Antigone Essay | Critical Essay #3

Antigone Critical Essay #3

In the following excerpt, Johns outlines Sophocles's distinctive use of violence and strong emotion in Antigone.

The stern violence of the actors in the drama is to be seen throughout: Antigone knows that if she gives Polyneices' burial, she will be stoned to death. When Creon warns the members of the Chorus not to aid those who disobey his commands, the leader intimates that death would be the punishment and Creon agrees. When Antigone is revealed as the culprit, Creon regards her action as direct defiance of his commands ... charges her with that tragic fault....

When Haemon comes to plead with his father, the Chorus announces his approach with a comment on his mood of bitterness and grief. Their final word contains a foreboding note on the tragic excess of this grief. In the scene, which follows, Sophocles gives one of many striking examples of his irony...
(read more)