Antigone
Translated by Francis Storr
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This timeless tragedy offers a profound exploration of moral courage, the clash between conscience and authority, and the devastating consequences of unchecked pride.
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Book Summary
In Sophocles' tragedy, Antigone defies King Creon's decree against burying her brother Polyneices, prioritizing divine law over human law. Her act of civil disobedience leads to a chain of tragic deaths, exposing the dangers of pride and tyranny while exploring themes of duty, gender, and fate.
After the death of her brothers Eteocles and Polyneices, Creon, the new king of Thebes, decrees that Polyneices, deemed a traitor, must remain unburied. Antigone, driven by familial duty and divine law, secretly buries him and is caught. She defends her actions before Creon, who condemns her to death by entombment. Her fiancé Haemon, Creon's son, pleads for her life but is rebuffed. The blind prophet Teiresias warns Creon that his actions anger the gods, but Creon dismisses him. Too late, Creon relents and rushes to free Antigone, only to find she has hanged herself. Haemon, in despair, attacks Creon and then kills himself. Creon's wife Eurydice, upon learning of her son's death, also takes her own life. Creon is left broken, having lost his family and his moral authority, realizing his pride and rigid adherence to human law led to catastrophe.
Reading guide
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Character guides, themes, chapter companions — plus Character Web, narrative arc, and theme heatmap teasers that unlock fully beside the text in BetterReads.
Creon
Thebes's new king, who stakes his authority on one edict—leave Polyneices unburied—and cannot imagine a law above his own.
Antigone
Oedipus's daughter, who would rather die a 'sinless sinner' than let her brother Polyneices lie unburied and unmourned.
Haemon
Creon's son and Antigone's betrothed, caught between a father who rules and a woman he loves, pleading for both.
Ismene
Antigone's sister, who fears the family's bloody inheritance too much to defy the state—yet cannot quite abandon the one who does.
Teiresias
The blind seer who reads the gods' anger in the birds and the altars, and tells Creon what no king wants to hear.
Eurydice
Creon's wife, who appears briefly and meets a tragic end offstage.
Divine Law vs. Human Law
The central conflict between Antigone's duty to obey the eternal laws of the gods and Creon's insistence on enforcing his own human decree, highlighting the tension between moral obligation and state authority.
Civil Disobedience
Antigone's deliberate defiance of Creon's edict to bury her brother, asserting that her conscience and divine commands override unjust human laws, even at the cost of her life.
Family Loyalty and Duty
Antigone's unwavering commitment to honor her brother Polyneices through burial, contrasting with Ismene's initial fear and Creon's prioritization of state over family ties.
Pride and Tyranny
Creon's rigid, prideful refusal to relent or listen to reason, which leads to the tragic deaths of Antigone, Haemon, and his wife, illustrating the dangers of absolute power and stubbornness.