Antigone Flashcards
(9 cards)
Who wrote and put on Antigone?
Sophocles
Who is Creon?
Creon is the new ruler of Thebes after Antigone’s brothers die. He is the uncle of Antigone. He sets off the main conflict in Antigone by angering the gods and refusing to bury Antigone’s brother Polyneices because he was a traitor to Thebes.
(Sophocles, Antigone)
What is the central conflict between Creon and Antigone?
Their conflict was whether or not to pardon Antigone for secretly burying Polyneices against his order. If he let Antigone go, he would be putting his personal interests over the community and undermine his own legitimacy. Antigone may also have been legitimate in her actions due to divine law - the gods would be angered if he were not buried.
(Sophocles, Antigone)
What were the broad political questions of Antigone?
What makes political authority or the exercise of political power legitimate? When is it right to disobey a political ruler/law? What is the relationship between politics and justice?
(Sophocles, Antigone)
What is the background of Antigone?
It was a Greek drama put on for the society. It was the third of Sophocles’s Three Theban Plays. It was structured to encourage debate on moral issues amongst the community, so none of the characters represent Sophocles’s viewpoint.
(Sophocles, Antigone)
What is the central conflict between Creon and Haemon?
Haemon is Creon’s son and betrothed to Antigone. Haemon, seeing the anger of the people at Antigone’s execution, tells Creon not to kill her. They fight, but ultimately Creon imprisons her in a cave instead. When he changes his mind and goes to take her out, they find Antigone has committed suicide, after which Haemon commits suicide because he cannot reckon with his duty towards the king vs his love for her.
(Sophocles, Antigone)
What is the central conflict between Ismene and Antigone?
Ismene and Antigone are sisters. Antigone asks Ismene to help her bury Polyneices, but Ismene refuses and urges Antigone to follow Creon’s law. Antigone does it anyway, and Ismene later supports her actions, but by then Antigone rejects Ismene’s support and shuns her. Represents the double standards by Antigone for family - respecting and loving her dead brother but rejecting and hating her living sister.
(Sophocles, Antigone)
What is the familial obligation v. political/legal obligation in Antigone?
Antigone has a familial obligation towards Polyneices to make sure he has a safe trip to the afterlife by burying him, but this goes against her political/legal obligation to the king of Thebes, Creon. Notably, Antigone rejects her familial obligation to support Ismene despite them being sisters.
(Sophocles, Antigone)
What is the central conflict of obligation to justice v. obligation to human laws in Antigone?
The obligation to justice v. obligation to human laws comes from the battle of divine right and human control. The gods want her to bury Polyneices and threaten to hurt Thebes if he is not buried, but it is against Creon’s order to bury Polyneices and will result in harsh punishment which Antigone must reckon with. Ultimately, she chooses to follow divine law and bury him, despite the consequences.
(Sophocles, Antigone)
