Jan 8, 2009

Antigone | Summary

Prologue
At the play opens, the chorus offers brief introductions to the play’s main characters: the beautiful Ismene; her sister Antigone; Antigone’s lover and cousin Haemon; and Ismene’s uncle and Haemon’s father, Creon.

The chorus also chronicles the fight between Antigone’s brothers, Eteocles and Polynices—a momentous battle that occurred before the play’s opening— over control of the region of Thebes. After the brothers killed each other, Creon assumed control of the throne. To restore order, he has ordered a grand funeral for one brother, Eteocles. Considered...