Antigone (Sophocles) - Significance and Interpretation

Significance and Interpretation

Antigone deals with four main questions:

1. whether Polynices ought to be given burial rituals
2. whether someone who buried him in defiance of state ought to be punished
3. whether Creon is entitled to the throne
4. whether Creon's actions are just or are they taken in haste without thinking

In regard to question one, both Antigone and Creon claim divine sanction for their actions; but Tiresias the prophet supports Antigone's claim that the gods demand Polynices' burial. Once Creon has discovered that Antigone buried her brother against his orders, the ensuing discussion of her fate is devoid of arguments for mercy because of youth or sisterly love from the Chorus, Haemon or Antigone herself. Most of the arguments to save her center on a debate over which course adheres best to strict justice.

The German poet Friedrich Hölderlin, whose translation of the play had strong impact on Heidegger's reading, brings out a more subtle reading of the play: he focuses on Antigone's legal and political status within the palace, her privilege to be the hearth (according to the legal instrument of the epiklerate) and thus protected by Zeus. According to the legal practice of classical Athens, Creon is obliged to marry his closest relative (Haemon) to the late king's daughter in an inverted marriage rite, which would oblige Haemon to produce a son and heir for his dead father in law. Creon would be deprived of grandchildren and heirs to his lineage - a fact which provides a strong realistic motif for his hatred against Antigone. This modern and realistic perspective has remained submerged for a long time. The play collection named "The Oedipus Cycle" which was translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald also includes the play "Antigone", accurately written in English.

Once the initial premises behind the characters in Antigone have been established, the action of the play moves steadily and inevitably towards the outcome. Because Creon is the person and a king taking rash actions in rage that he is, he will naturally decree that the body of the disloyal brother remain unburied, and will naturally demand absolute obedience to his decree. Antigone, being the person that she is and holding her views, will naturally defy the decree. Creon will naturally demand that the unknown criminal be arrested and brought before him, etc. Because the action is so self-sustained, most interpretations of the play center around the text itself. Both Creon and Antigone show much pride which leads to their fates, with Creon's wife and son being killed and Antigone herself dying. This turn of events will eventually lead to Creon's downfall.