Line #63 Theatre/Antigone


1	->'''Creon''': And thou didst indeed dare to transgress that law?\
2	'''Antigone''': Yes; for it was not Zeus that had published me that edict [...] nor deemed I that thy decrees were of such force, that a mortal could override the unwritten and unfailing statutes of heaven.
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4	The last[[note]]story-wise; it was the first one written[[/note]] of the Theban trilogy of plays by Creator/{{Sophocles}} (preceded by ''Theatre/OedipusTheKing'' and ''Theatre/OedipusAtColonus''), ''Antigone'' follows the fate of one of Oedipus's daughters, born of his incestuous relationship with his mother.
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6	The play starts with Antigone bringing her sister, Ismene, terrible news. Between the end of ''Oedipus at Colonus'' and the start of ''Antigone'', their brother Polyneices led an army against Eteocles for the right to inherit their father's throne. The brothers took each other's lives. This was chronicled in the play ''Theatre/TheProgeny''; [[MissingEpisode sadly, only a single exchange from that play survives]]. It can be read [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Progeny here]]. Antigone's uncle, Creon, now undisputed master of Thebes once more, has ordered that Polyneices's body be left unburied, as a traitor. Antigone asks her sister to help her bury their brother properly, but Ismene refuses, and Antigone does it by herself.
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8	Unfortunately, she is caught, and Creon orders her to be walled up in a cave to die. Despite warnings from both the Chorus and the seer Tiresias that leaving the dead unburied will have terrible consequences, it is not until Tiresias predicts that Creon's family will suffer and armies will march against Thebes that he relents. Unfortunately, he's too late, as the time spent burying the body prevented Creon from reaching Antigone before she hanged herself. Seeing he was too late, Haemon, her fiancé and Creon's son, stabbed himself, and when THAT news reached Haemon's mother and Creon's wife Eurydice, she stabbed herself too. The play ends with Creon leaving the stage as a broken man.
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10	Also the name of a 1944 existential play by French playwright Jean Anouilh which covers the same events as the play by Sophocles, with a much more modern bent.
11	----
12	!!The original play contains examples of:
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14	* AnAesop:
15	** Creon stands by poor reasoning and ends up wanting nothing but death, teaching Thebes and the audience that "of all curses which cleave to man, ill counsel is the sovereign curse."
16	** Refusing to hate someone does not necessarily mean you approve of their actions.
17	** Civil laws can be unjust in an authoritative governor and get in the way of a community's moral compass. There's a reason why both historical and modern audiences tend to agree with Antigone rather than with Creon.
18	** Though the significance has largely faded with time, in the era in which the play was written, perhaps the most significant Aesop was that it is not for man to supersede the laws of the Gods.
19	* AnachronicOrder: This was actually written before ''Theatre/OedipusTheKing'', but chronologically follows that play and [[Theatre/OedipusAtColonus its sequel]].
20	* AntiVillain: Creon is seen as this today. He's a tyrant who rules Thebes with an iron fist, but he keeps his word and is surprisingly willing to listen to reason, and he is only actively malicious towards people who've committed a crime. When he realizes the unnecessary death his authoritarianism has caused, he is horrified.
21	* AnyoneCanDie: By the end, Antigone, Haemon, and Eurydice are dead.
22	* AcquittedTooLate: By the time Creon realizes he was being an asshole and Antigone should go free, she's already killed herself.
23	* BadassPacifist: Antigone: she causes a lot of disruption with no physical force.
24	* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Polyneices has been left unburied by the king Creon so that his soul cannot go on to the underworld, in punishment for his rebellion. His sister Antigone takes it upon herself to do so.
25	* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: A possible reason for Antigone's hanging herself rather than waiting to die in her "tomb".
26	* BerserkButton: Tiresias does not respond well to Creon accusing him of taking bribes.
27	* BlindSeer: Tiresias requires an assistant to describe the flames and smoke that emerge after making a sacrifice, but from that description, he can determine the will of the gods with great wisdom. Still, he can't make Creon see the truth of his erroneous actions, which leads to the reason why ''Antigone'' is called a tragedy.
28	* BreakTheHaughty: As was the Greek standard, Creon's arrogance leads to tragedy. He ends up lording his own judgement over that of his son, a seer, and the gods until that judgement leaves him without a son or wife. His despair is so great that he's little more than a "breathing corpse."
29	* BuriedAlive: As punishment for giving burial to her scoundrel of a brother, Antigone is sentenced to be buried alive in a crypt with enough food and water to keep death from saving her from years of isolation.
30	* CainAndAbel: Just before the events of the play, the two sons of Oedipus killed one another over the throne of Thebes. One of the brothers is deemed to have been lawful and given burial, but the other is deemed the Cain of the situation and the king unjustly outlaws that he should have any Earthly help entering the realm of Hades. ''The Progeny'' has more detail on the brothers themselves [[MissingEpisode but well...]]
31	* CharacterTitle: The title character is Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus, who at first seems to be our TragicHero, but the ultimate tragedy ends up befalling her enemy, Creon.
32	* CallingTheOldManOut: Haemon calls out Creon for how he is willing to have Antigone and Ismene killed for burying Polyneices despite the whole city thinking it is an injustice.
33	* DeathSeeker:
34	** Antigone. She views an eternal afterlife serving the gods as more desirable than a temporary life serving man. Hence why, after being imprisoned, she hangs herself.
35	** Ismene is an unsuccessful one. While she refuses to help Antigone bury Polyneices, when Antigone is sentenced to death, Ismene tries to share in her guilt and punishment, but Antigone refuses because she didn't earn it.
36	* DesecratingTheDead: {{Discussed}}. The plot is driven by a debate regarding whether or not Antigone's brother, Polyneices, who died trying to seize a power vacuum, deserves a proper burial or further desecration. The king has made it illegal to bury him, but Antigone holds that the law of the gods demands that one helps their family proceed through the afterlife. She holds this even as Creon orders her to be locked alive in a tomb, and he holds his conviction until Antigone's fate drives his entire family to suicide, at which point he admits his foolishness.
37	* TheDeterminator: Antigone. She refuses to stop burying her brother's body even at the threat of death because she knows it's the right thing to do.
38	* DisasterDominoes: The ending is basically [[DrivenToSuicide Suicide]] [[FromBadToWorse Dominoes]]. Poor Creon.
39	* DishonoredDead: King Creon orders that the body of Polyneices (who had attacked the city to claim kingship) should be left unburied.
40	* DownerEnding: Antigone kills herself in her prison, which causes her lover to kill himself by accident while trying to stab the king, which then causes Antigone's lover's mother to self-stab in the heart, which leaves Antigone's lover's mother's husband (the king who condemned Antigone) is left to pray for his own death to escape from his despair.
41	* DrivenToSuicide: Antigone, and later on, Haemon and Eurydice.
42	* DueToTheDead: The importance of this is a major plot point.
43	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Creon cannot comprehend that Antigone loved ''both'' her brothers unconditionally, despite their becoming mortal enemies.
44	* EvilCounterpart: Creon's arc here very closely mirrors that of Oedipus in ''Theatre/OedipusRex'', but where Oedipus was motivated by the pursuit of justice and the well-being of his people, Creon is primarily concerned with protecting his own power.
45	* EvilUncle: Creon. However, unlike many other examples, this is due to his treating Antigone like he would any other who broke the law.
46	* FaceHeelTurn: Creon appears to have undergone one of these since his appearance in ''Theatre/OedipusRex'', where he's quite sensible and sympathetic.
47	* FalseDichotomy: Creon appears to equate an unwillingness to hate Polyneices with approval of what he did.
48	* GenreSavvy: However stubborn he is, Creon, unlike Oedipus, is smart enough to ultimately realize that Tiresias is always right and he has to reverse his actions quickly now or it might be [[AcquittedTooLate too late]]. But it doesn't do him much good anyway.
49	* GodIsGood: Antigone respects the law of the gods above all other laws, leading her to prefer death to submitting unjustly to the king. The king at first argues with Antigone, but the aftermath of her death convinces him that he was in the wrong, leaving it unambiguous that the gods determine what is just and not the kings of men.
50	* GreekChorus: Literally of course. They represent the people and elders of Thebes.
51	* HereditarySuicide:
52	** Antigone concludes the chain from her own family that began with her mother (and grandmother) Jocasta hanging herself in ''Theatre/OedipusTheKing''.
53	** Antigone's suicide also sets off its own chain. Her husband-to-be (and cousin, and [[NotBloodSiblings adopted sibling]]), Haemon, stabbed himself after finding out that [[YouAreTooLate Creon was too late]] to save Antigone. Haemon's mother, Creon's wife, then stabbed ''herself'' upon finding out about her son's death.
54	* TheHeroDies: Antigone herself commits suicide near the end of the play.
55	* HesitantSacrifice: Before being led into her tomb, Antigone has a speech lamenting that this has to happen to her, and Creon mocks her and interprets this as her regretting her decision.
56	* HonorBeforeReason: Antigone gives her brother a proper burial, even though she knows it will mean her death. Furthermore, she rejects Ismene's suggestion to bury him secretly, feeling she has to challenge Creon's unjust law directly rather than trying to escape with her life.
57	* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Many of Creon's mistakes come from the time he wastes completely misinterpreting the motives of everyone around him. He doesn't understand that Antigone is appealing to a different law than the one he's upholding, he unjustly accuses the Sentry and then Tiresias of being corrupt, and when Haemon tries to persuade him to think again, he lets himself get into a huge snot about the fact that his own son is daring to question his judgement.
58	* HumansAreSpecial: The chorus has a speech about how special and wondrous but [[HumansAreCthulhu terrifying]] humans are.
59	* {{Hypocrite}}: When Antigone buries her brother out of family loyalty, Creon orders her execution. When Haemon rejects the DisproportionateRetribution, Creon orders him to agree, arguing that he's being disloyal to his father because of this.
60	* IAmSpartacus: When Antigone is accused of burying Polyneices and is ready to take the punishment, Ismene says that ''she'' was responsible, and Creon nearly decides to have them both killed before ultimately deciding Ismene was lying and is innocent.
61	* IdiotBall:
62	** All of the tragedy is a result of first Antigone and then Creon deciding that burying Polyneices is more important than keeping Antigone alive.
63	** Creon for not knowing that, generally, flipping off the gods by not burying the dead is a bad idea.
64	* IncestSubtext: Many essays have spoken about Antigone's fixation on her brother, and how she resembles her father. Ismene and Creon also point out how she has another brother but she only wants to be one of them.
65	%%* {{Irony}}
66	* IronicEcho: "Afflicting men the worst of ills is lack of judgment." First said by Creon when accusing Tiresias the seer of corruption, later said by the Messenger when Creon realizes that his hubris led to his son committing suicide, fulfilling Tiresias's prophecy.
67	* KissingCousins: Antigone and Haemon are engaged, but worryingly, they are first cousins on both sides of the family, as Antigone is related to Creon through both her parents.
68	* MirrorCharacter: Creon's story very closely mirrors that of the title character of the prequel work ''Theatre/OedipusRex''. Both start out as kings on top of the world, but their stubborn pursuit of their goals despite the advice of those around them causes their entire lives to come apart.
69	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Creon at the end.
70	* NeverHurtAnInnocent: Creon stubbornly insists on carrying out his threats towards Antigone even when it's clear that this will do more harm than good, but he relents from punishing Ismene when he realizes she hasn't done anything illegal.
71	* NotBloodSiblings: Antigone is not only Haemon's cousin but also his foster sister since Creon raised Antigone, Ismene, Polynices, and Eteocles as his children after Oedipus left Thebes.
72	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Creon is especially unwilling to relent to Antigone because he feels a man shouldn't ever relent to a woman. While in this play, this helps to show his arrogance, his general sentiment [[ValuesDissonance wouldn't be considered that politically incorrect]] at the time.
73	* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: We don't know how the neighbouring cities feel about Thebes by the end of the play, but just about everything else happened as Tiresias predicted.
74	* PunchClockVillain: The Sentry serves an antagonistic role in arresting Antigone for trying to bury her brother. However, he is clearly doing this under Creon's orders, and after the first attempt, Creon threatens to have him executed if he cannot find the one responsible.
75	* PunishedForSympathy: Antigone's brother Polynices dies an enemy of the state, and Creon commands that Polyneices's body shall not be buried. Antigone gives him a proper burial anyway, so she is sentenced to be [[BuriedAlive locked in a tomb]].
76	* PyrrhicVictory: Creon succeeds in getting Antigone killed but loses his whole family in the process.
77	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Tiresias really lets Creon have it after Creon ignores his advice and [[BerserkButton accuses him of taking bribes.]]
78	* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Antigone pays DueToTheDead despite the death penalty.
79	* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere: Antigone's ultimate fate is to be sealed into a tomb herself.
80	* SecondhandStorytelling:
81	** The illegal burial of Oedipus's son is not shown, it is only known to the audience thanks to a guard who (unwillingly) tells the king about the subject while stopping the story every few seconds to make sure he won't get killed for giving the bad news.
82	** Antigone's capture is told by the guards who bring her to the king. Since the capture took about half a day, its omission helps to keep the play from running for an ungodly amount of time.
83	** Per the standards of the day, all the suicides happen off-screen to be related by messengers for the audience.
84	* ShootTheMessenger: Creon threatens to have the Sentry executed after they bring him news that there has been an attempt to bury the body, saying the guards must have been responsible. The Sentry was worried this would happen, delaying the journey, and the guards chose him by lot.
85	* StarCrossedLovers: Antigone refuses to let the king stop her from doing what is right by burying her brother, thus forcing the king's son, Haemon, to stand by as his father sentences to death the woman who should be his wife.
86	%%* TagTeamSuicide
87	* ToBeLawfulOrGood: This is essentially the dilemma Antigone faces: Disobey her uncle's royal command and be punished, or leave her brother's corpse unburied and risk the wrath of the gods for impiety?
88	** Ismene is asked by Antigone whether she will be a dutiful sister and help Antigone bury the body (good), or be a traitor to her family (lawful). Ismene reluctantly chooses to abide by Creon's authority, fearing the death penalty (lawful). Antigone declares that Ismene is as good as dead to her and buries Polyneices's body. When Ismene attempts to share in the guilt, Antigone rejects her, determined to die by herself.
89	* TogetherInDeath: Antigone and Haemon at the end.
90	** Ismene tries to pull this with Antigone early in the play, saying that she was responsible for the burials as well so they could die together.
91	* {{Tragedy}}: The entire play is about Antigone trying to go against her uncle's wishes to bury her dead brother, and ultimately being DrivenToSuicide at the end, along with several others, leaving her uncle alone.
92	* TragicHero: Both Creon and Ismene are bound by [[LawfulStupid their devotion to the law]]; Antigone is compelled to [[DueToTheDead give her brother a proper burial]], while Creon's responsibility as king is to stop her.
93	* TrilogyCreep: Originally this was the fourth Theban play. ''The Progeny'', alas, [[MissingEpisode only survives in fragments]].
94	* TheUnfettered: Antigone will not let anything - her sister, the law, death itself - stop her from her singular goal of getting Polynices buried.
95	* VillainProtagonist: Creon. Antigone may be the titular character and she's undoubtedly more heroic than Creon, but he's the real protagonist because she goes to her death still believing that she's done the right thing, whereas his actions bring about his utter ruin and, by the end, he's all too aware of it.
96	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Creon is willing to do whatever it takes to keep the city afloat and ensure order after the anarchy of the Labdacides.
97	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: No further mention is made of Ismene after her sister Antigone is sentenced to death.
98	* WomanlinessAsPathos: PlayedWith. The protagonist, [[ProtagonistTitle Antigone]], actually acts far more like a Greek ''male'' hero would, rather than a heroine; these traits create a lot of friction with the other characters, who ''expect'' her to act as a woman should. Creon is especially fed up with her antics, feels the need to assert his dominance over her as a man, and tries to get his lovesick son Haimon to abandon her. He believes that she makes Haemon act weak and foolish -- in other words, like how a ''woman'' would be expected to act. Creon's misogyny is one of the main reasons he opposes Antigone in her quest, and the drama is ironically created because she ''doesn't'' act stereotypically. The only time she acts "womanly" is when she's DrivenToSuicide, and that leads to a very BittersweetEnding.
99	* YouCantFightFate: Because Oedipus did... well... [[ParentalIncest what Oedipus did]], their entire family is cursed, making it inevitable that Antigone will be condemned for burying her brother, leaving her sister, Ismene, [[FateWorseThanDeath to live the rest of her life with the knowledge that she was too cowardly to join Antigone in burying Polyneices and that her entire family is dead]]. Notice how eager she is to share Antigone's death sentence, but Creon refuses to condemn her, and Antigone rebuffs her.
100	* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: At least one translation (discussed [[https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/feb/27/antigone-juliette-binoche-anne-carson-barbican here]]) has Creon labeling Antigone a "terrorist" for disobeying his law. Antigone is undaunted and continues to follow the law of Zeus over mortal decrees, effectively holding herself as a moral rebel rather than an ancestor to ISIS.
101
102	!!The Anouilh play contains examples of:
103	* ActingForTwo: The Prologue and the Chorus are both designated as such, but in most representations (including the 1944 ''première'', they are played by the same actor.
104	* AlasPoorVillain: At the end of the play, Creon remains alone and devastated, having lost his whole family, and pitifully trying to advocate that he just [[IDidWhatIHadToDo does what has to be done]] in front of his page who is too young to understand.
105	* AnachronismStew: The 1944 version, although it's meant to fit in any place and time, mentions cigarettes, long trousers, jackets, movies, guns, sports cars, nightclubs, gangsters, and evening clothes.
106	* CardCarryingVillain: How Creon sees the whole Polyneices business.
107	-->'''Antigone''': You are odious!
108	-->'''Creon''': Yes my dear; it's part of the job description. The question is: do you want to do it or not? But if you do, that is how is must be done!
109	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Anouilh wrote his version while his homeland was occupied by the Nazis and administered on their behalf by French collaborators, and it's commonly interpreted as a commentary on that situation. Most of the characters either don't care about Creon's tyrannies or prefer to go along to get along, but Antigone insists on doing the right thing even though she knows it will lead to her death and might not even make a difference in the end.
110	* DramaticIrony: Purposefully invoked by Creon to make Antigone renounce her projects: both her brothers were scumbags and Creon isn't even sure which one was buried with honors and which one was left to rot.
111	* FatalFlaw: Antigone's complete unwillingness to bend even in the face of reason.
112	* GreekChorus: The Chorus in this version is unique in that it is not the "voice of the elders of the city" as it would have been (and was) in the original play, but is instead something like a meta narrator who points out the inherent flaws and hypocrisy of the characters within the play
113	* GrowingUpSucks: At the end of the play, Creon is left alone with his young page.
114	-->'''Creon''': Of course, you don't know. How lucky you are! One should never have to know. Are you looking forward to grow up?
115	-->'''Page''': Oh yes, sir!
116	-->'''Creon''': You are out of your mind, kid. One should never have to grow up.
117	* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: Once he becomes sure that Antigone has not told anyone about her plan, Creon's first idea to spare his niece is to silence the sentries who arrested her.
118	* HopeIsScary:
119	-->CHORUS: Tragedy is restful; and the reason is that hope, that foul, deceitful thing, has no part in it. There isn't any hope. You're trapped. The whole sky has fallen on you, and all you can do about it is to shout.
120	* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Creon maintains throughout that he only took the crown because somebody had to and that the things he's done to keep hold of power, some of which he admits were deplorable, were all necessary for the good of the city.
121	* ImmediateSelfContradiction: When Antigone is caught trying to bury her brother, Creon asks if she was counting on her family connections to get her out of trouble, and tells her she'll have to face the consequences like anybody else, but when she makes it clear that she's prepared to face the consequences he immediately starts planning to get her out of trouble and hush the whole thing up.
122	* LoyalToThePosition: The Chorus describes the guards as this, saying that they'll arrest anybody Creon orders them to and will be just as willing to arrest Creon himself if he gets overthrown and the new king orders them to.
123	* MoodDissonance: Every scene with the Guards who are totally devoid of imagination or sense of tragedy and care about their daily business.
124	* MustNotDieAVirgin: The night before she goes out to bury her brother, Antigone tries to get her fiancé to seduce her, because she's not going to live to marry him and wants them both to have a taste of what married life would have been like. It doesn't work out; he's just confused by her uncharacteristic behavior.
125	* ReluctantRuler: The Prologue clearly states that Creon didn't want to be king. He later confirms that he assumed the role only because he felt it would be dishonest to turn down the job.
126	* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids:
127	-->'''Creon''': I get you, I would have done the same when I was twenty. That's the reason why I was drinking your words. I was listening to a young Creon, ages ago, skinny and pale as you are and also full of thoughts about self-sacrifice... [...] Life is not what you think. It's like a water and young people let it run away through their fingers.
128	* {{Tomboy}}: Antigone in this version of the play in contrast with her sister who is the traditional "feminine" character.
129	* TheVoiceless: Eurydice, Creon's wife, doesn't say a line in the whole play.
130	* YouCannotKillAnIdea: Ismene's change of heart near the end is depicted like this; after Antigone turns her away because she didn't help, she declares that she will carry on Antigone's work, and Antigone challenges Creon to consider that now there are two people who think like Antigone, and how many more will there be?
131	* YouCantFightFate: Antigone is insistent throughout the play that this is the real reason she fights so hard to die because both she and Creon have "roles" to play.
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Context Theatre / Antigone