I remember hating Antigone when I had to read it in High School, so I was surprised that it wasn't too bad actually.

This was of course some of the most fluid and beautiful writing I have come across in a long time. I have wanted to read this play for years and finally ran across a copy of it. The words were an absolute song and the bits by the choir thrown in were terribly fun to act out in your mind. I would love to see this on stage. I am not sure if the plot was exactly my favorite but the words alone were enough to rock me into a happy lull of entertainment and contentment.

n  **4.5 stars**

“A man, though wise, should never be ashamed of learning more, and must unbend his mind.”n

The conclusive note to the three plays, it kind of makes you feel a bit desolate, deep down. If you think about it, you can find the impression of this play in particular on several of Shakespeare’s plays. To voice back pessimism, Tiresias is also back from Oedipus Rex, and this time we can’t suspect him of antagonism. However, what may strike as a bit odd is the almost null involvement of Eteocles in the entire tale, given he has one of the pivotal roles in the happenings of the play.

The play sets in motion a tragic collision between opposed laws and duties: between human-enforced and transcendental commands which both claim to dictate the burial of the dead and the secular edicts of a ruler determined to restore civic order, between family allegiance and private conscience and public duty and the rule of law restricting personal liberty for the sake of general benevolence. Like the proverbial immovable object meeting an irresistible force, Antigone tries, by hook or by crook, to arrange the impact of the seemingly irreconcilable conceptions of rights and responsibilities, producing an enduring illumination of human nature and condition.

And I can’t but agree more with Victor Hanson and John Heath, when they wrote:

“Within this single drama—in great part, a harsh critique of Athenian society and the Greek city-state in general—Sophocles tells of the eternal struggle between the state and the individual, human and natural law, and the enormous gulf between what we attempt here on earth and what fate has in store for us all. In this magnificent dramatic work, almost incidentally so, we find nearly every reason why we are now what we are.”

And I’m glad for the former acts of Haemon. It takes something serious to stand against a tyrannical king, especially if it’s his father. Though in the end… (I remembered Chester Bennington)

n  “It is not right if I am wrong. But if I am young, and right, what does my age matter?”n

Well, this resonated deeply with me. Especially the relationship between Antigone and her flighty and untrustworthy sister Ismene. Man, that part when Ismene now suddenly wants to stand at her sister's side after the King Creon has sentenced Antigone to be immured, really pissed me off and brought up all kinds of feelings of injustice and indignation. As with Electra, Antigone is a woman alone facing the self-righteousness of an elder king unwilling to lose face or learn anything new he hasn't sought out himself. Sophocles's play was meant to be an examination of the budding democracy rising against the old tyranny, and again, he chose a woman to embody that "bud". And what better way to destroy the idea of freedom than to brick it up and starve it?

A brief summary of the play for those who aren't familiar with the story. Antigone is Œdipe's and Jocaste's daughter and those two were mother and son, remember? After Œdipe found out that he hadn't escaped the oracle of his birth and in total ignorance had killed his father and married his own mother, he stuck needles in his eyes and Jocaste hung herself. Antigone, Ismene and their two brothers Polynice and Étéocle are taken in by their uncle Creon who has now become king after Étéocle's death. Antigone's story begins after her brother's deaths. The two men offed each other over Polynice taking the "enemy Argos" side after he was exiled by his brother who refused to share the throne with him. Okay, so they killed each other and now Antigone is betrothed to Hemon, son of Creon. But there's one little thing keeping her from finding peace in her already fucked up life: Creon has decided that Étéocle would get a Greek burial, but Polynice's body would be left out to rot and be eaten by the vultures.

Antigone knows that Hades will not accept her brother in the world of the dead if he isn't properly cared for before leaving the world of the living. She decides to disobey the king and in the night, begins the burial of her brother. Ismene bitches and moans and tells Antigone she's crazy for taking such a risk, but Antigone will not back down on this. She's striving for the realm of greater ideas and understands that while the laws of men come and go, what right is right no matter what the patriarchy dictates. Anyhoo, needless to say she sends Creon in a state of self-important rage and he proceeds to monologue himself into a corner and has to make do on his threats to have her immured and starved.

Then everybody he loves takes the high road and dies with her and Creon is left with nothing but his throne.

It's a Greek tragedy, yes, but in real life, Creon often gets what he wants and the Antigones of the world are still screaming behind high walls.

greek tragedy has this element that is truly lacking in most contemporary works, and it's simply dimensionality. this manicheean idea of a "right" and a "wrong" that oppose each other completely without intersecting is flawed in a multitude of ways and is never applicable to the human psyche and the way we act, so finding it, even in fiction, is incredibly frustrating by its inaccuracy

Of all the Greek theatre, few works remain. Antigone is one of the most famous short pieces we still have. It is deserving. This tragedy is a powerful, deep, immense, great work. You had to be Sophocles to do this to us. It's enormous, beautiful, and intense!

n  ''Ὦ τύμβος, ὦ νυμφεῖον, ὦ κατασκαφὴς
οἴκησις αἰείφρουρος.’’n
n  ''O tomb, my bridal bed – my house, my prison cut in the hollow rock, my everlasting watch!’’n

n  ‘’Ὦ κοινὸν αὐτάδελφον Ἰσμήνης κάρα.’’n
n  ‘’ Πολυαγαπημένη μου αδερφή Ισμήνη.’’n
n  ‘’My own flesh and blood - dear sister, dear Ismene.’’n
Why the fuck do I remember the start?

Sooo I’ve read a lot of ancient greek lit because school made me do it and now I hate it all so I can’t say I’m the best person to go to for an honest review. That being said, don’t really know why I bought this considering the fact that I hate it and that I also threw away the school book I had which contained this in greek/ancient greek. If I sit down to read the ones I wasn’t forced to translate I may change my mind but school put my off ancient greek literature.

Wiem z tego tyle, że nic nie wiem XD

آنتیگونه محکوم به مرگ توسط کرئون




اُدیپ که بعد از تولد، از پدر و مادر طرد شد
در نزاع جنگی، پدر خود را می‌کشد و با مادرش یوکاسته ازدواج میکند. از اُدیپ دو دختر بدنیا می‌آورد که آنتیگونه و ایسمنه نام دارد. یوکاسته وقتی فهمید اُدیپ چه کسی است، خود را کشت.


آنتیگونه آخرین نمایشنامه از سه‌گانهٔ تب سوفوکل است اما اولین نوشته شده. سه‌گانهٔ سوفوکل تراژدی‌نویس یونانی، اودیپ شهریار و اودیپ در کولونوس است



برای همچین نمایشنامه تراژد بی نظیر باید از اساتید برجسته و نخبه ی ادبیات نوشت:
اقدام آنتیگونه نماد نوعی ایده آل است، ایده آلی به نام وجود یک قانون برتر و فردی تر در برابر قدرت. این تراژدی که ۲۵۰۰ سال پیش نوشته شده، سیاست های برقرار در روحیه شخصی و خشونت را به رخ می کشد. خشونتی که تغییرات سیاسی و اجتماعی بر روی افراد اعمال می کند و حقیقتا این همان لبه تیغی است که فرد را از جامعه جدا می کند. از این رو شنیدن این داستان بسیار جذاب توصیه می شود.

✔نماد:

سندروم کرئون: [حاکم مستبد و اطرافیان مستبد او] (دایی آنتیگونه)
✔️آنتیگونه: [نماد تنهایی] و [رنج و درد عمیق]

بعضی از دیالوگ ها:
✔ای فرزند، مرگ سرنوشت همه ی آدمیان است
آرِمیدن در گودالی خاکی!
باشد این پوششی که بر تو می افتد
تنِ جوانت را با مهربانی در بر گیرد!

✔پادشاه: اگر دولت نیرومند باشد در پرتو آن همه چیز داری
همه: طبیعت سرشار از عجایب است،اما انسان شاهکار این طبیعت است

I am not well-schooled in tragedies--the Greek tragedies, that is--but when I learned that one of the books I intended to read for the Man Booker award this year was based on the story of Antigone, I thought now was a good time to have a look.

This is the first I have encountered of the play, I loved it. It is filled with terrific emotion and common responses to tragedy, as well as wisdom unbound. The personalities are strong and salty...and act on their promises.

Those of you who know the story will still be thrilled by the Chorus at the end saying "Grand words of proud men are punished with great blows, and this, in old age, teaches wisdom." And "Wisdom is by far the foremost part of happiness..."

Oedipus's two sons kill one another, as decreed by fate, and his two daughters are forbidden by King Creon to bury the body of one of the sons because Creon thought him a traitor. Antigone decides she will bury him anyway because this is the custom of the city and is a courtesy to the gods. Terrible events ensue.

We never learn here why the two sons are unequally loved. Perhaps that backstory is given in another play.

This edition is printed left side with the Greek, right side with English. It has a detailed introduction in which the story and all the characters mentioned are described in their relationship to the main actors in this story. That was helpful. At the end are extensive notes and discussion about word choices and inferred meanings. I thought this was impressive.

"Μέγα καλό και πρώτο της ευτυχίας, η φρόνηση
κανείς δεν πρέπει ν΄ ασεβεί στη θεία τάξη
λόγια μεγάλα ξιπασιάς με συμφορές μεγάλες πληρώνονται
με τον καιρό στα γερατειά θα ρθει κι η γνώση"
Έτσι τελειώνει το σπουδαίο έργο του Σοφοκλή το οποίο σε 1.320 μόλις στίχους ξεδιπλώνει μια σειρά προβληματισμών, δοκιμασιών και αμφισβητήσεων της ανθρώπινης κοινωνίας.

Ένα μεγάλο που ενδεχομένως δυστύχησε που έγινε μάθημα στα ελληνικά σχολεία και ακολουθεί τους Ελληνες ως ένα "μάθημα" κι όχι σαν ένας οδηγός ζωής.
" Η αστοχασιά το ποιο τρανό κακό στον κόσμο" σελ. 117 ή "οι θεοί σπέρνουν στον άνθρωπο το νου, το πιο τρανό προικιό στον κόσμο όλο" σελ. 77
και η πλέον γνωστή ρήση: " Ζω για ν αγαπώ και ν΄ αγαπιέμαι κι όχι για να μισώ"σελ.65

(Ξανα) διαβάζοντας ο λάτρης των βιβλίων μπολιάζεται με μεγάλες δόσεις αλήθειας, φιλοσοφίας και σκέψης....

آنتیگونه: تو تا حالا عاشق شدی؟
تیرسیاس: عشق خطرناکه خانوم!
آنتیگونه: چرا؟
تیرسیاس: چون نمی ذاره از چیزای خطرناک بترسی!