Antigone

Antigone Summary | Part 1 Summary

An introductory stage direction informs the reader that the play's setting has "no geographical or historical implications." Then a character named Prologue introduces the other characters, all of whom are already on stage. He describes some of their basic characteristics as well as their eventual fates.

Antigone is the dark, thin girl who is sitting by herself and wishing that she didn't have to die soon. Her sister Ismene is the happy girl, laughing and chatting with Haemon, Antigone's fun- and sport-loving fiancé. The older man is Creon, Haemon's father, who has just become King of Thebes. He was formerly the chief advisor to King Oedipus and to Oedipus' heirs, Eteocles and Polynices. The old woman winding wool is Antigone's and Ismene's Nurse; the woman who is knitting is Creon's wife. Prologue tells us that Creon's wife will go on knitting until it's her turn to kill herself. The youth alone on the other side of the stage is the Messenger who will bring news of Haemon's death. That's why he isn't talking and laughing with the others; he knows what's coming. Three soldiers sit by themselves, playing cards.

Prologue then tells us some of the background of the play. Following the death of King Oedipus, Eteocles and Polynices had agreed to rule the kingdom of Thebes in alternate years. Eteocles ruled first, but after his year was up and Polynices arrived to begin his term, Eteocles refused to give up the throne. A war broke out which ended with the brothers killing each other. Creon then decreed that Eteocles, who had defended Thebes, would be given an elaborate funeral. He also ordered that Polynices, who rebelled, would be left unburied, and that anyone who tried to bury him would be executed.