Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Antigone ( ; ) is a Theban princess and a character in several ancient Greek tragedies. She is the daughter of

Oedipus Oedipus (, ; "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family. ...

, king of Thebes; her mother/grandmother is either

Jocasta In Greek mythology, Jocasta (), also rendered as Iocaste ( ) and EpicasteHomer, ''Odyssey'', Vol. XI11.271/ref> (; ), was Queen of Thebes through her marriages to Laius and her son, Oedipus. She is best known for her role in the myths surroundi ...

or, in another variation of the myth,

Euryganeia In Greek mythology, Euryganeia (, ''Eurygáneia'') was a Theban queen. Family Euryganeia was either a daughter of Hyperphas, and thus, sister to Euryanassa. In some sources, she was described as Jocasta's sister, which would make her Oedipus' ...

. She is a sister of

Polynices In Greek mythology, Polynices (also Polyneices) (; ) was the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia and the older brother of Eteocles. When Oedipus was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, Oedipus was expelled ...

Eteocles In Greek mythology, Eteocles (; ) was a king of Ancient Thebes (Boeotia), Thebes, the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia. Oedipus killed his father Laius and married his mother without knowing his relationship to either. When the ...

, and

Ismene In Greek mythology, Ismene (; ) is a Theban princess. She is the daughter and half-sister of Oedipus, king of Thebes, daughter and granddaughter of Jocasta, and sister of Antigone, Eteocles, and Polynices. She appears in several tragic pl ...

.Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). The meaning of the name is, as in the case of the masculine equivalent

Antigonus Antigonus or Antigonos (), a Greek name meaning "comparable to his father" or "worthy of his father", may refer to: Rulers * Three Macedonian kings of the Antigonid dynasty that succeeded Alexander the Great: ** Antigonus I Monophthalmus (382� ...

, "in place of one's parents" or "worthy of one's parents". Antigone appears in the three 5th century BC tragic plays written by

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

, known collectively as the three

Theban plays Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

, being the protagonist of the eponymous tragedy ''Antigone''. She makes a brief appearance at the end of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

' ''

Seven against Thebes ''Seven Against Thebes'' (, ''Hepta epi Thēbas''; ) is the third play in an Oedipus-themed trilogy produced by Aeschylus in 467 BC. The trilogy is sometimes referred to as the ''Oedipodea''. It concerns the battle between an Argive army, led by ...

'', while her story was also the subject of

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

' now lost play with the

same name ''Same Name'' is an American reality television series in which an average person swaps lives with a celebrity of the same first and last name. It premiered on July 24, 2011 on CBS. The series received low ratings, and CBS pulled it after four-ep ...

In Sophocles

The story of Antigone was addressed by the fifth-century BC Greek playwright

in his Theban plays:

''Oedipus Rex''

Antigone and her sister

are seen at the end of ''

Oedipus Rex ''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' (, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. While some scholars have argued that the play was first performed , this is highly uncertain. Originally, to ...

'' as Oedipus laments the "shame" and "sorrow" he is leaving his daughters to. He then begs Creon to watch over them, but in his grief reaches to take them with him as he is led away. Creon prevents him from taking the girls out of the city with him. Neither of them is named in the play.

''Oedipus at Colonus''

Antigone serves as her father's guide in ''

Oedipus at Colonus ''Oedipus at Colonus'' (also ''Oedipus Coloneus''; , ''Oidipous epi Kolōnō'') is the second of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson ...

'', as she leads him into the city where the play takes place. Antigone resembles her father in her stubbornness and doomed existence. She stays with her father for most of the play, until she is taken away by Creon in an attempt to blackmail Oedipus into returning to Thebes. However,

Theseus Theseus (, ; ) was a divine hero in Greek mythology, famous for slaying the Minotaur. The myths surrounding Theseus, his journeys, exploits, and friends, have provided material for storytelling throughout the ages. Theseus is sometimes desc ...

defends Oedipus and rescues both Antigone and her sister who was also taken prisoner. At the end of the play, both Antigone and her sister mourn the death of their father. Theseus offers them the comfort of knowing that Oedipus has received a proper burial, but by his wishes, they cannot go to the site. Antigone then decides to return to Thebes.

''Antigone''

In her own namesake play, Antigone attempts to secure a respectable burial for her brother

. Oedipus's sons,

and Polynices, had shared rule jointly until they quarreled, and Eteocles expelled his brother. In Sophocles' account, the two brothers agreed to alternate rule each year, but Eteocles decided not to share power with his brother after his tenure expired. Polynices left the kingdom, gathered an army and attacked the city of Thebes in the war of the

. Both brothers were killed in the battle. King Creon, who has ascended to the throne of Thebes after the death of the brothers, decrees that Polynices is not to be buried or even mourned, on pain of death by stoning. Antigone, Polynices' sister, defies the king's order and is caught. Antigone is brought before Creon, and admits that she knew of Creon's law forbidding mourning for Polynices but chose to break it, claiming the superiority of divine over human law, and she defies Creon's cruelty with courage, passion, and determination. Creon orders Antigone buried alive in a tomb. Although Creon has a change of heart, due to a visit from soothsayer

Tiresias In Greek mythology, Tiresias (; ) was a blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes, Greece, Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes (mythology), Everes and the nymph ...

, and tries to release Antigone, he finds she has hanged herself. Creon's son

Haemon In Greek mythology, Haemon or Haimon (Ancient Greek: Αἵμων, ''Haimon'' "bloody"; ''gen''.: Αἵμωνος) was the son of Creon and Eurydice, and thus brother of Menoeceus ( Megareus), Lycomedes, Megara, Pyrrha and Henioche. The various ...

, who was engaged to Antigone, kills himself with a knife, and his mother Queen

Eurydice Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice', classical pronunciation: ) was a character in Greek mythology and the wife of Orpheus, whom Orpheus tried to bring back from the dead with his enchanting music. Etymology Several ...

also kills herself in despair over her son's death. She had been forced to weave throughout the entire story, and her death alludes to

The Fates The Fates are a common motif in European polytheism, most frequently represented as a trio of goddesses. The Fates shape the destiny of each human, often expressed in textile metaphors such as spinning fibers into yarn, or weaving threads on a ...

. By her death Antigone ends up destroying the household of her adversary, Creon.

Other representations

In the oldest version of the story, the burial of Polynices takes place during Oedipus' reign in Thebes, before Oedipus marries his mother, Jocasta. However, in other versions such as

tragedies A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsis, or a "pain ...

'' and ''

Antigone ANTIGONE (Algorithms for coNTinuous / Integer Global Optimization of Nonlinear Equations), is a deterministic global optimization solver for general Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs (MINLP). History ANTIGONE is an evolution of GloMIQO, a global ...

'', it occurs in the years after the banishment and death of Oedipus and Antigone's struggles against Creon.

''Seven Against Thebes''

Antigone appears briefly in Aeschylus' ''

Seven Against Thebes ''Seven Against Thebes'' (, ''Hepta epi Thēbas''; ) is the third play in an Oedipus-themed trilogy produced by Aeschylus in 467 BC. The trilogy is sometimes referred to as the ''Oedipodea''. It concerns the battle between an Argive army, led by ...

.''

Euripides's Lost Play

The dramatist

also wrote a play called ''

'', which is lost, but some of the text was preserved by later writers and in passages in his ''

Phoenissae ''The Phoenician Women'' (, ''Phoinissai'') is a tragedy by Euripides, based on the same story as Aeschylus' play ''Seven Against Thebes''. It was presented along with the tragedies '' Hypsipyle'' and '' Antiope.'' With this trilogy, Euripides wo ...

''. In Euripides, the calamity is averted by the intercession of

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

and is followed by the marriage of Antigone and Hæmon. Antigone also plays a role in the Phoenissae.

Appearances Elsewhere

Different elements of the legend appear in other places. The 4th century tragedian

Astydamas Astydamas (), or sometimes Astydamas the Younger or Astydamas Minor, was a tragic poet of ancient Greece, who lived at Athens and was by far the most celebrated and prolific dramatist of the 4th century BCE. He was active from roughly 373 BCE to ...

wrote a play about Antigone that is now lost. A description of an ancient painting by

Philostratus Philostratus or Lucius Flavius Philostratus (; ; 170s – 240s AD), called "the Athenian", was a Greek sophist of the Roman imperial period. His father was a minor sophist of the same name. He flourished during the reign of Septimius Severus ...

('' Imagines'' ii. 29) refers to Antigone placing the body of Polynices on the

funeral pyre A pyre (; ), also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the pyre, which is then set on fire. In discussi ...

, and this is also depicted on a

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:σάρξ, σάρξ ...

in the

Villa Doria Pamphili The Villa Doria Pamphili is a seventeenth-century villa with what is today the largest landscaped public park in Rome, Italy. It is located in the quarter of Monteverde, on the '' Gianicolo'' (or the Roman Janiculum), just outside the Porta San ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. And in Hyginus's version of the legend, apparently founded on a tragedy by a follower of Euripides, Antigone, on being handed over by Creon to her lover Hæmon to be slain, is secretly carried off by him and concealed in a shepherd's hut, where she bears him a son,

Maeon In Greek mythology, the name Maeon or Maion () may refer to: *Maeon of Thebes, son of Haemon, endowed with prophetic abilities. He was one of the fifty men that laid an ambush against Tydeus when he came to Thebes as the messenger of the Seven ag ...

. When the boy grows up, he attends some funeral games at Thebes, and is recognized by the mark of a dragon on his body. This leads to the discovery that Antigone is still alive. The demi-god

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

then intercedes and unsuccessfully pleads with Creon to forgive Hæmon. Hæmon then kills Antigone and himself. The intercession by Heracles is also represented on a painted vase (circa 380–300 BC).

Genealogy

Gallery

File:Oedipe et Antigone, Johann Peter Krafft (1809).png, ''Oedipe et Antigone'' by Johann Peter Krafft, 1809 File:Oedipus and Antigone by Franz Dietrich.jpg, ''Oedipus and Antigon'' by Franz Dietrich File:Oedipus and Antigone (Eckersberg).jpg, ''Oedipus and Antigone'' by C. W. Eckersberg (1812) File:Per Gabriel Wickenberg - Oedipus och Antigone.jpg, ''Oedipus and Antigone'' by Per Wickenberg (1833) File:Ribelles-edipo y antigona.JPG, ''Edipo y Antigona'' by

José Ribelles José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

(circa 1800) File:The Plague of Thebes.jpg, ''Oedipus and Antigone'' by

Charles Jalabert Charles François Jalabert (1819–1901) was a French painter in the academic style. He rapidly gained renown as an artist among Parisian high society in the second half of the 19th century and attended the salon of Madame Sabatier. Some of h ...

(1842) File:Emil Teschendorff - King Oedipus.jpg, ''Oedipus and Antigon'' File:Antoni Brodowski - Oedipus and Antigone - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Oedipus and Antigon'' by

Antoni Brodowski Antoni Stanisław Brodowski (26 December 1784, Warsaw – 31 March 1832, Warsaw) was a Polish painter in the Classical style. Biography According to the wishes expressed in his father's will, he began by studying mathematics.Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums Collection

Cultural references

In modern times, Antigone is invoked as a symbol of heroism. The character of 'Ani' in ''

True Detective ''True Detective'' is an American Anthology series, anthology Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Nic Pizzolatto for the premium cable network HBO. The series premiered on January 12, 2014, and ...

'' season 2 is named after Antigone.

Adaptations

The story of Antigone has been a popular subject for books, plays, and other works, including: * ''

'', one of the three extant Theban plays by

(497 BC406 BC), the most famous adaptation * ''

'', a play by

(c. 480406 BC) which is now lost except for some fragments * ''Antigone'' (1631)'','' a play by

Thomas May Thomas May (1594/95 – 13 November 1650) was an English poet, dramatist and historian of the Renaissance era. Early life and career until 1630 May was born in Mayfield, Sussex, the son of Sir Thomas May, a minor courtier. He matriculated a ...

* '' Antigona'', opera by

Tommaso Traetta Tommaso Michele Francesco Saverio Traetta (30 March 1727 – 6 April 1779), was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic r ...

, libretto by

Marco Coltellini Marco Coltellini (24 May 1724, in Montepulciano – November 1777, in Saint Petersburg) was an Italian opera tenor, libretto, librettist and Printer (publisher), printer. Biography Coltellini embarked on a career in the Church, but had to leav ...

(1772) * '' Antigona'', opera by

Josef Mysliveček Josef Mysliveček (9 March 1737 – 4 February 1781) was a Czech composer who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music. Mysliveček provided his younger friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with significant com ...

, libretto by Gaetano Roccaforte (1774) * ''

'' (1841), settings of the choruses by

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

as incidental music for a performance of Johann Jakob Christian Donner's translation of ''Sophocles'' * ''Antigone'', opera by

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...

(1892–1955), libretto by

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

(1889–1963) * ''

Antigonae ''Antigonae'' (''Antigone''), written by Carl Orff, was first presented on 9 August 1949 under the direction of Ferenc Fricsay in the Felsenreitschule, Salzburg, Austria, as part of the Salzburg Festival. Antigonae is in Orff's words a "musical se ...

'' (Salzburg 1949), opera by

Carl Orff Carl Heinrich Maria Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, who composed the cantata ''Carmina Burana (Orff), Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Orff Schulwerk, Schulwerk were influential for ...

(1895–1982) * ''

'' (1944), French adaptation of Sophocles's play by

Jean Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; ; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist and screenwriter whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ...

(1910–1987) performed during the Nazi occupation of Paris * " Antigone-Legend", for soprano and piano (text by

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

), by

Frederic Rzewski Frederic Anthony Rzewski ( ; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. From 1977 up to his eventual death, he lived mainly in Be ...

(1938–2021) and presented as a play in two slightly different versions in 1948 and 1951 * ''Αντιγόνη'' (''

''), ballet by

Mikis Theodorakis Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( ; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021) was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works. He scored for the films '' Zorba the Greek'' (1964), '' Z'' (1969), and '' Serpico'' (1973). He was a three-ti ...

(b. 1925), 1959 * ''Αντιγόνη'' (''

''), opera by

(b. 1925), 1995–96 * ''

'' (1990/1991), opera by Ton de Leeuw (b. 1926) * ''Antígona Furiosa'' (Furious Antigone), play by

Griselda Gambaro Griselda Gambaro (born 24 July 1928) is an Argentine writer, whose novels, plays, short stories, story tales, essays and novels for teenagers often concern the political violence in her home country that would develop into the Dirty War. One recu ...

(b. 1928) * '' Another Antigone'', play by

A. R. Gurney Albert Ramsdell Gurney Jr. (November 1, 1930 – June 13, 2017) (sometimes credited as Pete Gurney) was an American playwright, novelist and academic. Gurney is known for plays including ''The Dining Room'' (1982), '' Sweet Sue'' (1986/7), '' T ...

(b. 1930) * ''Antígona'', play by

Salvador Espriu Salvador Espriu i Castelló (; 10 July 1913 – 22 February 1985) was a Catalan poet from Spain. Biography Espriu was born in Santa Coloma de Farners, Catalonia, Spain. He was the son of an attorney. He spent his childhood between his home t ...

(1939) * "Antigone", a short story by Sheila Watson (1959) * ''Tegonni, An African Antigone'' by

Femi Osofisan Babafemi Adeyemi Osofisan (born June 16, 1946), known as Femi Osofisan or F.O., is a Nigerian writer noted for his critique of societal problems and his use of African traditional performances and surrealism in some of his plays. A frequent theme ...

(b. 1946) * ''Antigone'', adaptation of Sophocles's play by Peruvian poet José Watanabe (b. 1946) * ''Antigone'', opera by

Mark Alburger Mark Alburger (born April 2, 1957 in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania; died June 20, 2023 in Vacaville, California) was a San Francisco Bay area composer and conductor. He was the founder and music director of the San Francisco Composer ...

(b. 1957) * ''

'' (1961), a film directed by

Yorgos Javellas George Tzavellas, also rendered Giorgos Tzavellas, Yiorgos Tzavellas, or Yorgos Javellas (, 1916, Athens – October 18, 1976), was a Greece, Greek film director, screenwriter, and playwright. His filmmaking was particularly influential, with crit ...

, starring

Irene Papas Irene Papas or Irene Pappas (, ; born Eirini Lelekou (); 3 September 1929 – 14 September 2022) was a Greek actress and singer who starred in over 70 films in a career spanning more than 50 years. She gained international recognition through ...

. * ''La tumba de Antígona'' (1967), philosophy work in poetry (razón poética) by María Zambrano (1904–1991) * '' The Burial at Thebes'' (2004), by

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

, adapted into a 2008 opera with music by Dominique Le Gendre * ''Antigone'', play by

Mac Wellman John McDowell Wellman (born March 7, 1945), is an American playwright, author, and poet.Mac Wellman pape ...

* ''Antígona Vélez'' (1950), adaptation of Sophocles' play by Argentine writer

Leopoldo Marechal Leopoldo Marechal (June 11, 1900 – June 26, 1970) was one of the most important Argentine writers of the twentieth century. Biographical notes Born in Buenos Aires into a family of French and Basque descent, Marechal became a primary scho ...

(1900–1970) * ''Antigona'' (1960), a play by

Dominik Smole Dominik Smole (24 August 1929 – 29 July 1992) was a Slovenian writer and playwright. Biography Smole was born in Ljubljana in what was then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He attended school in Ljubljana and after the end of World War II he was em ...

* ''Antigonai'' (2009), opera based on fragments by Sophocles and Hölderlin for three choirs and a women's trio by Argentine composer

Carlos Stella Carlos Stella (born 1961 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine composer. Self-taught in composition, Stella studied piano at the Buenos Aires National Conservatory of Music and in 1985 he was invited by Krzysztof Penderecki to the Cracow Academy of Mu ...

* ''

'' (1948), by

, based on the translation by

Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a Germans, German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticis ...

and published under the title ''Antigonemodell 1948''. An English translation of Brecht's version of the play is available * ''Antigonick'', play by

Anne Carson Anne Patricia Carson (born June 21, 1950) is a Canadian poet, essayist, translator, classicist, and professor. Trained at the University of Toronto, Carson has taught classics, comparative literature, and creative writing at universities across ...

(2012) which is a free and poetic adaptation of the Sophocles play. Carson and her colleagues presented a reading of Antigonick in 2012 at the Louisiana gallery in Denmark. * ''

'' (2019), a film by

Sophie Deraspe Sophie Deraspe (born October 27, 1973) is a Canadian director, scenarist, director of photography and producer. Prominent in new Quebec cinema, she is known for a 2015 documentary ''The Amina Profile'', an exploration of the Amina Abdallah Arraf ...

* ''Arch-Conspirator'' (2023), a

dystopian A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmenta ...

re-imagining by

Veronica Roth Veronica Anne Roth (born August 19, 1988) is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her bestselling ''Divergent'' trilogy which has sold more than 35 million copies worldwide. Personal and early life Veronica Roth was born ...

Analysis

In the works of

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...

, in particular in his discussion of

Sittlichkeit ''Sittlichkeit'' () is the concept of "ethical life" or "ethical order" furthered by German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. It was first presented in his work '' Phenomenology of Spirit'' (1807) to refer to "ethical behavior grounded i ...

in his ''

Phenomenology of Spirit ''The Phenomenology of Spirit'' (or ''The Phenomenology of Mind''; ) is the most consequential philosophical work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel described the 1807 work, a ladder to the greater philosophical system of the '' Encyclopaed ...

'' and his ''

Elements of the Philosophy of Right ''Elements of the Philosophy of Right'' (or ''Outlines of the Philosophy of Right''; ) is a work by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel published in 1820, though the book's original title page dates it to 1821. Hegel's most mature statement of his l ...

'', Antigone is figured as exposing a tragic rift between the so-called feminine "Divine Law," which Antigone represents, and the "Human Law," represented by Creon. The Catholic philosopher

Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised as a Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aqui ...

considers Antigone as the "heroine of the natural law:" :she was aware of the fact that, in transgressing the human law and being crushed by it, she was obeying a higher commandment—that she was obeying laws that were unwritten, and that had their origin neither today nor yesterday, but which live always and forever, and no one knows where they have come from. The psychoanalyst

Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, ; ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Sigmund Freud, Freud", Lacan gave The Seminars of Jacques Lacan, year ...

writes about the ethical dimension of Antigone in his Seminar VII, ''The Ethics of Psychoanalysis.'' Others who have written on Antigone include theorist

Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American feminist philosopher and gender studies scholar whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In ...

, in their book ''Antigone's Claim'', as well as philosopher

Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek ( ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian Marxist philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is the international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, Global Distin ...

, in various works, including ''Interrogating the Real'' (Bloomsbury: London, 2005) and ''The Metastases of Enjoyment'' (Verso: London, 1994).

Contemporary productions

A new translation of ''Antigone'' into English by the Canadian poet

has been used in a production of the play (March 2015) at the

Barbican A barbican (from ) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe Medieval Europeans typically b ...

directed by

Ivo van Hove Ivo van Hove (born 28 October 1958) is a Belgian theatre director. He is known for his Off-Broadway avant-garde experimental theatre productions. For over twenty years, he served as the director of the Toneelgroep Amsterdam. On Broadway, he has d ...

and featuring

Juliette Binoche Juliette Binoche (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress. She has appeared in more than 60 films, particularly in French and English, and has been the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Juliette Binoche, numerous accolades, ...

as Antigone. This production was broadcast as a TV movie on April 26, 2015. The play was transferred to the BAM Harvey Theatre at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

, running from September 24 to October 4, 2015.''Antigone''
at Brooklyn Academy of Music.

References

External links

Antigone
– a review of the Antigone myth and the various productions of her story {{Authority control Princesses in Greek mythology Mythological Thebans Suicides in Greek mythology Premature burials