This is the first of a series of reviews of the books I have read more than once. The script may be read at the site below.

 https://www.uww.edu/documents/colleges/cac/TheatreDance/audition%20info/21%20Antigone/Antigone-Script.pdf

Antigone is the third play of a trilogy by Sophocles, the first two plays being Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus. Her father and two brothers are dead. Her only surviving relatives are her sister, Ismene and her Uncle Creon who is King of Thebes.

The sexism of Ancient Greece comes through with the expectations of her Uncle and her society. She is expected to conform to all the laws and dictates of her culture and society. Her sister follows all the restrictions of her culture but Antigone wishes to follow her own beliefs about what is right for her to do. For example, she is to marry Creon’s son, Haemon, and be a dutiful wife.

Her two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, killed each other for the throne of Thebes. Since Eteocles is the current king of Thebes, Creon, the new king said that Eteocles could be buried in a proper manner, but his brother could not be buried because he rebelled against Thebes, but his body would have to rot on the ground outside the city. Anyone violating this law would be put to death. This was a horrible fate because the laws of the gods said that an unburied corpse would be doomed to wander the earth. The eternal laws of the gods must be obeyed, no manner the circumstances.

Antigone feels it is her sacred duty to follow the laws of the gods. She sprinkles dirt on Polynices thus fulfilling the commandment of the gods. She is willing to suffer the consequences of her actions. After she is caught, the following dialog takes place:

Creon to Antigone 

Now, tell me thou-not in many words, but briefly-knewest thou that an edict hadforbidden this? 

Antigone

I knew it: could I help it? It was public. 

Creon

And thou didst indeed dare to transgress that law? 

Antigone
Yes; for it was not Zeus that had published me that edict; not such are the laws set among men by the justice who dwells with the gods of below; nor deemed I that thy decrees were of such force, that a mortal could override the unwritten and unfailing statutes of heaven. For their life is not of to-day or yesterday, but from all time, and no man knows when they were first put forth. 

Not through dread of any human pride could I answer to the gods for breaking these. Die I must,-I knew that well (how should I not?)-even without thy edicts. But if I am to die before my time, I count that a gain: for when any one lives, as I do, compassed about with evils, can such an one find aught but gain in death?

So for me to meet this doom is trifling grief; but if I had suffered my mother's son to lie in death an unburied corpse, that would have grieved me; for this, I am not grieved. And if my present deeds are foolish in thy sight, it may be that a foolish judge arraigns my folly. 

After arguing with each other, Creon condemns Antigone to death. His son, Haemon, exiles himself from his father. Creon orders her to be buried alive in a sealed cave. He later relents and finds thatAntigone hanged herself, and the play ends.

Antigone explores themes such as state control over individual conscience. Does the individual have the right to reject state infringement on individual rights? What is the relationship between natural rights and state control? What is the role of civil disobedience? Creon demands obedience toward his man-made laws while Antigone insists on following the laws of the gods. Is divine law superior to human law?

There is much more that can be said about this play.