Antigone Summary | Chapterly
Antigone by Sophocles: A Complete Summary Quick Answer: Antigone (c. 441 BC) by Sophocles is a Greek tragedy about Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, who defies King Creon's decree by burying her brother Polynices — choosing divine law over human law. Creon sentences her to be sealed alive in a tomb. When the prophet Tiresias warns Creon he is wrong, he relents too late: Antigone has hanged herself, triggering the suicides of Creon's son Haemon and wife Eurydice. The play is the foundational Western text on civil disobedience and the conflict between conscience and authority. "I was born to join in love, not hate — that is my nature." Overview Antigone is one of the most powerful political and moral dramas ever written. Composed by Sophocles around 441 BC, it tells the story of Antigone, daughter of the fallen Oedipus, who defies King Creon's decree that her brother Polynices must remain unburied as punishment for treason. Antigone buries him anyway, choosing divine law and family obligation over the authority of the state. The play stages one of humanity's oldest and most urgent conflicts: what do you do when the law of the land contradicts what you believe is morally right? Antigone...