Antigone

All those old Greek plays seem to me to be nothing but tragedies that were spurred in the minds of great thinkers whose thoughts were themselves tragic cycles. Antigone by Sophocles did grasp my sympathies for the tragic events that occured to the characters.



Antigone and her sister Ismene have endured the loss of their parents as well as their two brothers. Creon, the king of Thebes, now refuses to bury one of their brothers, Polyneices, because he had fought in a battle against Thebes. When a body was not buried then, people believed this caused the corpse's spirit to roam the earth for a hundred years.



Antigone grieved for her dead brother and attempted twice to bury him but was caught. Creon showed no sympathy for Antigone and decided to punish her. From this point on, the situation only worsens and many die, leaving Creon to suffer guilt.



Sophocles' writing style was not as difficult to understand as some other styles by playwrights then. Though not exactly very inspiring, moving or great, the play was bearable to read for the sake of finding out what would happen to Antigone.



I don't recommend this play to anyone except those forced to read the story because I thought the book was overall very dull. Although, the play may prove itself much better when actually performed as Sophocles intended.