, the great playwright Aeschylus (s’k-bs),
in the Dionysian dramatic festival, an annual compe
tition. That first-place award was followed by as
many as 23 other victories, more than any other
Greek playwright. Sophocles also was active in the
political ]ife of Athens. He was elected several times
WRITING EXERCISE Rewrite each sentence, placing
the main verb before the subject.
Usage Tip: When writing an inverted sentence, make
sure the subject agrees in number with the verb.
Example: Original Creon is merciless in dealing
with his dead nephew Polyneices.
Rewritten Merciless is Creon in dealing with his
dead nephew Polyneices.
1. Antigone pleads passionately with Ismene for help
in burying their dead brother.
2. Creon, king of Thebes, is cruel.
3. The sentry who found Polyneices buried is
frightened.
4. Antigone speaks eloquently when she is brought
before Creon.
Grammar Handbook Subject-Verb Agreement, p. 1200
to the body of high executives commanding the mili
tary and was one of ten commissioners in charge of
helping Athens recover after a severe military defeat
in Sicily. In 406 B.C., the year of his death, he led a
chorus of public mourners in honor of Euripides
(yoô-rp’-dëz’), a younger playwright who had
often been his rival at the annual drama festivals.
Missing Work Sophocles wrote more than 100
plays, although only 7 of them survive today.
Antigone, which rivals Oedipus the King as his
best-known play, was probably first performed in
442 or 441 B.C. Oedipus at Cotonus, which shows
the playwright’s affection for his native village, was
written when Sophocles was around 90.
Author Activity
Classical Age Sophocles lived during a period
often described as the pinnacle of ancient Athens.
Research why this is the case, and find out what fate
befell the city the year after Sophocles’ death.
ANTIGONE 1063