Antigone

• Genre: Fiction; Play; Greek Tragedy
• Originally Published: 441 BCE
• Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
• Structure/Length: 8 scenes and 6 odes; approx. 80-100 pages; approx. 1 hour, 30 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Antigone, the teenage daughter of Oedipus and the princess of Thebes, decides to give her recently deceased brother Polyneikes a proper burial. This goes against King Kreon’s ruling, and as a result, Antigone is sentenced to death.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Violence; murder

Sophocles, Author

• Bio: Born circa 496 BCE in Colonus, Athens, Greece; died in 406 BCE; ancient Greek tragedian who wrote over 120 plays, of which seven fully survive; influenced modern drama and playwriting by incorporating painted scenery and introducing a third speaking character in his plays
• Other Works: Oedipus Rex (429 BC); Philoctetes (409 BC); Oedipus at Colonus (406 BC)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Fate and its Inescapability
• God and Man’s Law
• Youth and Age

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of cultural and historical contexts regarding burial rites in ancient cultures that impact the protagonist’s development as a tragic hero.
• Study short paired texts and other resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Fate and its Inescapability, God and Man’s Law and Youth and Age.