GradeSaver (tm) ClassicNotes Antigone: Study Guide
Home : Antigone : Study Guide

Antigone Study Guide

by Sophocles

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

Polyneices and Eteocles, two brothers leading opposite sides in Thebes' civil war, have both been killed in battle. Creon, the new ruler of Thebes, has declared that Eteocles will be honored and Polyneices disgraced. The rebel brother's body will not be sanctified by holy rites, and will lay unburied to become the food of carrion animals. Antigone and Ismene are the sisters of the dead brothers, and they are now the last children of the ill-fated Oedipus. In the opening of the play, Antigone brings Ismene outside the city gates late at night for a secret meeting: Antigone wants to bury Polyneices' body, in defiance of Creon's edict. Ismene refuses to help her, fearing the death penalty, but she is unable to dissuade Antigone from going to…

Read the full Antigone Summary

Antigone Essays and Related Content

 

Posted By joejoe k #229449 at Feb 08, 2012 7:41 PM

what does Creon assume is the motive behind Tiresias' prophacies?

In Scene 5, Creon Assumes Something That Is The Motive Behind Teiresias' Prophecies

Antigone | Answers: 2

 

Posted By jalon c #228879 at Feb 06, 2012 1:45 PM

 

Posted By ash s #195337 at Jan 11, 2012 9:01 PM

What is your opinion?

The German philosopher Hegel stated that Antigone represents the tragic collision of right against right, with both sieds equally justified. Discuss the moral positions of Antigone and Creon, which validate Hegel's assessment of this tragedy. Do you agree with this interpretation, or do you see their conflict as a clear case of good vs. evil?

Antigone | Answers: 4