71 pages 2 hours read

Sophocles

Antigone

Fiction | Play | Adult

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Introduction

Antigone

  • Genre: Fiction; Play; Greek Tragedy
  • Originally Published: 441 BCE
  • Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
  • Structure/Length: 8 scenes and 6 odes; approx. 80-100 pages; approx. 1 hour, 30 minutes on audio
  • Protagonist and Central Conflict: Antigone, the teenage daughter of Oedipus and the princess of Thebes, decides to give her recently deceased brother Polyneikes a proper burial. This goes against King Kreon’s ruling, and as a result, Antigone is sentenced to death.
  • Potential Sensitivity Issues: Violence; murder

Sophocles, Author

  • Bio: Born circa 496 BCE in Colonus, Athens, Greece; died in 406 BCE; ancient Greek tragedian who wrote over 120 plays, of which seven fully survive; influenced modern drama and playwriting by incorporating painted scenery and introducing a third speaking character in his plays
  • Other Works: Oedipus Rex (429 BC); Philoctetes (409 BC); Oedipus at Colonus (406 BC)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

  • Fate and its Inescapability
  • God and Man’s Law
  • Youth and Age

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

  • Develop an understanding of cultural and historical contexts regarding burial rites in ancient cultures that impact the protagonist’s development as a tragic hero.
  • Study short paired texts and other resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Fate and its Inescapability, God and Man’s Law and Youth and Age.

Related Titles

By Sophocles