History Theatre / Antigone

* 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 predicted.

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 Polynices 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 Polynices'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.

Unfortunately, she is caught, and Creon orders her 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 his mother, Eurydice, she stabbed herself too. The play ends with Creon leaving the stage a broken man.

* AnyoneCanDie: By the end, Antigone, Haemon and Eurydice were dead.

* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Polynices 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.

* CallingTheOldManOut: Haemon calls out Creon for how he is willing to have Antigone and Ismene killed for burying Polynices, despite the whole city thinking it is an injustice.

** Ismene is an unsuccessful one. While she refused 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.
* DesecratingTheDead: {{Discussed}}. The plot is driven by a debate regarding whether or not Antigone's brother, Polynices, 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.

* 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 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.

* FalseDichotomy: Creon appears to equate an unwillingness to hate Polynices with approval of what he did.

* {{Hypocrite}}: When Antigone buries her brother out of family loyalty, Creon orders her execution. When Haimon rejects the DisproportionateRetribution, Creon orders him to agree, arguing that he's being disloyal to his father because of this.
* IAmSpartacus: When Antigone is accused of burying Polynices 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.

** All of the tragedy is a result of first Antigone and then Creon deciding that burying Polynices is more important than keeping Antigone alive.

* MirrorCharacter: Creon's story very closely mirrors that of the title character of 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.

* 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.

* PunishedForSympathy: Antigone's brother Polynices dies an enemy of the state, and Creon commands that Polynices's body shall not be buried. Antigone gives him a proper burial anyway, so she is sentenced to be [[BuriedAlive locked in a tomb]].

* 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 Haimon 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.
* 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 was to share Antigone's death sentence, but Creon refuses to condemn her and Antigone rebuffs her.

* AlasPoorVillain: At the end of the play, Creon remains alone and devastated, having lost his whole family, and pitifully tring to advocate that he just [[IDidWhatIHadToDo does what has to be done]] in front of his page who is to young to understand.
* 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.
* CardCarryingVillain: How Creon sees the whole Polynice's business.

* DramaticIrony: Purposefully invoked by Creon to make Antigone renounce her projects: both her brothers were scumbags and Creon's isn't even sure which one was buried with honors and which one was left to rot.

* GrowingUpSucks: At the end of the play, Creon's is left alone with his young page.

* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: Once he gets 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.

* MoodDissonance: Every scene with the Guards who are totally devoid of imagination or sense of tragic and just care about their daily business.

** Antigone's capture is told by the guards 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.

%%* HurtingHero: Antigone. See DeathSeeker above.

* 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 prophesy.

* PyrrhicVillainy: Creon succeeds in getting Antigone killed but loses his whole family in the process.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Creon is willing to do whatever it takes to keep the city afloat and ensure order after teh anarchy of the Labdacides.

%%* WellIntentionedExtremist: Creon.

* IAmSpartacus: When Antigone is accused of burying Polynices and is ready to take the punishment, Ismene says that ''she'' was responsible, and Creon nearly decides to have them both killed.

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' daughters, born of his incestuous relationship with his mother.

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 Polynices 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 Polynices' 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.

Unfortunately, she is caught, and Creon orders her 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 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 his mother, Eurydice, she stabbed herself too. The play ends with Creon leaving the stage a broken man.

** 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 histocal and modern audiences tend to agree with Antigone rather than with Creon.

** Ismene is an unsuccessful one. While she refused 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.

* 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.

* EvilUncle: Creon. However, unlike many other examples this is due to his treating Antigone like he would any other who broke the law.

* 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 relents from punishing Ismene when he realizes she hasn't done anything illegal.

* 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.
* PunishedForSympathy: Antigone's brother Polynices dies an enemy of the state, and Creon commands that Polynices' body shall not be buried. Antigone gives him a proper burial anyway, so she is sentenced to be [[BuriedAlive locked in a tomb]].

** 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.

** 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' body. When Ismene attempts to share in the guilt, Antigone rejects her, determined to die by herself.

* 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 was to share Antigone's death sentence, but Creon refuses to condemn her and Antigone rebuffs her.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* MustNotDieAVirgin: The night before she goes out to bury her brother, Antigone tries to get her fiancée 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.

* HonorBeforeReason: Antigone gives her brother a proper burial, even though she knows it will mean her death.

%%* AntiVillain: Creon is seen as this today.

* AnAesop: 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."

%%* TheDeterminator: Antigone.

%%* {{Tragedy}}

%%* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere

* 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 Polynices, and that her entire family is dead]]. Notice how eager she was to share Antigone's death sentence, but Creon refuses to condemn her and Antigone rebuffs her.