نمايشنامه هاي انگليسي Antigone

[shirin71]

CONFLICT
Protagonist
Antigone is the resolute and strong-willed daughter of King Oedipus. She is determined to give her brother, Polynices, a decent burial. She consciously risks her life with this action, which violates both Creon’s unjust decree, as well as the ancient custom of denying burial to enemies of the state. She obeys only the laws of the gods and the dictates of familial loyalty and social decency.
Antagonist
King Creon regards only the requirement of political expediency. Soon after the civil strife between Eteocles and Polynices ends in their deaths, he announces a decree denying Polynices’ burial. He is unrelenting in his stance, as he wants Thebans to know that he is a firm ruler. Thus he sentences his own niece, Antigone, to death for defying his law

[shirin71]

Climax
The climax of the play occurs during the encounter between Creon and Antigone. It is a scene marked by dramatic contrast. Here one can see the incompatibility between Creon’s world of physical power (which he takes to be absolute) and the world of spiritual, idealistic strength which Antigone represents. Creon’s vanity is hurt and his anger aroused by the stubborn disobedience of one whom he considers to be merely a mad woman. When he realizes he cannot break or bend her will, he resolves to send her to her doom.
Outcome
The resolution of the play begins when the Chorus succeeds in making Creon see the injustice of his recent decisions. He orders the burial of Polynices’ body and rushes to Antigone’s cave, only to find that she has hanged herself. The deaths of Haemon and Eurydice soon ensue, and at end of the play, Creon is left alone in his wretchedness. He has paid a heavy price for his folly and rashness. The tragedy lies in the fact that realization has come to late for Creon

[shirin71]

SHORT PLOT SUMMARY (Synopsis)
Antigone’s brothers, Polynices and Eteocles, had fought a battle for the throne of Thebes. At the beginning of the play, they are both dead, having killed each other in combat. Creon, the new monarch, has decided to honor the memory of the younger brother, Eteocles, by giving him a state funeral. During his lifetime Eteocles had broken his pact with Polynices, according to which the two brothers had agreed to take turns at ruling Thebes. This enraged Polynices, who brought an army of Argives to fight against Eteocles and the Thebans. Creon had supported Eteocles in this dispute. After the civil war has ended, Creon brands Polynices a “traitor” and proclaims that anyone who attempts to bury Polynices’ body will have to face death.
Antigone resolves to defy Creon’s edict, and in the opening scene (or Prologus) she asks her sister, Ismene, to join her in the act of burying Polynices. Ismene refuses to help Antigone because she does not wish to violate Creon’s order

[shirin71]

Antigone’s strong respect for family bonds and divine laws prompt her to conduct funeral rites for her brother. She is caught by Creon’s watchman and brought before the enraged king. At her trial, Antigone pleads that her defiant act is in accordance with the overriding laws of the gods.
Creon is reluctant to accept this justification and is unrelenting in his harsh stance as he condemns Antigone to be immured (buried alive) in a cave. Ismene comes forward to claim a share in Antigone’s guilt and in the penalty that goes with the crime. Creon dismisses her pleas as he considers her present behavior to be a temporary mental abnormality, although he had earlier accused her of being Antigone’s partner in crime.

[shirin71]

Antigone’s strong respect for family bonds and divine laws prompt her to conduct funeral rites for her brother. She is caught by Creon’s watchman and brought before the enraged king. At her trial, Antigone pleads that her defiant act is in accordance with the overriding laws of the gods.
Creon is reluctant to accept this justification and is unrelenting in his harsh stance as he condemns Antigone to be immured (buried alive) in a cave. Ismene comes forward to claim a share in Antigone’s guilt and in the penalty that goes with the crime. Creon dismisses her pleas as he considers her present behavior to be a temporary mental abnormality, although he had earlier accused her of being Antigone’s partner in crime

[shirin71]

Then Creon’s son, Haemon, pleads vainly with his father to forgive Antigone. The blind prophet, Tiresias, also threatens Creon with the catastrophic consequences of defying all divine laws in refusing burial to Polynices. Finally, the Chorus begs Creon to relent and release Antigone.
At last Creon is moved, and he goes to the cave to find Haemon clasping the dead Antigone, who has hanged herself. In blind fury, Haemon charges with his sword towards his father, but misses him and then kills himself. Filled with remorse, Creon returns to his palace to find that his wife, Eurydice, has already received the tragic news of the two deaths from a messenger. In deep despair, Eurydice takes her own life, leaving Creon to grieve alone

[shirin71]

THEMES
Major Themes
Sophocles’ plays often deal with the specific struggle of a strong- willed individual against fate. In Antigone he depicts a resolute and heroic female protagonist, who pits her individual free will against the intractable forces of fate and against the irrational and unjust laws of tyrannical men, like Creon. Basically, the play centers on the conflict between the steadfast protagonist and an equally resolute antagonist.
Sophocles’ two main characters are placed in peculiar circumstances that force them to act the way they do. There are fatal consequences for themselves and others. Their very personalities seem to initiate the play’s central action, and a conflict of interests soon erupts between these two people of almost equal heroic stature. One is committed to serving the public, and the other is led by the demands of her conscience

[shirin71]

Minor Themes
As the central conflict unfolds, Sophocles makes it known that both Creon’s and Antigone’s firm stances stem from the two great imperatives that underlie all political action: the needs of the individual versus the rights of the state. Creon is constrained to act the way he does for reasons of political expediency. He is a newly appointed ruler who has to rescue his people from the chaotic state of civil war and anarchy brought on by the bitter rivalry of Polynices and Eteocles. Creon is forced to formulate unpleasant laws so that political trouble-makers will think twice before attempting to start another revolt.
Yet Creon’s noble intentions in trying to bring stability back to Thebes ironically backfires on him. Antigone’s protest against Creon’s decree merely underscores the fundamental truth that conscience is very often above the law

[shirin71]

MOOD
The action takes place in the period of uneasy calm following the civil war in Thebes. In this time of tentative peace, Creon’s new edict introduces a note of harsh repression and punitive malevolence. A mood of uncertainty prevails in Thebes. The Chorus reacts typically to the flux of public events in these disturbed times. At times, the singers of the Chorus express a kind of for Antigone’s unhappy situation; there are other moments when they display silent sympathy for Creon.
As the great debate between the two central figures advances, the elements of foreboding and impending doom predominate in the atmosphere. Creon’s mounting rage is matched by Antigone’s willful obstinacy. Finally, as the catastrophe unfolds, a somber mood prevails as one tragic death follows another. From the pity and terror the audience feels at the deaths of Antigone, Haemon and Eurydice, it is moved at the play’s end to sympathize with Creon in his silent, solitary grief. The pathos of human suffering against the tragic backdrop of death leaves a final impression of catharsis, an emptying of all emotion after the catastrophic storm. As John Milton says at the close of his Samson Agonistes, the audience here experiences the same “calm of mind, all passions spent

[shirin71]

BACKGROUND INFORMATION - BIOGRAPHY
Author Information
Life of Sophocles (circa 496-406 B.C.)
Sophocles was chronologically the second of the trinity of great Greek tragedians, the other two being Aeschylus and Euripides. He was born at Colonus, a pleasant rural suburb of Athens, (probably in 496 B.C.) and died there, ninety years later. His father, Sophilius, manufactured armor for a living.
As a boy, Sophocles won prizes for both wrestling and music. In his teens, he is reputed to have led the singing of a lyrical paean to celebrate the famous Greek victory over the Persians at Salamis (480 B.C.). He produced his first set of plays in 468 B.C., and won the first prize although he was competing with his own mentor, Aeschylus