theme of alienation n no where man by kamala markandeya
ANTIGONE KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS
SETTING
This tragedy is set against the background of the Oedipus legend. It illustrates how the curse on the House of Labdacus (who is the grandson of Cadmus, founder of Thebes, and the father of Laius, whose son is Oedipus) brought about the deaths of Oedipus and his wife-mother, Jocasta, as well as the double fratricide of Eteocles and Polynices. Furthermore, Antigone dies after defying King Creon.
The play is set in Thebes, a powerful city-state north of Athens. Although the play itself was written in 441 B.C., the legend goes back to the foundations of Hellenic culture, many centuries before Sophocles’ time.
All the scenes take place in front of the royal palace at Thebes. Thus Sophocles conforms to the principle of the unity of place. The events unfold in little more than twenty four hours. The play begins on the night when Antigone attempts to bury her brother for the first time. Her second attempt at burial occurs at noon the following day, when Antigone is apprehended. She is convicted and kept overnight in a cell. The next morning she is taken to a cave, her place of entombment.
On Thebes: Thebes was the most important city of Boeotia, on mainland Greece. It was one of the chief city-states of ancient Greece, after Athens and Sparta. Sophocles described it as “the only city where mortal women are the mothers of gods.” According to Greek legends, the city was founded by Cadmus and was destroyed by the Epigonoi in the time before the Trojan War. In the sixth century B.C., Thebes recovered its glory to some extent, and in Sophocles’ time it was still a powerful state.
LIST OF CHARACTERS
Major
Antigone
The daughter of Oedipus, the former King of Thebes. Her mother, Jocasta, was Creon’s sister. She is willing to risk her life in order to bury Polynices, her dead brother, thereby defying King Creon’s edict. She is sentenced to death, but commits suicide by hanging herself.
Creon
The brother of Jocasta, who
SETTING
This tragedy is set against the background of the Oedipus legend. It illustrates how the curse on the House of Labdacus (who is the grandson of Cadmus, founder of Thebes, and the father of Laius, whose son is Oedipus) brought about the deaths of Oedipus and his wife-mother, Jocasta, as well as the double fratricide of Eteocles and Polynices. Furthermore, Antigone dies after defying King Creon.
The play is set in Thebes, a powerful city-state north of Athens. Although the play itself was written in 441 B.C., the legend goes back to the foundations of Hellenic culture, many centuries before Sophocles’ time.
All the scenes take place in front of the royal palace at Thebes. Thus Sophocles conforms to the principle of the unity of place. The events unfold in little more than twenty four hours. The play begins on the night when Antigone attempts to bury her brother for the first time. Her second attempt at burial occurs at noon the following day, when Antigone is apprehended. She is convicted and kept overnight in a cell. The next morning she is taken to a cave, her place of entombment.
On Thebes: Thebes was the most important city of Boeotia, on mainland Greece. It was one of the chief city-states of ancient Greece, after Athens and Sparta. Sophocles described it as “the only city where mortal women are the mothers of gods.” According to Greek legends, the city was founded by Cadmus and was destroyed by the Epigonoi in the time before the Trojan War. In the sixth century B.C., Thebes recovered its glory to some extent, and in Sophocles’ time it was still a powerful state.
LIST OF CHARACTERS
Major
Antigone
The daughter of Oedipus, the former King of Thebes. Her mother, Jocasta, was Creon’s sister. She is willing to risk her life in order to bury Polynices, her dead brother, thereby defying King Creon’s edict. She is sentenced to death, but commits suicide by hanging herself.
Creon
The brother of Jocasta, who