Character guide

Creon

major

Also known as Teiresias Creon, Creon Elders, Creon Woman, Creon Living, Creon Strophe, Exit Creon

Thebes's new king, who stakes his authority on one edict—leave Polyneices unburied—and cannot imagine a law above his own.

Antigone

major

Also known as Antigone Ismene

Oedipus's daughter, who would rather die a 'sinless sinner' than let her brother Polyneices lie unburied and unmourned.

Haemon

supporting

Also known as Haemon Father, Messenger Haemon

Creon's son and Antigone's betrothed, caught between a father who rules and a woman he loves, pleading for both.

Ismene

supporting

Antigone's sister, who fears the family's bloody inheritance too much to defy the state—yet cannot quite abandon the one who does.

Eurydice

minor

Creon's wife, who appears briefly and meets a tragic end offstage.

Messenger

minor

Also known as Enter Messenger, Second Messenger

A herald who reports offstage deaths and tragic events to the chorus.

Oedipus

minor

Antigone's deceased father, former king of Thebes, referenced as a tragic figure.

Zeus

minor

King of the gods, invoked in prayers and choral odes for justice.

Ares

minor

Also known as great Ares

God of war, mentioned in choral odes and as a force in Thebes' history.

Fate

minor

Personified force of destiny, referenced in choral commentary on human suffering.

Dryas

minor

Mythological figure briefly mentioned in a choral ode as an example of divine punishment.

Teiresias

supporting

Also known as old Teiresias

The blind seer who reads the gods' anger in the birds and the altars, and tells Creon what no king wants to hear.