Robert Fagles Translation
ANTIGONE-STUDY GUIDE
Order of Events
❖ Antigone and Ismene discuss the royal decree that no one is to bury the body of Polynices after
he and his brother Eteocles killed each other in battle
❖ Antigone tells Ismene her plan to bury Polynices and asks her to help
❖ Ismene refuses to go against the edict and tries to reason with her sister but Antigone leaves to
do it by herself anyway
❖ The Chorus explain their views towards Polynices and Eteocles, favouring the latter
❖ Creon enters and mirrors their disdain for Polynices, before The Sentry comes in, hesitant to
deliver the news that someone has performed burial rites on Polynices’ corpse
❖ Creon blames one of the citizens for bribing the guard to do it for him and orders the ‘man’ who
‘bribed’ The Sentry to be found and brought to him
❖ The Sentry bring in Antigone as the culprit and tell Creon of how after they dusted off Polynices’
body they caught her in the act trying to bury him again
❖ Antigone denies nothing, fears no death and tries to justify her decision as a righteous act as she
viewed both of her brothers as deserving of a burial, Creon is infuriated and says that she will
die
❖ Ismene falsely confesses to having a part in the crime out of sheer loyalty to her sister but
Antigone rejects her and tells the truth
❖ After they have left Haemon talks to his father, initially showing his loyalty before tactfully
showing him that he should listen to the advice of other men and listen to the people. This leads
to Creon showing his arrogance and temper and eventually disowning his son for siding with
Antigone
❖ Creon allows Ismene to live but sentences Antigone to death by starvation
❖ Antigone laments how she will be deprived of marital happiness with Haemon and will never be
a mother, however, despite her initial regretful tone she sticks by her decision as an act of
justice
❖ Tiresias visits Creon telling him the signs that the gods are not happy with his decisions
regarding Polynices and after Creon gets angry at the prophet,he tells the king that it will bring
tragedy upon him
❖ After the prophet leaves Creon yields and decides to properly bury the body/release Antigone
❖ A Messenger tells the Chorus and Eurydice, the queen that they buried the body but as they left
they heard a cry from where Antigone was being kept which Creon recognised as the sound of
his son
❖ Creon entered to find Haemon weeping with his arms wrapped around the corpse of Antigone
who had hanged herself. Haemon spat at his father and lunged at him with a sword but when he
misses he decides to plunge it into himself instead, enfolding the body of his fiancée as he died
alongside her
❖ Creon arrives back at the palace with the body of his son, only to hear the news that Eurydice
has also committed suicide after hearing that her son died
❖ The King is left to reflect on his senseless actions as he deals with an overwhelming sense of
guilt, even calling himself a murderer
ANTIGONE-STUDY GUIDE
Order of Events
❖ Antigone and Ismene discuss the royal decree that no one is to bury the body of Polynices after
he and his brother Eteocles killed each other in battle
❖ Antigone tells Ismene her plan to bury Polynices and asks her to help
❖ Ismene refuses to go against the edict and tries to reason with her sister but Antigone leaves to
do it by herself anyway
❖ The Chorus explain their views towards Polynices and Eteocles, favouring the latter
❖ Creon enters and mirrors their disdain for Polynices, before The Sentry comes in, hesitant to
deliver the news that someone has performed burial rites on Polynices’ corpse
❖ Creon blames one of the citizens for bribing the guard to do it for him and orders the ‘man’ who
‘bribed’ The Sentry to be found and brought to him
❖ The Sentry bring in Antigone as the culprit and tell Creon of how after they dusted off Polynices’
body they caught her in the act trying to bury him again
❖ Antigone denies nothing, fears no death and tries to justify her decision as a righteous act as she
viewed both of her brothers as deserving of a burial, Creon is infuriated and says that she will
die
❖ Ismene falsely confesses to having a part in the crime out of sheer loyalty to her sister but
Antigone rejects her and tells the truth
❖ After they have left Haemon talks to his father, initially showing his loyalty before tactfully
showing him that he should listen to the advice of other men and listen to the people. This leads
to Creon showing his arrogance and temper and eventually disowning his son for siding with
Antigone
❖ Creon allows Ismene to live but sentences Antigone to death by starvation
❖ Antigone laments how she will be deprived of marital happiness with Haemon and will never be
a mother, however, despite her initial regretful tone she sticks by her decision as an act of
justice
❖ Tiresias visits Creon telling him the signs that the gods are not happy with his decisions
regarding Polynices and after Creon gets angry at the prophet,he tells the king that it will bring
tragedy upon him
❖ After the prophet leaves Creon yields and decides to properly bury the body/release Antigone
❖ A Messenger tells the Chorus and Eurydice, the queen that they buried the body but as they left
they heard a cry from where Antigone was being kept which Creon recognised as the sound of
his son
❖ Creon entered to find Haemon weeping with his arms wrapped around the corpse of Antigone
who had hanged herself. Haemon spat at his father and lunged at him with a sword but when he
misses he decides to plunge it into himself instead, enfolding the body of his fiancée as he died
alongside her
❖ Creon arrives back at the palace with the body of his son, only to hear the news that Eurydice
has also committed suicide after hearing that her son died
❖ The King is left to reflect on his senseless actions as he deals with an overwhelming sense of
guilt, even calling himself a murderer
