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Antigone
A Power Play
Author: Sophocles
 Born in 496 BC at Colonus, near
Athens Greece.
 Revered for his genius during his
own lifetime
 Lived to the ripe old age of ninety
 Great golden age of the city-state of
Athens
Career:
 In 468 BC, his debut dramatic
production took first prize at the
festival of Dionysis.
 By 450 BC, Sophocles had written
some two dozen plays.
 He was the most prolific of the three
great Greek tragedians, writing 120
plays over the span of his career.
 Only seven complete plays survive.
 He received the prize at the
Dionysia a total of twenty-four
times,more than Aeschylus or
Euripides.
Innovator:
 Sophocles improved stage
scenery, reduced the
importance of the chorus,
and, most significantly, added
a third speaking actor to the
traditional two.
Tragic Heroes
 Sophocles' characters are
tragically flawed, but their heroic
stature is beyond question.
 The larger-than-life attributes
that make them great are the
same traits that cause their
destruction.
Later Life
 Sophocles continued to write and
serve in government well into his
eighties.
 Oedipus at Colonus and Philoctetes
are two of his last plays, and they
are among the most praised works
of classical art.
 He died in 406 BC.
Antigone the Play
 The drama festival, or the Dionysia, became a
spectacular event which lasted four to five days
 The city took the celebrations seriously:
 Prisoners were released on bail and most public business was
suspended.
 Roughly ten thousand free male citizens, along with their
slaves and dependents, watched plays in an enormous
outdoor theater that could seat seventeen thousand
spectators.
 On each of three days, the Athenians were treated to
three tragedies and a satyr play (a light comedy on a
mythic theme) written by one of three pre-selected
tragedians, as well as one comedy by a comedic
playwright.
 The trilogies did not have to be an extended drama
dealing with the same story, although often they were.
 At the end of the festival, the tragedians were awarded
first, second, and third prize by the judges of Dionysis.
The Chorus
 Greek drama was not meant to be
"naturalistic."
 It was a highly stylized art form:
 actors wore masks
 the performances incorporated song and dance.
 The Chorus delivers much of the exposition
and expounds poetically on themes, but it is
still meant to represent a group of characters.
 In the case of Antigone, the Chorus is
constituted by the Theban elders, old and
powerful citizens of the city who watch and
comment on the action.
 It interacts with the actors, and in Antigone the
Chorus intercedes at a crucial point near the
end of the play.
Time
 Consistent with the norms of Greek drama,
Antigone is not divided into acts or scenes.
 Action flows uninterrupted from beginning to
end.
 Time elapses in non-naturalistic fashion:
 at certain points, from reports of what has happened
offstage, it is clear that a great amount of time is
meant to have passed even though only a few
minutes have passed for the audience.
 In general, as noted by Aristotle, most Greek
tragedies have action confined to a twenty-four
hour period.
Tragedy
 Tragedy is usually concerned with a
person of great stature, a king or
nobleman, who falls because of hubris,
or pride.
 The action in Antigone is to "preserve
rightness and order in Thebes.“
 Antigone and Creon are both
championing what is “right”, but they
define “right” through different sets of
values.