Antigone

Antigone is the play’s central character, its protagonist. She is a daughter of Oedipus and, as one of his descendants, is a victim of the curse that has been placed on his family by the gods. In spite of knowing that she is on some level and in some way doomed, she nevertheless pursues a course of action, a way of living defined by both free will and a powerful sense of justice as defined by the will and way of the gods as opposed to the will and laws of man. The particular law she challenges is the law forbidding the burial of her brother Polyneices, and here it’s important to note that while Antigone is strong-willed, defiant, and courageous, she is simultaneously loving and vulnerable, her actions triggered and motivated, as she herself admits, by love for Polyneices.

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