Brett Murphy
Introduction to Theatre
Meghan Stahl
Antigone Analysis
1. Antigone thinks it is necessary to bury Polyneices first and foremost because it is only fair.
Eteocles, brother of Antigone, was buried by Kreon With military honors and was given a
soldiers funeral, (110, l. 16). Polyneices, who Antigone says fought as bravely and died as
miserably as Eteocles (110, l. 18), will not be given the same rights, however, because
Kreon has decreed it so since Polyneices broke his exile to come back with fire and sword
against his native city and the shrines of his fathers gods, (112, l. 42-44). Furthermore,
Antigone feels in her heart that she must bury Polyneices because he is also her brother,
noting to Ismene exactly that: I will bury the brother I love, (110, l. 65). Antigone bravely
justifies her actions to Kreon by saying: It was not Gods proclamation. That final
Justice/That rules the world below makes no such law./Your edict, King, was strong,/But all
your strength is weakness itself against/The immortal unrecorded laws of God, (115-116, l.
57-61). In short, Antigone disobeyed the laws of her father, the King, so that she may obey
the laws of the gods which are more powerful.
2. I believe the function of the chorus in Antigone is to provide exposition and backstory.
The very first time the chorus speaks I think is the best example. Antigone has just finished
telling Ismene of her plans to bury Polyneices. From this conversation, the audience is only
given a few hints at what actually happened between Eteocles and Polyneices to prompt such
hatred from Kreon, and the chorus does the job of filling us in, telling us the full story of the
battle between the two brothers. Without this explanation, we could not fully understand the
conflict and therefore we would never know who is really in the right. This is why I think the
chorus is important to the play as a whole, because it helps us to see the bigger picture of the
play, like showing us the picture of what the puzzle is supposed to look like when completed.
At first, the chorus is accepting of Kreons decree, saying plainly: If that is your will,
Kreon son of Menoikeus,/You have the right to enforce it: we are yours, (112, l. 57-58). As
the play goes on, however, the chorus seems to become less and less supportive of Kreon,
especially once they learn that Antigone is the one who would be punished for violating his
decree. The choragos says, 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,
(121, l. 1-4). No doubt, the chorus has changed its mind about supporting Kreon, and by the
end, after hearing Teiresias prophecy, the choragos urges Kreon to take back his advice:
free Antigone from her vault/And build a tomb for the body of Polyneices, (123, l. 96-97)
effectively telling Kreon that his actions were wrong.
3. Kreons hamartia is his decree that Polyneices may not be given a proper burial. In short,
because of Kreons hamartia, his entire family dies. Antigone commits suicide in her prison,
as do Haimon and Eurydice. By the end of the play, Kreon has changed completely. Where at
first he was proud and boastful and asserted his power as king, in the end he was humbled
and became a god-fearing man. He even says, Surely a god/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, (125, l. 94-97). He realizes that his actions against the will of the gods have
resulted in this horrific loss of family and he wants nothing more than to die with them.
4. I think Sophocles puts it best when the choragos says: There is no happiness where there is
no wisdom;/No wisdom but in submission to the gods./Big words are always punished,/And
proud men in old age learn to be wise, (126, l. 139-142). I think the moral of the story is to
not let power go to your head. Kreon abused his power and tried to control things for the
benefit of himself. Thus, I think Sophocles wants an audience member to leave with the idea
that there are some things that one simply cannot control, and when one does try it blows up
in ones face. Had Kreon simply allowed for Polyneices to be buried, he would not have lost
his entire family. Another moral/something the audience could take away is that maybe it is
the idea of forgive and forget. One parallel I can think of is Kreon to ISIS. ISIS has
established itself as an influential, problematic, and controlling figure and we can see clearly
what happens as its power grows: things are literally blowing up because of it. If we didnt
already realize, we can tell from Kreon that the power ISIS has needs to be taken away, or
else it is bad news for everybody involved (and thats everybody).
