Student Editions

Antigone, defying her uncle Creon's decree that her brother should remain unburied, challenges the morality of man's law overruling the laws of the gods. The clash between her and Creon with its tragic consequences have inspired continual reinterpretation.

The plot revolves around King Creon who believes that a traitor in the kingdom does not warrant a proper burial, and Polyneices has died a traitor. However, the traitor’s sister, Antigone, protests against Creon’s refusal to bury her brother and, in light of her rebellion, is ordered by the king to be buried alive, despite being engaged to the king’s son. However, the gods are on Antigone’s side, as proven by the play’s blind prophet, and only then does Creon changes his mind about the burial right, with persuasion from the prophet. As he goes to properly bury the traitor and release Antigone from captivity, Antigone is discovered having hanged herself. Antigone’s fiancé attacks his own father and kills himself, and then the king’s wife takes her life, too. Sophocles' play speaks loudly to the ongoing conflict between the freedom of the individual and the power of the state, and addresses the basic human right to freedom of speech.

This translation by Don Taylor, accurate and poetic, was made for a BBC TV production of the Theban Plays in 1986, which he directed.