antigone essay outline

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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Sophocles's Antigone . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Antigone: Introduction

Antigone: plot summary, antigone: detailed summary & analysis, antigone: themes, antigone: quotes, antigone: characters, antigone: symbols, antigone: theme wheel, brief biography of sophocles.

Antigone PDF

Historical Context of Antigone

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  • Full Title: Antigone
  • When Written: Circa 442 B.C.E.
  • Where Written: Athens, Greece
  • Literary Period: Classical
  • Genre: Tragic drama
  • Setting: The royal house of Thebes
  • Climax: The suicides of Antigone and Haemon
  • Antagonist: Creon

Extra Credit for Antigone

World War II Antigone: In 1944, when Paris was occupied by the Nazis, Jean Anouilh produced a version of Antigone in which the audience was able to identify Antigone with the French Resistance fighters and Creon with the occupying forces.

World War II Antigone 2: The German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht produced a version of the play in German, in 1948, which had even more obvious references to the Nazis. Brecht's version of the play begins in a Berlin air-raid shelter.

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IvyPanda . (2018) 'The “Antigone” by Sophocles and Its Historical Context'. 5 September.

IvyPanda . 2018. "The “Antigone” by Sophocles and Its Historical Context." September 5, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/antigone/.

1. IvyPanda . "The “Antigone” by Sophocles and Its Historical Context." September 5, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/antigone/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The “Antigone” by Sophocles and Its Historical Context." September 5, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/antigone/.

  • “Antigone” by Sophocles Is a Play Without a Hero
  • Creon and Antigone's Debate in Sophocles' Tragedy
  • Mythology: The Tragic Hero in Antigone
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  • Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs
  • "The Sound of a Voice" by Henry Hwang
  • The Function of the Soliloquies in Hamlet
  • Recurring Theme of Revenge in Hamlet

by Sophocles

Antigone essay questions.

Why does Ismene object to Antigone's plan to bury Polyneices?

Possible Answer:

Ismene believes the men who rule Thebes must not be disobeyed because men are stronger and their will must be respected.

How does Antigone demonstrate pre-feminist ethics?

Antigone believes that a woman's duty is not to the men who rule a domain, but rather to her own instincts and her own sense of right and wrong. She believes that the gods do not dictate through a ruler, but rather through individual beliefs.

When does Creon become apologetic for his actions?

Creon never apologizes for his actions. Instead, he simply orders Antigone to be freed because he knows that Teiresias is never wrong - and therefore that his own life is at risk. However, he never truly believes that his order to imprison her was the wrong course of action.

What is the seeming reason for Haemon's suicide? Does he kill himself only out of desperate love for the dead Antigone?

Haemon's suicide seems to have two motivations - first out of anguish over Antigone's death, but also because he is so furious with his father for having betrayed his trust. Early in the play, Haemon tells his father that as long as he offers wisdom, Haemon will follow him. But now it is clear that his father led him astray, and for that Haemon believes that one of them must die.

Why isn't Creon killed by the plague that befalls him at the play's end?

Creon's punishment is to suffer without a family, and to suffer the guilt of knowing he destroyed the lives of innocents to preserve obsolete traditions and a misconceived legacy of misogynist rule.

What is Creon's tragic flaw?

Creon's tragic flaw is that he believes that men have the right to interpret divine will and impose absolute power in their name. As a result, a simple belief - men cannot be wrong in the face of women - is elevated to law and thus leads to multiple (unnecessary) deaths.

Is Antigone ever apologetic for burying Polyneices?

Though Antigone bemoans her fate and believes death is a cruel and unnecessary punishment for burying Polyneices, she is never apologetic for actually covering his body. She believes until the end that she did the right thing.

Why does Antigone not allow Ismene to join her in her death sentence?

Antigone does not want her sister laying claim to an act that was solely hers for two reasons: one, because she wants her sister to remain alive, and two, because she wants her sister to feel the shame of abandoning her principles for the sake of staying alive and being subservient to men.

What is the role of the Chorus?

The Chorus is meant to reflect the conscience of Thebes - they are the elders who expect Creon to guide them towards wisdom. As they lead him astray, they begin to sense this and reflect their feelings in their choral poems.

What is unusual about the Watchman's speech?

Unlike the other characters, the Watchman's speech is written in more natural rhythms and dialect.

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Antigone Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Antigone is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

How does the play begin?What impact does this technique or beginning have on the audience?

In her very first speech, Antigone only briefly alludes to her and her sister's circumstances, but a Greek audience would have quickly filled in the gaps created by this 'in media res' device (meaning that Sophocles begins the story 'in the middle...

demonstration of pre feminist ethics in sophocles antigone

Antigone's gender has profound effects on the meaning of her actions. Creon himself says that the need to defeat her is all the more pressing because she is a woman. The freedom of Greek women was extremely limited; the rules and strictures placed...

Whose rights should assume priority - Creon's to legislate and punish, or Antigone's to bury her brother? Is there any way to resolve the competing claims of Creon and Antigone?

I like Antigone. Some critics see Antigone as too self-righteous, even alienating, but others claim her as a seminal feminist, determined to do what is right even in defiance of patriarchal law. Indeed, Antigone captured the public imagination...

Study Guide for Antigone

Antigone study guide contains a biography of Sophocles, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

  • About Antigone
  • Antigone Summary
  • Character List
  • Lines 001-241 Summary and Analysis

Essays for Antigone

Antigone essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Antigone by Sophocles.

  • Influence of Antigone on A Doll's House
  • The Use of Light and Dark Images in Antigone
  • Batman and Creon: Denied the Glory?
  • Relativist Justice in Antigone
  • Hubris in Antigone and Oedipus

Lesson Plan for Antigone

  • About the Author
  • Common Core Standards
  • Introduction to Antigone
  • Relationship to Other Books
  • Notes to the Teacher
  • Related Links
  • Antigone Bibliography

E-Text of Antigone

Antigone e-text contains the full text of Antigone by Sophocles.

Wikipedia Entries for Antigone

  • Introduction
  • Historical context
  • Notable features
  • Significance and interpretation

antigone essay outline

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Essays on Antigone

Antigone is a tragedy of the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, staged in 442 BC, while Antigone essay follows the events set in Thebes, ancient Egypt. Antigone essays depict how after Antigone’s brothers Eteocles and Polynices were killed by each other in war, King Creon rose to power and detected that Polyneices should not be buried as killer and traitor. Essays on Antigone analyze her actions as she disagreed because religion dictated that every person must be buried, otherwise their soul won't find peace. Essays show how she attempted to bury Polyneices and was walled up alive. She was the fiancée of Creon’s son, who killed himself out of grief, and his mother followed him. And so Creon lost his family because he defied divine law. Peruse Antigone essay samples below for details of this story. Our essay samples also include its complete analysis.

Authored before or in 441 BC at a time of national enthusiasm, exposing the dangers of absolute ruler also referred as a tyrant. In the play setting, this played by Creon, a king whom people could hardly give their opinion about him. Despite regretting his actions as the play ends,...

Words: 1226

Sophocle’s Antigone is a play of expansive and lasting well known appeal. However, it is ironical that most of the play’s admirers have hardly arrived at a concurrence regarding its interpretation. This paper seeks to discuss one character in the play, Creon, who becomes the new king of Thebes following...

Words: 1121

Sophocles play depicts a conflict between moral and political laws Sophocles play depicts a conflict that exists even in the day today. Essentially, this conflict is in regard to moral laws and political laws that are manmade. The characters in the play Antigone clash because of these laws since each of...

This is a Greek tragic play that explains the moral and ethical dilemmas. The play unearths the ethical dilemma existing between the proponents of the human law and the strict adherents of the law of gods. Since the two laws are different, one had to choose only one law to...

Words: 1207

In a social order, every man including those in power is limited to some boundaries beyond which one cannot cross without consequences. Antigone by Sophocles presents a society on the verge of self-destruction through sickness as a result of the transgressions of a king. The King of Thebes, Creon violates the...

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They tell Creon has vowed that no one shall bury him, that no one shall weep for him, but that his corpse shall lie in the fields,.... for carrion birds to dig while they hunt for food.” Creon, the king, has ceremoniously buried one of Antigone's brothers while refusing to...

Sophocles' tragedy "Antigone" Sophocles' tragedy "Antigone" was composed in or around 441 BC (Honig). The play is set in Thebes, where two heirs, Eteocles and Polynices, contend for Oedipus' kinship throne. Eteocles starts the war by sitting on the throne against Oedipus' orders. Both of them are killed on the battlefields....

Antigone and Othello: A Critical Analysis of Love Antigone is a tragedy play written around 442 BCE by Sophocles about the burial of Antigone's brother Polynices against the rule of Crone and the country, as well as the tragic effects of her act of civil disdain. Othello is a tragedy play...

Words: 1268

Antigone is a play with a theme of political tragedy and a heroic literary character that has been applied to modern society across a broad spectrum. Theatrical version is one of the best elements of plays in the literature intended to relive the incidents in the historical and cultural context...

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Antigone — Analysis Of Antigone’s Character Development

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Analysis of Antigone’s Character Development

  • Categories: Antigone Sophocles

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Words: 792 |

Published: Feb 8, 2022

Words: 792 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Works Cited

  • Sophocles. (2010). Antigone (P. B. Murray, Trans.). Oxford University Press.
  • Segal, C. (1986). Tragedy and Civilization: An Interpretation of Sophocles. University of Oklahoma Press.
  • Griffith, M. (1999). Sophocles' Antigone: A New Translation. Cambridge University Press.
  • Knox, B. M. W. (1998). The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy. University of California Press.
  • Winnington-Ingram, R. P. (1980). Sophocles: An Interpretation. Cambridge University Press.
  • Goldhill, S. (2010). Sophocles and the Language of Tragedy. Oxford University Press.
  • Derrida, J. (2001). The Law of Genre. In Acts of Literature (pp. 221-252). Routledge.
  • Rocco, C. (2016). Tragedy, Identity, and History: The Theoretical Implications of "Antigone". In The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy (pp. 182-202). Cambridge University Press.
  • Segal, C. (2001). Antigone's Anarchic Struggle. The Classical World, 95(3), 225-234.
  • Whitlock, R. (2014). Tragic Wisdom and Beyond: Studies in Sophoclean Thought and Literature. De Gruyter.

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Antigone Essay Examples

Who is the tragic hero of sophocles' drama "antigone".

Antigone, a play written by Sophocles, tells the story of a woman named Antigone who defies the orders of her uncle, the king, and buries her brother. She believes it is her moral duty to honor her brother's memory and refuses to let him go...

The Review of the Play 'Antigone Tragic Hero'

This is Antigone Tragic Hero essay where I will try to share my arguments why she is a tragic hero. In the book Antigone there is Polyneices and Eteocles, two brothers leading opposite sides in Thebes' civil war, have both been killed in battle. They...

Stories of Gilgamesh and Antigone and the Concept of Justice

Individuals in the past have valued their unique viewpoint of justice. Justice is a word where almost every person has a different interpretation. Even though justice has a broad list of definitions, it can be defined. Justice is characterized as a standard based on ethical,...

Downfall of Antigone

Most people view a tragic hero as “the bad guy.” Has anyone ever thought about why a tragic hero is called a tragic hero? According to Aristotle, “A man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall” (Tragic Hero...

The Aspects of Human Nature in Characters in Antigone

What is human nature? According to the dictionary, human nature is “the general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans.” It is the total of our species identity, all the characteristics that make humans uniquely human. Throughout the...

The Main Theme of the Play Antigone

The main theme of the play Antigone is the conflict between Antigone and Creon pertaining to where power lies, divine law or the king’s law. Antigone believes that her dead brother is no longer under the authority of Creon but the Gods, so it is...

Gender Roles and Feminism in Lysistrata and Antigone

Ancient Greece was undoubtedly a patriarchal society. Women had severely limited rights compared to men, as they were not permitted to vote, own land, inherit, or even receive an education. Spartan women were known to have more rights than Athenian women, but regardless of this,...

Challenges Gender Stereotypes: "Antigone" by Sophocles

Women are housewives; men are the breadwinners. Even though these ideas are not relevant today, they existed during the time of the play “Antigone.” In ancient Greece, women were seen as property. Men were seen as the head of the house. The roles of men...

Inevitability of Fate - "Antigone" by Sophocles

Sophocles’ Antigone, written in 441 B.C.E., is over 2000 years old and is still a common element in an average English class reading list. It is a story about a woman who wants to cause no trouble, but will also stop at nothing to honor...

Jealousy in Antigone, the Tale of Genji, and the 1001 Nights

The authors of literary works present their ideas, thoughts, and philosophical ideas, which are referred to as themes. The authors of Antigone, The Tale of Genji, and the Excerpts from the 1001 Nights present one common theme of jealousy in their works. This essay presents...

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About Antigone

Antigone, Ismene, Creon, Eurydice, Haemon, Tiresias, Sentry, Leader of the Chorus

Fate and Free Will. A central theme of Antigone is the tension between individual action and fate. Rules and Order. Antigone contrasts two types of law and justice: divine or religious law on one hand, and the law of men and states on the other. Determination, Power, women and femininity, mortality.

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